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Nintendo is Discontinuing the NES Classic in North America

Tansut

Member
Nintendo really makes some baffling decisions sometimes

They are seriously discontinuing it when at NO point was it ever readily available?
I legitimately can't think of a good reason why they would do this. If demand had slowed down and there were copies just sitting on shelves? Sure. But it's not even close to that point yet.
 
Never even seen one in person. I was only able to order one of the extra controllers. If they continue with it for the holidays, I imagine they'll redesign it in an effort to curb loading ROMs onto it. Maybe it'll be based on the toploader model. Or they'll just go for the SNES.

Either way, they'll make ten and have their social media accounts exclaim about how nobody could possibly see this demand coming.
 

flyover

Member
This would work, but would be considerably less successful. There's plenty of nostalgia for the PS1, but the majority of it is amongst an audience that still actively plays modern games. They'll buy PS1 Classics all day, but a standalone box isn't quite as appealing.

The NES Classic was a hit, because it struck an audience that generally left gaming behind in the 80's. It was an easy gift option that filled a short desire to play those old games, in a really high-quality package.
I was just joking, basically referencing the PSTV, which totally flopped. As for the NES Classic, you're totally right. I'm bummed that it looks like I won't be able to get my hands on one.
 

Lothars

Member
BWAHAHAHA... oh wait, you're serious. BWAHAHA.

Nintendo knows what they are doing. No matter what they do, how hard they "fail," they never fail. You will be back. All of us will be back. =P
I don't want them to fail but they make short sighted and stupid decisions constantly.
 

JBourne

maybe tomorrow it rains
That really sucks. I tried to get one every time they were found to be in stock, but never lucked out.
 

Tiktaalik

Member
what the fuck is wrong with Nintendo? There's clearly huge demand for this product.

I've wanted to get another classic controller for mine and never found one.

This is baffling.
 

ICO_SotC

Member
Wow.

Guess I'm not getting one then, unless I'm very lucky. When they announced this thing, I figured they would be half price by now. Crazy.

Can Sega get their shit together now and release a Genesis classic that's not the crap one that's available now? The market is clearly there.
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
I'm sorry this makes no sense and I know you constantly defend Nintendo but this is indefensible. What a shitty thing for them to do.

Dunno if I'm necessarily trying to defend them, just trying to find a bit of logic in the decision.

But it could be any number of things. Maybe Nintendo really does want to push the Virtual Console instead? Maybe they had intended to make this a limited run product from the get-go? Maybe they're concerned that someone asking for "The New Nintendo System" as a gift might buy one of these instead.

Nobody will ever really know the truth. All we can do is guess.

Edit: Licensing fees on the third-party games in there is a solid guess. Nintendo probably didn't want to pay those forever.
 

tolkir

Member
They're going to do this shit every year. Either NES2 or SNES this year.


Super limited release from November to April. All hype for the Nintendo brand. These are never meant to sit on shelves.

I don't see it. They did it this year because Wii U wasn't going to sell and they need something in Holydays. But if Switch is going to sell tons this Holiday, better that nobody expects SNES mini.
 

marrec

Banned
A new version of the NES Classic or a SNES Classic wouldn't compete with the original NES Classic.

Unless the new version had all the games of the original and more. But then, why not just continue manufacturing the original until the new version came out.

SNES Classic wouldn't compete because people clearly want to reply the old NES games and have a cool looking little NES in their entertainment system.

So this idea that they're discontinuing it to make way for another product doesn't line up. Unless they're idiots.
 
What was the point of this product?

To have something to sell over Holiday 2016. Now they are worried that NES classic sales are going to cannibalize Switch sales so they are pulling it off shelves. I think they are probably on the cusp of announcing that all of the games that were on the NES classic will be made available on the Switch and the low low price of $9.99 each.
 

Lemaitre

Banned
God damn. Glad I got mine....but this is horrible news for most others. I had even thought about buying another unopened Nes Classic but I thought it'd be too greedy.
 

