That the PlayStation Classic isn’t doing well has been clear for a while, given the bevy of price cuts we have seen for the microconsole in just over a month since it first came out. There are a variety of reasons as to why it might not have done well, from a poor lineup of games to well documented and reported emulation issues.

However, just how poorly it is doing may come as a shock to many—for instance, last month, the NES Classic, the two year old reissue of the 30 year old console, outsold the PlayStation Classic in the US, the NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella revealed on Twitter.

That said, it seems like the NES Classic performed like a freak of nature through 2018 in the US anyway. Piscatella revealed that in terms of unit sales, it outsold every other SKU on the market through 2018 other than the Neon Joycon Nintendo Switch bundle. This means that it effectively outsold PS4 and Xbox One in 2018! That said, the combined PS4 family and Xbox One family surely outsold it, since NES Classic is just one SKU.

It’s a stunning result—and makes it even more baffling that Nintendo will now be discounting selling it. It seems to me like it could become a long term source of revenue for them.

Had a few questions on Plug N Play – The NES Classic Edition was the best-selling Plug N Play system of December and 2018. Only the Switch 32GB Neon Red/Blue Joy Con item sold more units of hardware in 2018 than the NES Classic Edition.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 23, 2019

When Nintendo announced the NES Classic Mini and SNES Classic Mini would be returning to stores for the rest of the year, they also made sure to state very emphatically that the two systems will be available in stores only through the end of the year—presumably to give fans enough of a heads up to actually get one if they want, and to make sure expectations will be managed properly.

But since then, the two systems have gone on to do exceptionally well at the market, even topping the NPD Charts a few times. Surely that may have caused Nintendo to change their mind? Apparently, no. Speaking to Hollywood Reporter, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime reconfirmed that the NES and SNES Classic Mini will both be gone after this Holiday season, pointing to the Nintendo Switch Online service as the destination for classic Nintendo content going forward.

“We worked very hard, both for the NES Classic and the SNES Classic, to really have the best games that defined that generation. We’ve said that the current systems are the extent of our classic program,” he said. “We’ve also been clear that, at least from an Americas perspective, these products are going to be available through the holiday season and once they sell out, they’re gone. And that’s it. The way that consumers will be able to continue participating with our classic content is going to be through Nintendo Switch Online, and we just released three new games from the NES generation onto that platform. We look at that as the main way that consumers will be able to experience that legacy content.”

It’s a shame that Nintendo won’t be selling them on an ongoing basis, especially given how well they do, but at the same time, I can understand that they want to funnel people into buying a Switch, and then subscribing to their online service. I can only hope that, in the end, the much rumoured N64 Classic Mini will fill in the void that these two systems’ discontinuation will inevitably leave on the market.

To no one’s surprise, it seems like the PlayStation 4 ended up topping hardware charts in the United States in the month of October, according to the NPD Group’s report (via VentureBeat).

Buoyed, doubtless, by Red Dead Redemption 2, as well as the ongoing success of Spider-Man (as well as the Spider-Man Black Friday bundle), which launched just the month before, the PS4 ended up seeing the most dollars spent on it in terms of hardware during October, the most hardware units sold in October, the most units it has sold in October since it launched in 2013, as well as the most any PlayStation system has sold in October since the PS2 in October 2002. Whew lad.

The NPD Group also noted that the Xbox One was up year on year, and that the NES Classic and SNES Classic were huge drivers of hardware spending. Overall, it sounds like the industry is in a very healthy place right now. With November coming up, bringing with it a bunch of major launches, as well as the Holiday shopping season and discounts, next month’s NPD results will be particularly interesting to see.

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the NPD software results for October as well.

With sales like these, it’s no wonder Sony wants to jump on board on the Classic mini consoles craze. Nintendo announced in its earnings report that the NES Classic Mini and the SNES Classic Mini’s combined worldwide sales are now at 10 million units.

Given the cheapness of the products, the value involved in terms of the number of games you get out of the box, and the strong nostalgia factor included—which is compounded by the miniature hardware replicas that these consoles are—it’s no wonder that these machines have been so successful, especially since Nintendo has now been working to keep them in stock too.

In fact, Nintendo’s President Shuntaro Furukawa cited those exact reasons as key to these microconsoles’ success.

