Like It Or Not, NES Classic's Discontinuation Is A Strategic Move

GameRevolution: "Given the circumstances I can understand the resulting frustration, and as someone who wasn’t able to get an NES Classic myself, I’m sympathetic to the cause of those angered by Nintendo’s call. One perspective I’m less behind, though, is the criticism of Nintendo’s business decision from a company health or profit point of view. Already on forums and elsewhere I’m seeing a lot of “this is money left on the table,” “Nintendo is so stupid,” and the classic, “clearly they just hate making money.” I can understand why these reactions arise, but ultimately they’re both shortsighted and misguided."

[Nodoze]

It is utter BS. F U Nintendo, I am done with you. Forced scarcity, followed by discontinuation. The only benefactors are the Ebay scalpers. So thanks Nintendo for getting my son interested in a product that we can never buy. Oh and we are now not buying a Switch. It is destined to follow the WiiU with ABYSMAL 3rd party support and will be sitting on shelves soon enough.

[R00bot]

Wow, calm down man it's just a $50 hunk of plastic. I'm sorry your son won't be able to have it but he probably would have got bored of it fairly quickly, and then you can't get any more games on it as they all come with the system.

[InTheZoneAC]

it's people like you that annoy the hell out of me. Instead of reacting to the bs article you simply attack or focus your attention on a person that has a reason to be upset.

Regardless of what nodoze stated your comment was unnecessary.

[Prince_TFK]

@inthezoneac

Wow just wow...I wonder what kind of google you are wearing while reading roobot's comment.

[Sitdown]

@InTheZoneAC
And it's people like you who annoy others. Nintendo is not entitled to appease anybody but their share holders. If it's about the games, those can be played in other ways...I still have my original NES. Don't get mad at eBay scalpers if they paid the price on the front end to profit on the back. Reality is, he can purchase one if he likes, he's just not willing to pay the new price of admission. He won't by a Switch because he thinks it will end like the WiiU, but upset that he can't a system locked in at 30 games with no future support.

[MrBrofist]

Im sorry but I kinda agree this is a mistake.

This thing attracted many gamers who no longer play Nintendo consoles and people who don't game any more in general.

This could have been a good side hustle for them but I guess they don't want to make more money

[TheUndertaker85]

Hackers showed that it would be possible for more games to be stored on the NES Classic

[rocketpanda]

No, not calm down. Nintendo released a massive nostalgic product knowing there will be a demand, purposely understocks them whilst scalpers managed to snag them and sell them at much higher prices.

How is that supposed to temp anyone to buy a Switch let alone any other Nintendo product?

[metalgod88]

You should look into the retro pie. It would be a cool project you both can work on. And, not only can you have every NES game, but SNES, N64, SEGA Genesis...etc.. through emulation.

[MetroidFREAK21]

You really need to grow up and stop acting like a child. If you want your son to see what the NES is, why not buy an actual NES? Why show him an emulator in a plastic shell? Get the actual device with the actual cartridges and teach him about gaming history instead of whining on a forum website where Nintendo will not see you complain and say you will not buy their new console... It's hard to believe you're a parent

[Nodoze]

Hey MetroidFREAK21, You know nothing about me, my family, my lifestyle, or the lifestyle I provide for them...so on that matter you should STFU. Back on topic - I see you will clearly defend Nintendo to the last (regardless of the stupid decisions they make). Enjoy the ride they take you on.

No company in their right mind would advertise, release, sell out, then DISCONTINUE the product. It is absolutely ridiculous from a business perspective. Nintendo saw that the product they released was easily hacked and that more than likely was the primary reason they disco'd it. So instead of dealing with the core issue, stepping into the modern age with their mindset and approach, they decided to just discontinue making it. Real mature of them.

Have fun with them. Their ridiculous approach to user management (or lackthereof), their new network they are now charging for, and the cell phone app required to use it. Their stuff is so poorly implemented that it is readily apparent to all they are simply too far out of touch to recover. Sad really as their core software (which we ALL love) is just so good. If they went 3rd party they would make an absolute killing. Playing their software on PROPER hardware from this decade, with proper account management and online infrastructure...sign me up.

So if you want to chat more on topic, chime in. For things you know nothing about, sit down son and mind your mouth.

[Prince_TFK]

If you really want to buy it you would had bought it a long time ago. And don't give me the "shortage" bs, there are plenty of opportunities to buy it before it goes out of stock.