TransTrender

Gold Member
It was pretty clear this was intended to be a holiday 2016 item and that's it. I don't get the clamor over it either. I see virtually zero value in it unless you just really wanna play a handful old NES games for $60.

Ever since I got my NES Classic Nier, Nioh, and BotW have been idle.
Totally worth it.
 

ryseing

Member
This would work, but would be considerably less successful. There's plenty of nostalgia for the PS1, but the majority of it is amongst an audience that still actively plays modern games. They'll buy PS1 Classics all day, but a standalone box isn't quite as appealing.

The NES Classic was a hit, because it struck an audience that generally left gaming behind in the 80's. It was an easy gift option that filled a short desire to play those old games, in a really high-quality package.

You missed the joke. That product exists.
 

Matrix

LeBron loves his girlfriend. There is no other woman in the world he’d rather have. The problem is, Dwyane’s not a woman.
Nintendo is so backwards
 
Not surprised. The NES Classic was never supposed to stay on store shelves for long, given its nature as a plug-&-play console, and is really more of a stocking stuffer kind of gift to raise brand awareness at the holidays. I can't imagine Nintendo was making a whole lot of money on it either for it to be a long-term product. They can make far more money selling VC games on Switch for $5 than they can by selling 30 games for $60, on top of the manufacturing costs of the box itself. Not to mention they can keep the games ecosystem on the Switch somewhat populated, which is supposed to be their main product.

It's a bad deal for consumers, but I get why they would discontinue it. Something like it may crop up in a future holiday season, but I doubt it'll happen anytime soon.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
Why would they make so little of them when people want it so bad
Why would they do restocks in such an ass backwards manner
Cause It's Nintendo
They make stupid decisions

That doesn't explain artificial scarcity at all. It was a limited run product to make a quick buck. That was obvious to me when they announced the damn thing. it was never supposed to be an on-going long term product. Producing this thing is an opportunity cost. These are low margin items. They needed something for holiday 2016 it has now served it's purpose.
 

jts

...hate me...
Wow.

Guess I'm not getting one then, unless I'm very lucky. When they announced this thing, I figured they would be half price by now. Crazy.

Can Sega get their shit together now and release a Genesis classic that's not the crap one that's available now? The market is clearly there.

The market is there but not necessarily for Sega.

It is there for Nintendo. And very likely for Sony. Could see a PS1 classic sell a shit ton. Biggest obstacle right is ironically the fact that it used CDs = much larger sized games. Still, 32GB wouldn't be too expensive, and is enough for 50+ games.

But yeah there isn't a tonne of incentive for companies to sell a closed platform when they have actual consoles selling. This was basically a prestige/iconic type product with a limited run.
 
Bloody baffling given supply never met demand, but Nintendo just have no more fucks left to give I guess.

Still, yet more proof no one hates Nintendo fans more than Nintendo.
 
Why do they leave money on the table? This is a revenue stream separate from the Switch and doesn't compete with it either. This is for people chomping on Member Berries who want to hold a NES controller in their hand. What the fuck
 

marrec

Banned
I know the truth. Or at least from what I heard from a Nintendo rep was that they use the same parts to manufacture as the Switch. So I guess they killed it to make more Switches.

This does not make sense.

I could see them killing the line to make factory space, but they do not use the same parts. :-/
 

EloquentM

aka Mannny
Why would they make so little of them when people want it so bad
Why would they do restocks in such an ass backwards manner
Cause It's Nintendo
They make stupid decisions
Stupid Nintendo != artificial scarcity
If it was they'd keep selling it in small ass shipments while increasing the price but this was never the case. It was a novelty product for the holiday season from the beginning because Wii U was dying. They continued producing them because of popularity and have discontinued them because they don't see a value proposition in continuing to sell them. I personally think that's idiotic but I still don't buy the artificial scarcity angle. Makes absolutely no sense to this day.
 
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