#OperationFaceplateNA

About

#OperationFaceplateNA is a consumer revolt and hashtag used by Nintendo fans in North America to voice their concern over the lack of a release of the standard size New Nintendo 3DS in North America, instead only releasing its larger counterpart, the New Nintendo 3DS XL. The name refers to interchangeable faceplates that were a selling point for the system, but are only available with the standard size New Nintendo 3DS.

Origin

On January 14, 2015, Nintendo released a Youtube video on their channel advertising the New Nintendo 3DS XL in the US. No advertisement was given for the standard size system. Users in the comments section voiced their concern. Nintendo later confirmed that they had no plans to release the regular New Nintendo 3DS in North America. Soon after, the twitter account Star Tropical (@iStarTropics) made the first tweet using #OperationFaceplateNA, stating "I wonder if this will get anywhere."

Spread

Within a day of the video's posting, several petitions appeared on change.org calling for Nintendo to release the standard size new 3DS in America. The largest one has garnered around 1000 signatures as of January 15. Many complaints leveled against Nintendo on video game discussion forums include a lack of choice on the consumers part, the form factor of the XL, and overall design of the buttons and the faceplates. On Twitter several people used #OperationFaceplateNA to show that they wanted a standard size new 3ds and began posting Nintendo of America's contact info, asking people to voice their complaints.

Notable Developments

Petitions

Following soon after the January 2015 Nintendo Direct, many fans became frustrated with Nintendo of North America's decision to release the New Nintendo 3DS in its XL variant only. The primary reason for the public's shock was fueled by the regular sized variant releasing in every region aside from North America. This sparked much controversy and support which ultimately gave rise to the creation of multiple petitions the best of which began January 14th and carries upwards of 3000 supporters. The runner up being started on January 15th and carries upwards of 700 supporters.

Media Coverage

As of the conclusion of January 14th's Nintendo Direct many news sites began to pick up on the Nintendo fan uproar, and began to run articles based on Nintendo of North America's decisions. Wired was one of the early sites along with Cnet to report on the news and reaction day one, both articles seek to find reasoning behind the shocking decision to 'axe' the regular sized variant altogether, but both fail to come up with a clear answer. After January 14's disappointing announcement, during the rise of the petitions and soon the creation of the movement dubbed 'Operation Faceplate', Kotaku and the Nintendo World Report began reporting on the fans outcry and anger towards Nintendo of North America's neglect towards it's communities wants.

Nintendo's Response

After the initial announcement by Nintendo of North America on January 14th, the community began to both ask and demand the release of the 'regular' New 3DS by spamming Nintendo of North America's Twitter page usually containing the hashtag #OperationFaceplate. The Operation tag and petitions led to the creation of the Facebook page. In response to various questions and demands, Nintendo began to automatically respond by stating, "Different territories make their own business decisions regarding individual products and timing. We think New Nintendo 3DS XL makes the most sense for our market. Nintendo makes different systems at different price points for a whole range of consumers, and New Nintendo 3DS XL simply expands those choices even further." and for obvious reasons this statement baffled the people who received the messages, creating already confused fans into frustrated fans.