Labo Vehicle Kit's first week Japan numbers are 1/8th of Labo Variety Kit's.

Wait for the holiday

i didnt even knew it be a thang

I imagine sales will pick up in the Holiday period in all regions but personally I hope Labo ends with the fourth kit so whatever developers are working on this project can make something else even if it's something more like 1-2, Switch.

Yeah, I have zero confidence that Labo is going to suddenly start shifting a moderate to large amount of units during the holidays. Consumer interest has been low, and in my opinion, the writing has been on the wall for a while now.

It should also be noted that the Robot Kit sold 28,629 copies at launch in Japan.

Tofer said:

Wait for the holiday

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I ain't seen any Labo Switch Bundles. If they are doing them, gotta announce them soon.

Do imagine Labo robot kit being more expensive and a pretty terrible game probably caused quite a bit of damage.
"$80 for cardboard??" Meme resulted from it.
Also sold poorly so I imagine retailers don't want it.

Was burned so hard by robot kit that I can't really justify buying another one despite liking how it looks

I wouldn't expect this one to do well despite looking like the best one by far. It was released with little fanfare and the first two packs lost their appeal quickly for most people. I love the look of this one but I don't think I'll have the space for it and I don't really want to spend another whole day getting everything built and set-up again. The Robot Kit was so time-consuming that I was burned out before I'd even started playing.

I wish Nintendo would trojan horse a few Labo mini-kits in games (or other products!) and try to build up the Labo brand, rather than sell these kits

Bummer. Vehicle Kit is a surprising amount of fun.

Probably should have been a launch title instead of Robot

So is Labo a failed experiment?
People said it would do monster numbers because of the innovation and yet here we are.

People on here were so convinced people were going to be obsessed with buying and assembling cardboard.

I feel like it got screwed over by the release date, it was buried beneath Torna, the direct, and the launch of Switch online despite the fact that it isn't really competing with any of them. I can't help but think that it would have done better if it came out a couple weeks later, it still wouldn't be selling gangbusters though, just not quite as dramatic a drop off

I did not know Labo Gun was a thing, and as a phrase, it's oddly funny.

People want games, not gimmicks.

Looks like ERA was right this time. Even a dead clock is right twice a day, so sometimes we predict shit correctly.

If it suddenly starts selling well during the holidays I'll eat some cardboard, but I don't see it happening.

I can't comprehend what Nintendo is doing here.

This was legitimately a full priced first party release with absolutely NO fanfare - and it actually looked like a great game!

There's no way this was going to do anything but bomb with how much marketing it had. I have to think they're just saving a big push for the holidays because otherwise it doesn't make sense

Edigar said:

People want games, not gimmicks.

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And Nintendo and the Switch have been providing both, have they not?

Hopefully this is a wake up call for Nintendo. Spend time on core games and Switch's online feature offerings, not this. I like Labo's variery kit, but it's nothing more than a one of distraction for me.

Phendrift said:

I can't comprehend what Nintendo is doing here.

This was legitimately a full priced first party release with absolutely NO fanfare - and it actually looked like a great game!

There's no way this was going to do anything but bomb with how much marketing it had. I have to think they're just saving a big push for the holidays because otherwise it doesn't make sense

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Pretty sure there was little marketing because Nintendo themselves realize LABO isn't going to be a big thing at this point. They might release one more kit, but that will be it.

That sounds pretty dire. Maybe its time to take the Labo Gun and Ol' Yeller this idea behind the shed with it.

Phil32 said:

And Nintendo and the Switch have been providing both, have they not?

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Of course, that's why people have been buying the games.

Such a shame, I wasn't expecting Labo to do huge numbers like others here, but decently enough to become another line Nintendo could work on for the next few years. Definitely gonna try and get the kits next year as I'll be plenty busy this year already with Pokémon and Smash, as well as RDR2 and a couple other titles. Not even taking into account how stacked Q1 2019 is.