“Combined global sales of the NES Classic Edition and the Super NES Classic Edition have now surpassed 10 million units. The Super NES Classic Edition, released last fall, and the NES Classic Edition, re-released in June of this year, both continue to sell as must-have products, and the fact that they are so affordable suggests that they will be in even greater demand during the holiday season,” he said.

Nintendo will continue to sell them through this year, so if you didn’t buy them already, but do want to get your hands on one, you still have time. If you’re more of a PlayStation guy, then as noted, PlayStation Classic comes out on December 3.

My issue comes from something else entirely—how these Classic microconsoles represent a change in how Nintendo and Sony approach backwards compatibility. You see, both companies used to be known for their extremely pro-consumer attitude in terms of library continuity and backward compatibility. Sony made sure the PS2 was fully compatible with the PS1, made sure the PS3 was compatible with both at launch, made sure that its digital PS1 Classic purchases would carry over across to PSP and PS Vita on one license, and then made sure the PS Vita would be as compatible with the PSP as possible in spite of a format change.

Nintendo, similarly, made the Gameboy Color fully compatible with the Gameboy, the Gameboy Advance fully compatible with Gameboy and Gameboy Color, the DS compatible with GBA, the 3DS compatible with the DS, the Wii fully compatible with GameCube games and controllers, and the Wii U fully compatible with Wii games and controllers. It was a very healthy attitude towards their legacy content and systems—both companies acknowledged that their customers likely had already spent some money on games, controllers, memory cards, and so on, and that that shouldn’t be annulled just because there is a new console on the market.

"The Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 are complete, clean breaks from every other console or handheld that has come before. Admittedly, there are good reasons for both—the PlayStation 4 switched away from the exotic and frankly problematic Cell architecture used by the PS3 towards a more industry standard x86-64, while the Switch moved from PowerPC to ARM (and also saw a change in format)."

But that changed this generation entirely. The Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 are complete, clean breaks from every other console or handheld that has come before. Admittedly, there are good reasons for both—the PlayStation 4 switched away from the exotic and frankly problematic Cell architecture used by the PS3 towards a more industry standard x86-64, while the Switch moved from PowerPC to ARM (and also saw a change in format). So, fine—for both companies, direct backward compatibility with their respective previous consoles or handhelds was not possible. That’s admissible.

But what about digital purchases, and digitally offered legacy content? Sony and Nintendo have both dragged their feet on that front this generation. For instance, Sony has completely eschewed the PS Classics program, which offered downloadable PlayStation games, on the PS4, even though the console is more than capable of playing those games. Not only that, but the new PS2 Classics program that have instituted does not acknowledge a customer’s purchases made previously (so if you already bought GTA: San Andreas via the PS2 Classics program on PS3, you will have to pay full price money for it on the PS4). It’s blatantly anti-consumer, and totally belies how digital continuity works, well, literally anywhere else.

Then there is Nintendo. Nintendo have entirely discontinued their Virtual Console program (so there isn’t even a question of them acknowledging your previously made purchases), and the most you can get in terms of legacy content on the Switch is NES games, offered as part of the online subscription, and with online play added. But that’s it—you can’t get SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, DS, or 3DS games on the system, in spite of how perfectly suited to retro gaming the Switch is as a console (something that third parties like Sega, Square Enix, SNK, and Capcom sure seem to recognize, given how much retro content they dump on it on a routine basis).

In both cases, the companies seem to have decided that selling these microconsoles is a better way of monetizing their legacy content than their digital services and backward compatibility. And you know what, these microconsoles are good, they’re very successful—it’s hard to argue with the results when the NES was the top selling console in June 2018, thanks to the incredible success of the NES Classic Mini, for example. But why can it not be both? Why is it one or the other? Why can I not also buy PS1 games on my PS4, in addition to getting the PlayStation Classic? Why can I not buy SNES games on my Switch, in addition to getting the SNES Classic Mini? Why is it one or the other?

"The most amazing thing is how both companies are being schooled by Microsoft on this front—Microsoft, previously the company that has been least likely to provide compatibility, is going above and beyond on the Xbox One."

