Sometimes offering a limited edition of a product can come back and bite a retailer in the rear end, especially when so many fans are in demand of it in the first place.

That’s the case with Nintendo of America, which held a Hyrule Warriors launch event at its Nintendo World Store last week in New York City. During the event, the company offered a special edition of the hack-and-slash game with a special scarf and other goodies. However, the item was extremely limited, with only 300 to 500 copies available.

That wasn’t enough of satisfy the throng of over 600 fans that gathered at the store, with the line starting as early as 3:30 AM that morning and getting a wristband entitling them to a copy of the game.

While many fans missed out on snagging a limited edition version of Hyrule Warriors, several profiteers managed to grab one, and wasted no time in putting them up on eBay for sale. So far, the bidding is paying off, with the $100 item receiving more than $200 in bids. Others, however, are a little too high in demand for getting their money’s worth, pricing said items at around $500 to $1000.

Some fans expressed their disappointment over the extremely limited launch. “Fun. Didn’t get a Hyrule Warriors limited edition…Got here early for nothing,” said one disappointed tweeter. “I thought I wouldn’t have to camp out to get Hyrule Warriors limited edition. Boy was I wrong,” said another. “I am baffled at how Nintendo apparently thinks the proper amount of units for a limited edition of a Zelda game is 300 for the nation,” said Wired gaming editor Chris Kohler in a tweet.

And Kohler is exactly right. At a time when Nintendo is trying to win back the favor of the gaming world with its staggering Wii U, such a promotional event turned into a major backfire, with not nearly enough copies of the limited edition available. After all, Europe and Japan has plenty of copies of the game to offer, even though some go for a rather high price on eBay.

Nintendo hasn’t responded on the matter, but, with future releases like Super Smash Bros., here’s hoping it offers a little more generosity for its audience. Especially if it hopes to keep up with the likes of Sony and Microsoft, whose systems are far outselling the Wii U in the U.S. market.

Source: Ars Technica