The rise of retro gaming has led to a flood of aftermarket mods and optional equipment, all of which is designed to make playing your classic games as enjoyable as possible. These range from everything from Optical Drive Emulators to AV hubs and next-gen memory cards, and many of these amazing items are often created by a single person.
Because of this, demand almost always outstrips supply; one person designing a cool retro upgrade can't call upon the manufacturing might of a company like Nintendo or Sony, so they almost always keep production runs low to avoid risk.
Then there's the fact that these one-person businesses have to handle stuff like assembly, testing, shipping and more all by themselves, in addition to working a full-time job and having a family—so it's little wonder that, when a product becomes popular, there are more than a few disappointed customers who can't get hold of one when stock is replenished.
Arthrimus' excellent Scalable Video Switch is one such product. This modular AV solution allows you to connect a wide range of retro inputs at once and has rightly become an object of desire for many retro gaming fans.
However, Arthrimus has received such a backlash from those who weren't able to secure a unit that they have taken to social media to plead their case—a situation that should never have happened.
"I want to say something because I have already received a bunch of nasty comments here on Twitter and emails through my contact form about today's SVS restock," says Arthrimus, before adding:
I have so far arranged manufacturing, quality control tested and delivered 4000 modules by myself. With today's restock, that number will be doubled. I am a small business. I have no employees, I have no investors. I have designed, marketed and sold a product by myself, and I am doing everything in my power to deliver it to everyone who wants one. Most people have been very kind and understanding of this, but to those who have not been so kind, just know that you are talking to a person here who is doing his very best to provide a product that you want to buy. You are not talking to some faceless corporation. I'm not running one of these limited run super exclusive FOMO based marketing strategies here. I never set out to make a product with this much demand. I've released countless products in the past and nothing has ever caught on like this, so please bear with me and give me a chance to deliver for you. I understand it is frustrating to miss out on something, I've been there, but this is not by design. I'm doing literally everything I can.
Arthrimus' post has resulted in other members of the community coming to his aid:
Arthrimus has since posted that they intend to handle future orders differently:
I have been thinking about it and I have decided that going forward after I fulfill this round of orders I will be moving to a preorder model for sales of the SVS until the demand decreases. There's just no way I will be able to stock enough units at once to satisfy demand and make everyone happy. Give me a couple of weeks to get everything squared away with this round and I'll announce preorder details after that.
Nobody likes to miss out on something cool, that goes without saying—however, we always need to remember that we're not dealing with billion-dollar corporations with near-limitless budgets and incredible manufacturing might behind them. When you moan about not being able to secure an item which has a production run of less than 5,000 units—and all of those are being made by one person in their garage—then you perhaps need to take a step back.
Attacking equipment makers like Arthrimus just means future modders won't see the point in bringing their ideas to market—not if this is the thanks they get for creating them.