Stop me if you’ve heard this one before- Nintendo launch a new item, but undership it to stores worldwide to the extent that only very few people can actually get their hands on one. This leads to a kind of self feeding hype and frenzy cycle, feeding the illusion of a product that’s a ‘hot’ one, causing more people to want one simply because of the hype. Nintendo have been legendary for this sort of thing- they did it with the Wii, they did it with Amiibos, and now they are doing it again with the NES Classic Edition.
The NES Classic Edition has been entirely sold out, with most stores, receiving very few units to begin with, selling out of their stock within minutes. The problem was further exacerbated by the simple fact that Nintendo had not allowed pre-orders for the system- the result now is that NES Classic Editions are being flipped on eBay and similar sites for hundreds of dollars.
For once, however, it seems like Nintendo are at least being transparent with fans- speaking on their Twitter, Nintendo assured fans that they were aware of the demand for the NES Classic, and that they would have enough in stock over the holidays. “The Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition system is a hot item, and we are working hard to keep up with consumer demand. There will be a steady flow of additional systems through the holiday shopping season and into the new year,” they said.
Which is great- but hey, maybe they shouldn’t have undershipped the damn thing so much to begin with. Hopefully the Switch launch is handled better, but with Nintendo planning on shipping only 2 million of them for the first month, I’m not too sure that it will be.