Stop hating just for the sake of hating man. You also don't need to buy a switch if you got a ps4, because it already has so many great games to play already.

[MrBrofist]

How could anyone buy it if it's under stocked and sold out faster than one can blink?

I'm a huge Nintendo fan but I'm not blind. They messed up with this thing. They should have told people this was a limited time thing and should have tried harder to meet the demand.

I won't hold a grudge against them but I am disappointed with how they handled it.

[MorpheusX]

@Kun_ADR

" Wow just wow...I wonder what kind of google you are wearing while reading roobot's comment. "

WT?, You get the award for the Fakest Exaggeration of the Year.

You need to STFU, seriously. smh

[Jon_Targaryen]

Dude you know you can softmod a Xbox OG and run all the NES, SNES, SEGA basically any console until the late 90's via roms that ever existed? calm ya self.

[InTheZoneAC]

the problem with this is you said xbox

[BVFTW]

You have every right to be upset and annoyed by Nintendo stupidity Nodoze. I also feel betrayed as well and I do believe this is gonna cost Nintendo some old school fans (that won't pass the torch to their kids), I've seen some comments like yours online. They only produced like a 1.5 million of a product that was very nostalgic and appelling to those who lived and enjoyed the NES days, over 34 million people, so only a few of those fans would've been able adquire one. Like always, overzealous fanboys are gonna try to downplay your opinion with stupid bs like you should buy an original NES and start to collect games when in reality, the Mini Nes was just a hassle free, good enough way to play some classics and introduce our kids to a console we loved when we were kids ourselves without having to worry about procuring a working crt tv or buying a good adapter, input lag, working controllers, cleaning a console and the games the right way if you enconter a problem or setting up emulators, video filters, scalers, round or square pixels, frame speed or skeeping, mappers, accuaracy, etc.

[MetroidFREAK21]

Lol nerd

[bluefox755]

Nintendo always pulls crap like this, screw em, makes me feel better about not supporting them for the last 15 years or so. Why should they care though, they still have a loyal following of apologists.

[Athos]

So lets see, you didnt buy a GameCube, Wii, Wii U, Gameboy Advance, DS or 3ds but you are still here bitching about Nintendo's practices. Yeah, I would say your opinion doesn't mean crap.

[GuruStarr78]

I snagged two really quick yesterday on Craigslist after the announcement.

Then sold one of them to pay for both.

Got myself a free Nintendo Classic Edition - bam!

Think smarter... not harder - said someone.

[3-4-5]

chill you big baby...you were never with them to begin with...don't lie

[rainslacker]

Just buy a good ol' NES, and a bunch of games. There are people selling them for the same price as a retail priced NES classic on ebay. If you're really inspired, you can get mods to output it through HDMI. On the plus side, you can always add more games, which you can often find sets for the cheap on ebay. So on and so forth. On another plus, it can be a great start to starting a game collection.

The NES classic was a waste IMO. All it served was a nostalgia factor. For those who actually want a good retro experience with newer hardware, there are other 3rd party alternatives which are much better. Heck, Sega has had a Genesis classic type thing for years now. It's easy enough to find, officially licensed, and has more games than the NES classic.

[Goldeneye007]

Boo-hoo, "eBay scalpers," boo-hoo. Have you ever heard of supply and demand? It's a seller's market right now. Try doing a little research to find one at a retail store. I've bought, and sold, at least two dozen NES Classics simply by figuring out the right time to show up on the right days to get what I want. I've even got a regular job work around, too, but I haven't let that stop me from raking in the cash by reselling the NES Classics. So don't say it's "a product [you] can never buy," or that you're too busy with your job. If you REALLY wanted your son to have one, you'd figure out a way to make it happen. You simply lack the drive, the initiative and the ambition to do what needs to be done to get one for yourself, so quit bitching and moaning about it and do what it takes to get one at retail, crybaby.

Just get an old Wii, easily hack it and install a bunch of emulators on it and you'll have the entire NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, SNES and Genesis libraries on it. Maybe then you'll quit complaining. Hell, I'll do all the work for you for free just to get you to shut up!

[CrimsonWing69]

Way to shaft your fans. Strategic plan you say? So why didn't Nintendo handle this better announce a pre order day so everyone interested could get one and then cut it off after that without people having to go through a Battle Royale to get the damn thing.

I have tried like hell to get one but haven't and Nintendo now has this strategic plan to not produce anymore. Awesome... love ya Nintendo!

