Good night, sweet prince.
The NES Classic Mini was *the* Christmas gift this past season for tech nerds. I remember looking for it everywhere for weeks, until a rogue WalMart listing showed up in early December with availability at my local store and I scooted over in record time (I’m thankful that no traffic police were watching). Ebay prices were inflated (it regularly hit $200-$300) and the slightest word of incoming stock created lines around the block at places like Best Buy.
It’s remained a hot seller, disappearing the moment it arrives in stores.
Well, that’s about to change, and not for the better. Nintendo has announced to IGN that it is ending manufacture of the retro console, at least for North America.
“Throughout April, NOA territories will receive the last shipments of Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition systems for this year. We encourage anyone interested in obtaining this system to check with retail outlets regarding availability. We understand that it has been difficult for many consumers to find a system, and for that we apologize. We have paid close attention to consumer feedback, and we greatly appreciate the incredible level of consumer interest and support for this product.”
Supply issues have severely hampered what could have been incredible sales for the device, and resale prices are still well over double MSRP. A spokesman for Nintendo state to IGN that it always intended for a short run, albeit pushing this further than they originally planned.
“NES Classic Edition wasn’t intended to be an ongoing, long-term product. However, due to high demand, we did add extra shipments to our original plans.”
There could be several reasons for this sudden stoppage. The NES Classic Mini was getting hacked regularly, with fans adding more ROMs than intended and no way for Nintendo to push updates (the device had no Wifi capabilities) and Nintendo wanting to put a halt to the practice. The console’s popularity could have impacted sales of the the newly released Nintendo Switch down the line, as a choice between a $60 device preloaded with 30 mostly great classics might appeal more to nostalgic casuals and non-gamers than a $300 new one. (Could a cartridge containing all of these games appear on the Switch to sell the new console, instead?) Could manufacturing and licensing issues been the case, as proprietary controllers and third party games deals could have caused more production harm than intended? Or, does the company intended to release a new Mini, perhaps one with more games or even an SNES version?
We won’t know for sure what was spinning around in the company leadership’s heads. With over 1.5 Millions Minis sold and demand still extremely high, we pour one out for the diminutive king.
Source: IGN
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