Nintendo's Classic NES Discontinued

Sad news for vintage gaming fans: Nintendo's NES Classic has officially been discontinued.

The miniature replica of the 1980’s Nintendo Entertainment System debuted in North America in November 2016. It included 30 built-in classic games from the era, from the original Super Mario Bros. to Kirby’s Adventure. Since its release, the NES Classic has been an extremely popular console, selling out almost immediately from all retailers. Scalpers resold the consoles on websites like eBay at huge markups, up to 500% of the original retail price.

However, despite the extreme popularity of the NES Classic, Nintendo has recently announced that it will be discontinuing production. The company expressed appreciation for the tremendous support the product has gotten; it was never intended to be a mass-produced, ongoing product line. They did not expect such a great demand for the consoles and were unprepared to keep up with it.

This is not surprising, given Nintendo’s history of underestimating demand. For almost two years after the Wii’s release, manufacturers could not keep up with retailer’s sales causing short supply everywhere. Certain Amiibos were discontinued after only one production. The 3DS XL was simply impossible to find.

From a business standpoint, it is hard to make sense of Nintendo’s strategy. There is obviously a big market for their products, so why do they repeatedly underestimate production? The only real winners here are scalpers who resell the products are ludicrously higher prices.

Unfortunately, from here on out, the only place to get your own NES Classic will be second-hand from websites like eBay.

Good luck.