[Fist4achin]

Battle Royale, I love it!

I don't get it. Stores can't even keep these on the shelves and they are discontinuing them?! They must not want to make money. Instead the scalpers will on eBay.

[CrimsonWing69]

I know, right!? This thing was never properly in stock at any given time during its release. That's what gets me over this. Had there been a period where you could just walk in to a store and buy it I wouldn't be so upset.

I have tried though and everytime Walmart, Toysrus, Target, and Bestbuy would tell me they "just" sold their last one and they only got 3 or less in.

They even made announcements saying they're getting more in to retail acknowledging the demand but what do they end up doing now? Just straight discontinuing it. I hate the monkeys they have running this company.

[InTheZoneAC]

strategically stupid, no delusional person could ever deny that.

[Knushwood Butt]

Nintendo released a product with poor security (yet again) thst got hacked (yet again).

Then fans got shafted.

I'm a Nintendo hater but still got one.

Go figure.

[VincentCastle]

how did it get hacked? they just found a roundabout way to get the web browser

[R00bot]

Think he was talking about the NES Classic, people worked out how to get more NES games on it lol. Not really anything too bad as anyone with a computer can play any NES game right now with an emulator.

[TheUndertaker85]

http://www.polygon.com/2017...

Newer progress goes as far as 700 games on the NES Classic.

[hiawa23]

I was thinking it wad strategic. Discontinue the Nes Classic, and if gamers want to play Nes games, get them to buy the Switch and buy the games in the virual console.

[frostypants]

You are likely correct. The problem is, that's a stupid strategy. Nobody is going to drop that kind of coin on a console if their primary intention is just to play retro games. And that describes a lot of the people who bought the Classic. The Classic was something even non-gamers could appreciate. It was nostalgia. No casual is going to spend $300 for that though.

Let's be honest...outside of the Wii, Nintendo's console marketing has been a comedy of errors since the N64. And I'd argue they lucked into the Wii and that it could have been even MORE successful under better strategic leadership (instead of becoming a popular doorstop after a couple of years).

[rainslacker]

That's the thing. Casuals aren't going to spend a lot of money on it. Collectors aren't eiher, because they can get the real thing cheaper, with more games.

This console appeals to those on the nostalgia level, and for $50, it was cool enough I guess. But I think even the hype was manufactured because of the shortages. Sega has had a console like this out for years now, and it's still being sold and officially licensed, and it has nowhere near the hype this thing has. It never has.

The high prices on Ebay are a result of the shortages, and the manufactured hype, with people who don't know any better buying it up because they feel it's going to be worth a fortune in the future, when it won't be. These things will be so easy to find in 1-2 years, that they'll be less than $50 from all the people who brought it, played it for an hour or two, then threw it into a closet.

It's a cool system and all, and neat for what it is. but it's not a collectible item, and as far as a licensed nostalgic retro thing, it's not even that great for what it offers. Sega's offering is much better, and the unofficial 3rd party retro systems are exponentially better than either one.

[DrumBeat]

Garbage move. I expect this honeymoon with Switch to end soon.

[Patriot4Life]

The only people who benefit from this is those dam scalpers who took all the stock just so that they can resell them for a ridiculous price.

[PaulKersey]

It will, when people realize that third party support will be minimal (surprise!).

[pleasuretokill]

This, people, is why I pirate old games with no remorse at all, whatsoever! Nintendo is such a terrible company, and the Switch is an abysmal failure of a console, just as the Wii and Wii U were. I'm done supporting them for good. They shaped my childhood, for sure, but what they have become as a company is inexcusable.

[frostypants]

It's technically a legal grey area. It's entirely arguable that the NES library became abandonware a long, long time ago. Maybe the whole point of the Classic was purely so Nintendo could shore up some additional legal dispute to abandonware claims. Cynical, sure. But I could see them doing it. It would be a very good explanation for the short run of it.

[rainslacker]

I wouldn't say abandonware. Quite a few of those NES games are being sold on the virtual console, which makes them active IP's and software.

[Athos]

But yet you pirate games. You sir are garbage.

