Quoted from fosaisu:I get why everyone's pissed, and this is another in a string of unforced errors by JJP. But I think Keith explained pretty clearly what happened in his post -- they've never sold out a CE before, or at least not right away, and they simply weren't prepared. Distributors were used to always getting their requested number of games, and JJP was used to being able to fill them. It is, indeed, a fix that a 10 year old could have implemented, and they'll surely have it in place next time around. They just didn't think they'd ever need it, and now they've pissed off their distributors and many buyers.
Having fucked up, the question now is how JJP moves forward. Do they give priority to orders placed through Jersey Jack's website (further screwing the distributor network)? Or do they transparently "share the pain" so that everyone loses sales but no one is left entirely out in the cold? And do they throw a bone of some kind to people that were told they had a machine reserved but didn't make the cut? How you handle your mistakes is often more important than having made them in the first place.
It's an interesting question, but the whole point of a CE is that not everybody can get one. It's like concert tickets, people get furious at Ticketmaster, the band, etc. when they can't get a ticket but that's life. For a hot show at MSG 20,000 people get tickets and another 100,000 or so don't, depending on the act and demand. There's only so many to go around and the people who miss out don't get a "consolation prize."
The smart thing to do is probably play up the fact that GNR CE sold out in seconds, and just hope future CE titles are in equal demand. If you think they are, make 600 or 700 next time.