Casual games absolutely need to be pick up and play. All concepts meant to appeal to a casual audience that Nintendo has tried but that required explanations or tutorials, rather than having an immediate pickup and play hook, have failed - like Wii Music or the Wii U itself.

70$ for cardboard brehs

Gonna wait for the holiday marketing push, but I'm surprised that there was basically NOTHING surrounding the launch of this kit.

Still expect it to do really well during the holiday though.

OrbitalBeard said:

Pretty sure there was little marketing because Nintendo themselves realize LABO isn't going to be a big thing at this point. They might release one more kit, but that will be it.

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But they barely even marketed the first kits too. I never saw a single ad for any of them on TV or online.

Their marketing strategy for Labo overall has been extremely strange.

Do people really expect a Labo holiday marketing push? Like... I dunno it seems unlikely. Smash will be the game they market to an older audience and Pokemon is the obvious product to market to everyone else. Thing seems more dead than VR. Cool idea but there doesn't seem to be a market.

Mobu said:

70$ for cardboard brehs

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$69.98. The game included with the actual gameplay is obviously just $0.01.

skittzo0413 said:

But they barely even marketed the first kits too. I never saw a single ad for any of them on TV or online.

Their marketing strategy for Labo overall has been extremely strange.

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They had decent marketing once they actually launched, though it wasn't major.

My guess is they're selling far lower than anticipated, to the point where more marketing would be a waste of resources at this stage.

The brand will live on in the form of a Smash Ultimate DLC character: Labo Man.

OrbitalBeard said:

They had decent marketing once they actually launched, though it wasn't major.

My guess is they're selling far lower than anticipated, to the point where more marketing would be a waste of resources as this point.

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You mean there actually was marketing shortly after it had launched? I honestly never saw a thing, I wouldn't have known it released if I hadn't been checking here and Reddit (I'm talking about the original kits).

With the huge buzz these things got at reveal it's kind of crazy how much of a dud they've been.

Mobu said:

70$ for cardboard brehs

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Nothing new for Nintendo. They are regularly charging 60 dollars for miniaturized plastic DVD cases with nothing in them but a weirdly shaped 16GB flash storage cartridge made of grey plastic.

skittzo0413 said:

You mean there actually was marketing shortly after it had launched? I honestly never saw a thing, I wouldn't have known it released if I hadn't been checking here and Reddit (I'm talking about the original kits).

With the huge buzz these things got at reveal it's kind of crazy how much of a dud they've been.

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Yeah, they had some Bill Nye ad spots (not sure if they aired on television) and Jimmy Fallon had a segment with LABO and Ariana Grande on The Tonight Show. We'd probably be seeing a much bigger push for it in the coming months if it had done the numbers they were expecting over the spring and summer. And since I doubt their expectations were all that high to begin with, it seems it's just not doing what they hoped and more marketing isn't in the cards. They'll probably end up making a decent profit on the whole project, but it'll fade away after this year. Or maybe they'll try again once the Switch is $199.

skittzo0413 said:

With the huge buzz these things got at reveal it's kind of crazy how much of a dud they've been.

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I agree, it feels like something broke down somewhere. I wonder if it had released the same week it was announced, it might have performed better. By launch, it already felt like many had forgotten about it.

Were it up to me, I would have released the same trailer, but just before the holiday season. There'd be Labo workshop kiosks in every major mall with the finished Toy-Cons on display for kids to play with, and everyone who stops by gets a free sample Toy-Con RC Car to make themselves right there on the spot.

Yeah, I was initially thinking Labo could go on to perform decently (wait for the holidays!) but with these low sales and how this was just sort of dropped onto the market I'm readjusting my assessment to Labo is really just a bit of a flop and will be forgotten entirely within a couple of years.

Edigar said:

People want games, not gimmicks.

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Then why didn't they buy this?

The real answer is... Where was the marketing???

Even Nintendo knew this was going to completely and utterly bomb. They dropped it with little fanfare. The writing has been on the wall since June.

