How Well Did "Metroid Prime Trilogy" Sell and Why Does It Cost So Much on Ebay?

One of the highest critically approved games on Nintendo Wii was "Metroid Prime Trilogy"; however,  If you want to buy a copy of "Metroid Prime Trilogy", you probably won't find it in your nearest Game Stop for a reasonable price ( ie. something in the neighborhood of what Nintendo originally charged for it probably no more than $50.00 when released), but you'll almost certainly have to turn to ebay to find it.  And there you'll find it priced for ( and it's actually being bid on and purchased, which to me indicates that there is still a demand for it, for) far more than Nintendo themselves asked for it ( usually in the neighborhood of $100 to $200).

Obviously if the game could be readilly found at Wal~Mart or other stores, you wouldn't see it selling for such lofty prices as it goes for on ebay and that means that this game must have sold quite well for Nintendo for all of the easily accessible / reasonably priced  units of the game to be so hard to find; and on the other hand, since there's obviously a demand for the game as evidenced by the fact that copies are routinely sold for such exhorbitant prices in comparison to what Nintendo themselves originally wanted for the game, one would think that Nintendo would have felt compelled by their successful sales, highly positive critical reception, and ongoing demand for the game to have produced more units of it.

Why would Nintendo halt production of a game that was doing so well for them just to turn it into an expensive collector's item for second hand marketers to enjoy the profits from ( note:  I don't think "Metroid Prime Trilogy" was just marketed as a collector's item to begin with)?

Additionaly, "Xenoblade Chronicles" is in a similar position.  Although it's more understandable why that's the case with that game ( ie. it was only purchased for North American release by Game Stop for their stores, yet to have become a rare, difficult to find collector's item fetching a lofty price on ebay that means that Game Stop's run of the game had to have sold out -- otherwise you would still be able to readilly find it in their stores -- and you would think that they would want to make more copies of the game for them to continue selling what must have been a successful product for them that continues to have a demand).

It was just undershipped, NoA underestimated demand like they always do for games other than Zelda and Mario.

There weren't many made so if you have one consider yourself in luck.

I believe they stopped printing it. Glad I got one. It still has its outer card as well. I often consider locking it in a safe.

But if it just undershipped, one would think NOA could just burn more copies and put it back on the market.

Limited production cycle

Demand >>> Supply

High Demand with Limited Supply = High Price

I saw copies of MP Trilogy on store shelves for months after it's limited production ended. I don't think it was undershipped. I think it's just no longer available at stores and people who bought it won't part with it - unless it's to make a nice profit.

I got one for $20, it's worth well over $100 now I believe new.

THey only made the game for about 6 month, and around 2 million copies. Was a great deal when you could get one new (Got mine for 50)

It was a collectors edition, it has a metal box, art booklet, etc; and I love mine. I think they did make more of the Mario All-Stars when that sold out, though, that is an interesting point.

Retail discs are pressed, not burned. Just FYI.

I am quite happy when a copy of a game or anything else I have becomes rare. Still haven't sold anything really valuable, though.