[Seraphim]

@ athos,

I'd say it's one thing to Pirate games but a totally different thing to Pirate Old Games. Games such as the NES to even PS2 aren't available. At least not in a manner that gives money back to the developer, publisher or console maker. I buy all my games but if someone wants to 'pirate' an NES game instead of buying an original, used NES or one of those knockoff new 3rd party systems then buy a used cartridge then I saw feel free. After all, these games are so old, unavailable and virtually abandoned... Granted there are some exceptions and some titles are available on new systems so an argument could be made regarding those but everything else, why not? Is it really pirating when, if you buy a used physical copy of a 15-30 year old game from a 3rd party and the developer, publisher, console maker aren't benefiting?

[Athos]

What especially bothers me is his hypocritical attitude. First he trashes the company but yet pirates their games.

[R00bot]

Probably some kind of manufacturing reason behind it such as needing the factory for the Switch, or maybe the company they were making it with is going out of business, or a chip in the console is no longer being sold.
I doubt Nintendo would kill it off for no reason given the interest it gained for the company.

[Uken12]

Finally a person with logic. Apparently everyone on N4G knows how mass production works and runs their own manufacturing warehouses in China.

[Tetsujin]

@R00bot

If Nintendo at least explained why it's being discontinued, then the majority wouldn't be as upset with Nintendo. I do get what you're saying, and it does make a lot of sense. At the same time, they just released a "No, we're done" and left it at that. Without reasoning behind this decision does make fans question and wonder what's going on.

What really bothers the majority, how they said the North American side of it was discontinued. Nintendo could even say something like "We're working on a different/newer model and will update as time goes on" is far more acceptable.

[septemberindecember]

Personally, I think that it was never meant to be mass produced. I think they created the console to meet fiscal year projections and look good for investors. Which makes sense since they stopped production of the NES classic right after the fiscal year ended.

Now they can concentrate their resources on stocking the Switch and developing games. Which, honestly, is better for the gamer.

[MilkMan]

I've played these games a bazillion time. Retire them if you wish. You can find them literally anywhere.

[MetroidFREAK21]

They really should just focus on the Switch...

[PaulKersey]

They should focus on getting third parties to give a crap about Switch.

[InTheZoneAC]

how do we downvote or block articles and their sources?

[EddieNX]

It was only intended to be a novelty stocking filler. Who cares anyway?

[Uken12]

Lol so true. I got one but personally I didn't care since I owned most of them on Virtual Console already.

[2pacalypsenow]

It's just typical Nintendo not understanding the current game market, which is why they will continue to be 3rd, they put their own interests over the consumer and expect everyone to flock to them because they're Nintendo.

[Skankinruby]

It's a sketchy, sleazy way to get more money out of consumers. Nintendo ain't getting a dime from me. I was willing to spend 60 on this when they restocked it but if the raise the price then I've completely lost interest.

[Jon_Targaryen]

they discontinued it because people hacked it left right and center putting hundreds to thousands of roms on it even running n64 games on it. Thats why.

[PaulKersey]

Then why haven't they discontinued the 3DS? It was hacked quite a while ago.

[AnubisG]

Nintendo was sitting on a potential gold mine. I guess they don't like money.

[drunkenspy007]

It's also a dick move that will lead to more piracy.

[PaulKersey]

Yeah, I can't count how many "I'm getting a Raspberry Pi 3" responses since this news broke.

[frostypants]

Now they'll get $0 from me instead of $60.

http://i.imgur.com/XGhq6Nm....

[ruefrak]

I think there's an easier explanation. Nintendo wasn't sure if Switch would sell or not. They were hedging their bets and needed to have something bringing in money until their fiscal year was over. They never indicated this was a limited release item, and quite the opposite actually. Their CEO made statements about how they were ramping up production and how it was difficult getting the parts manufacturing to speed up to meet demand.

Once it became clear to them that Switch wasn't going to be a failure, they decided to cut the Classic. They come up with some BS reason as to why, and they know a bunch of people will defend their actions until it all blows over.

[PaulKersey]

Let's not crown Switch a success until Nintendo actually supplies the market like their competitors. Sure, fanboys/scalpers/impulse buyers are snatching them up now, but what about a year from now?

[ruefrak]

Sure, but after selling out their 2-something million in the first month, I think Nintendo breathed a sigh of relief and feel confident it isn't going to be a Wii U bomb. They see the coverage and the interest and they know (or at least are anticipating) that Switch will sell pretty well for awhile.

[NohansenBoy]

Strategic enough to make me wanna invest in my own ROM dumping hardware.

[V0LT]

LOL. No it isn't. This is a money maker but they failed to produce enough. There are tons of people interested. I never once seen one on the shelf. I own a Pi but this would have been nice to have.