Honestly I wonder if they will even attempt to market it during the holidays.

Oh shit! I've been really busy so I forgot this was coming out. Will absolutely be picking it up this weekend though!

I'm not really sure why so many folks were insisting Labo would be huge. It's extraordinarily overpriced and it's target audience is likely to break that shit fast anyway. I know people keep insisting "wait until Q4!" but it's gonna be buried by the end of the year.

Oof. I thought LABO was going to do better than this long term. Well MrsBS and I have had fun with the sets. If this does fade into obscurity it was fun while it lasted.

Nintendo should do more smaller and cheaper kits. Shelve space and price might be intimidating a lot of people

OrbitalBeard said:

Yeah, they had some Bill Nye ad spots (not sure if they aired on television) and Jimmy Fallon had a segment with LABO and Ariana Grande on The Tonight Show. We'd probably be seeing a much bigger push for it in the coming months if it had done the numbers they were expecting over the spring and summer. And since I doubt their expectations were all that high to begin with, it seems it's just not doing what they hoped and more marketing isn't in the cards. They'll probably end up making a decent profit on the whole project, but it'll fade away after this year. Or maybe they'll try again once the Switch is $199.

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Right I remember seeing those things but that was because I frequent this site. I have no idea how wide reaching the Bill Nye video was but I guess the Jimmy Fallon thing probably got a lot of attention.

AndreGX said:

I agree, it feels like something broke down somewhere. I wonder if it had released the same week it was announced, it might have performed better. By launch, it already felt like many had forgotten about it.

Were it up to me, I would have released the same trailer, but just before the holiday season. There'd be kiosks in every mall showing the finished Toy-Cons for kids to play with, and everyone who stops by gets a free sample Toy-Con RC Car to make--even right at the kiosk if they want.

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Yeah I really don't understand the major disconnect between the reveal hype and the complete lack of interest upon release. It was really a very strange phenomenon.

Probably a good case study for someone in marketing to investigate.

chrisPjelly said:

Nintendo should do more smaller and cheaper kits. Shelve space and price might be intimidating a lot of people

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Good call. Unbundle the Variety Kit Toy-Cons, but flesh out those experiences a bit and sell them for $15-20--perhaps with a discount for the others to incentive picking up the others. The Toy-Con Piano could easily stand as its own experience. It just needs a lower barrier of entry price.

My wife saw a Labo advert on the TV as her jaw dropped and thought it was a spoof, saying 'who the hell is going to spend that much on some cardboard, are they having a laugh?'. Which sums up the first few pages of the original reveal thread. But we were all going to be wrong and it was going to be huge right?

I think the biggest barrier is that Switch itself is still quite expensive and primarily being purchased as an actual core gaming device. When it lowers in price and extends its reach via parents to the younger generation then maybe it will gain traction. It's just launched way too early in Switch's lifecycle IMHO.

Twig said:

Then why didn't they buy this?

The real answer is... Where was the marketing???

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The robot game was pretty garbage.

Great idea and nice to innovation like this but seems like the market has spoken. A shame really as its good to see this kind of out of the box (like this one andre?!) thinking but it simply hasn't caught on. Maybe around the holidays with a massive marketing push it will get a second wind but looking doubtful

Feels like an idea / concept that might fail this time around and then 10 years down the line Nintendo will come back to it and do something with it and it ends up selling tens of millions!

So Nintendo had terrible expectations for Labo, consider 2 more kits well supported, and the doomsayers were right all along?

https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...e-to-be-supported-well-into-the-future.49432/

Mr_F_Snowman said:

A shame really as its good to see this kind of out of the box (like this one andre?!) thinking but it simply hasn't caught on.

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They've also shipped a considerably smaller number of these new kits, which is telling.

The problem with Nintendo Labo isn't a marketing problem, and more marketing would not have made Labo do miracles. it is a value proposition's problem and the software associated with it being not that convincing or great.