Here's an excerpt from Game Over by David Sheff:
"Long before any talk about movies was in the offices of Nintendo, Peter Main had told Arakawa that he felt it wise to market video games like movies- released cautiously, rationed so that demand outpaced availability and then withdrawn from circulation as soon as interest began to wane. This rationing tactic, treating games like priceless objects worked. After all the hype about a new game took hold, kids dragged their parents to stores, but outlets couldn't keep the games in stock. The rush to get games such as Super Mario Brothers 3 or Link the sequel to The Legend of Zelda caused near riots of excited game buying
The competition to acquire games rivaled that for tickets to Michael Jackson's last concert tour. Ultimately more product was sold. A kid who was absolutely dying to get Link would arrive at a store, only to find it sold out. Maybe he would try a few other stores without success but then he would buy another Nintendo game, so his parents would end up paying $30 $40 or $50 for a second or third choice. Then a week or month later, a new supply of Link would come in. The kid wanted Link more than ever then, and unless his were the most iron-willed of parents, they would succumb. Even kids whose parents held out still managed to get games, in a survey what kids in Sandwch Illinois bought with their allowances and other money they earned, the near unanimous choice was Nintendo games.
The editor of one toy industry journal noted that "Nintendo has become a name like Disney or McDonald's. They've done it by doling out games like Godiva chocolates." In 1988, Fortune observed that "so far the strategy looks like a winner.""
While 1989 isn't 100% analogous to today, nothing has really changed. Nintendo still knows how to leverage scarcity to their advantage when it comes to negotiating payment terms, shelf space, promotions, everything. And nobody here shouldn't be surprised to see Nintendo flex its muscle with the NES classic for the upcoming Switch launch. They absolutely will do it, as they have in the past, and the Switch carries built in demand of its own.