[iofhua]

Manipulating scarcity to increase demand for their products is Nintendo's bread and butter. I agree the only winners here are eBay scalpers. Nintendo must love the gray market. I wonder how many Nintendo employees have EBay profiles?

[Tzuno]

Use emulators, case closed.

[septemberindecember]

I appreciate the premise of this article. There were many that were quick to hate on Nintendo for this decision and call them idiots. However, from a business perspective stopping production of the NES classic to put more resources into both game development and production of the Switch is a better choice. The NES Classic is a one time sale, the Switch is a sale for each console sold and then a sale for every game sold on top of that.

It still sucks though. I never got my hands on the NES Classic. Eventually I gave up looking. If/when Nintendo produces an SNES classic there is no excuse for them to say "we didn't know demand would be this high"

[GrizToof]

This is bad news, even though i own most of these already my plan was to pick one up eventually. A decision that will surely leave potential profit on the table is not smart business no matter how you look at it.

[leeeroythe3rd]

They simply want to sell those same games on the switch. Classic is a teaser to bring people back with hopes to hook them on the switch and resell. The free pub from bullshit production was the entire purpose. I love games and nintendo but their practice to exclude customers from items that easily could be released has soured me. I would prefer the switch to fail like it should. Alas i believe the marketing strat worked as people are buying every system available with only a single title to play

[DJ_Professor_K]

nintendo fan = masochist

[meka2611]

Lol strategic my ass. Only reason they did this so more people would buy their horrible switch system. I didn't get a chance to get the nintendo console, but seemed like a good idea. Typical nintendo though, they send out just a couple copies of it and drive up the damn price as always. I worked at gamestop and nintendo would rarely send us more than a handful of any product. I remember when the wii u pro controller was big, they would send us three in a shipment.

[GuruStarr78]

boo-hoo

[NecoTehSergal]

I've been 'Against' Nintendo and their usual tactics for almost a decade now, nothing surprises me when it's from Nintendo, it's always usually Anti-Consumer or Anti-Fans while they put themselves on a golden pedestal that the desperate, bipolar Fanbase of theirs holds up with just nostalgia alone. They're a dying company who're relying on deceptive practices, misinformation and bloated hype about console sales that aren't even that great just to stay relative. Some may think this shitposting, trolling, or exaggerating, but trust me - you'll see in 3-4 years, Switch will repeat Wii U's failures and sell low.

In this article we see the example of the false-hype and sales-bloating that they did on Amiibos, remember them? While SOME Amiibo's were just 'magically super rare' that Scalpers also had a field day with. They granted specific numbers of specific rarity to random toys that cost exactly the same - it's the same strategy with Pokemon Cards, only they have a valid reason to create a Market of Common vs Uncommon, Rare and Legendary cards - in this, Amiibo's and the products they release do not have a Rarity, it's a fabricated rarity that serves only the purpose of inflating 'Nothingness' - very similar to CSGO and Valves' weapon-skin market. Valve does this to gain a quick buck against Gambling-addiction people as a side-job, whether you love it or hate it. Nintendo does this kind of shit as their Main job, their primary practice, rather than a 'side job to get more money'.

[DivineAssault]

Only nintendo lol.. Them virtual console games gotta be sold again for them.. They better have HD settings or something.. Not that i care because i own most of the retro games i want.. I just keep them on display in the mancave and use emulators primarily.. The retro freak console works like a charm on any HD TV too

[Hugodastrevas]

Nintendo fanboys will clap for every retarded move Nintendo makes, this article is just more evidence of that.

[Sirk7x]

If I HAD to guess, perhaps the case is that Nintendo bought surplus parts for use in the manufacturing of the NES Classic that were very cheap at the time. If they sold all of them off that were available, and the parts are either not available or have become more expensive, that could have given them reason to decide against further production. In running any business, there is much more overhead than most of you would believe.

[ParanoidFreak]

I never even SAW an NES Classic in real life -- let alone got one. Now I'll never own one because I'm not getting one from a scalper and paying through the nose. I refuse. Nintendon't can kiss ANY $$$ they would have made from me good-bye. And for Reggie to say they were ramping-up production was a bold-faced LIE. They needed a profit to show for end of last year. This was never a long-term product. They lied and I won't forget. Besides, Nintendo, as a company, has been garbage ever since the Wii. GameCube was their last decent offering. DONE WITH THEM.