I wasn't expecting this game to sell very well, but 30k?
1. I'm surprised it's that little for Japan and
2. Can they even make a profit from that?

This is really sad and be point to look at when people moan about lack of innovation or new IPs in this industry.

i guess they're aiming for those digital sales then. still, that's a pretty low shipment

whelp.....

Sadly this game is probably going to bomb. I don't think it's getting much of an advertising campaign (1 Nintendo Direct isn't good enough) and even something that has a bit of a built-in fanbase in Pikmin seems to be struggling a bit. W101 on a struggling platform like Wii U was pretty much doomed from the get go.

I hope they don't expect a profit.

People are saying this, but games don't have to sell a kajillion copies to make money.  Being a first party title, in the US Nintendo is probably getting around $40 each copy sold, packing and shipping would be less than $5 a copy, so they're making atleast $40 per game sold.  $1,050,000.  Nintendo probably paid about half a million for this title to be developed, so if 15,000 copies sell they're breaking even.  If all 30,000 sell, they doubled their investment. 

-edited prior to following post.

Most games don't need to sell kajillions of copies, but 30k is barely enough to profit off of small handheld title (and you're percentages are way off, Nintendo is likely taking $30-35 MAX on first party titles. You're also crazy if you think the budget for this is half a million.

Incredibly stupid, even Bayonetta on 360 opened to 65k in Japan.

They're just doing this to force digital sales, and while I understand they paid for the game and all, it still comes off as an incredibly dick move to Platinum for them to do this.

Half a million doesn't sound possible.