The most amazing thing is how both companies are being schooled by Microsoft on this front—Microsoft, previously the company that has been least likely to provide compatibility, is going above and beyond on the Xbox One. Microsoft is offering backward compatibility with Xbox 360 and Xbox games, with a catalog that is ever expanding, and they don’t charge a single penny for it. If you already bought these games, you can play them on your Xbox One, and get enhancements along the way. If you bought the disc, you can play them on your Xbox One, and get enhancements along the way. While Nintendo and Sony are more than happy to sell full priced remasters of games not even half a decade old on their new machines, Microsoft offers full 4K upgrades for far older games for absolutely free on the Xbox One X.

As digital libraries and ecosystems become more and more important going forward, something that Sony and Nintendo are both acutely aware of, maintaining continuity and compatibility like Microsoft does will become ever more important. With the Switch and the PS4, Sony and Nintendo might have been able to get away with their clean breaks and their hard resets—they even had some good excuses—but this isn’t a stunt they’ll be able to pull off a second time. If the PS5 and Switch 2 are not compatible with their predecessors, you can bet customers will be far less understanding than they’ve been so far. Best to just avoid that situation.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Over on the hardware front, the NPD report for the month of June furnished a result I am sure literally no one in the world could have expected- the best selling console of June in the US was not the PS4 or the Switch. It wasn’t even the Xbox One. No, it was the NES Classic Mini, which ended as the highest selling console of the month (PS4 still generated more revenue, due to being more expensive).

Yes, in 2018, the NES was the highest selling console of the month. “This is the first time a Nintendo Entertainment System console has led in monthly unit sales since NPD tracking began in 1995,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella to VentureBeat.

The PS4, of course, did well as well, ending as the best selling console out of the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One category; incredibly enough, however, it sounds like all three consoles did well. The PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch all saw year on year increases- Xbox One generated double the revenue that it did last year in June, while Switch sold 50% more units in June 2018 than it did in June 2017.

The most surprising thing isn’t that all three of these consoles (and the NES Classic!) did well, however- it seems to be that even the Nintendo 3DS, now in its eighth year on the market, saw a YoY increase, leading to increased YoY sales for the entire handheld segment as a result. No wonder Nintendo wants to keep it around!

You can check out the software sales results by NPD for the month of June for yourself here, if you have not already.

While console gaming existed before Nintendo and their Nintendo Entertainment System (née Famicom), it was the Famicom that truly defined the medium as we know it today. I’m not even going to get into all the influential games, franchises, and gameplay concepts that were pioneered on the console. I’m not even getting into how the modern game controller is still built on what Nintendo managed with the Famicom all those years ago.

Even the basic concept of a platform with gated access for third parties, and licensing- something that goes well beyond gaming, and is emulated in all other computing markets, from smartphones, tablets, smart speakers, and beyond- comes from the Famicom, and Nintendo’s licensing model.

The Famicom was a revolutionary system. And now, it has turned 35 years old, because 35 years ago, it was launched in Japan. The initial launch of the system was a failure, and it would take a few years before it would dominate. It would also be a few years before it would come to the United States as the NES (the US market having been ravaged by the video game crash of 1983 the same year the Famicom launched in Japan).

So, happy anniversary to the progenitor of the modern console gaming market. If you want to pay tribute to it, NES Classics are now available to buy in stores again, and will be through to the end of the year.

The NES Classic Mini was absurdly overpowered for its job- the hardware inside the box, meant to perfectly emulate Nintendo’s 8-bit console, was so powerful that it could realistically emulate games from well beyond the NES console era.

And it looks like Nintendo has leveraged that fact with the SNES Classic Mini- because it is using identical hardware under the hood as last year’s unexpectedly popular NES Mini. Digital Foundry discovered this in their technical analysis of the console, noting that the system comes with an Allwinner R16 SoC chip with four ARM Cortex A7s, combined with an ARM Mali 400 MP2 GPU, a 256MB DDR3 module, and 512MB of NAND storage. All of this is actually too powerful even for an SNES- so there is actually a possibility we see this same hardware in a hypothetical N64 Classic Mini, should that ever pan out.

The SNES Classic Mini launches tomorrow- it will cost $80, and it will come with over 20 of the SNES’s finest games (many regarded as some of the greatest games ever made), including the previously unreleased Star Fox 2.

The NES Classic Mini was meant to be a timed novelty item; so was the SNES Classic Mini (though Nintendo claimed to have learned from the incessant demand for the NES Classic Mini, and promised to have more in stock this time around).

Apparently, the sheer demand for these systems has changed Nintendo’s mind on the status of these systems, however- in a new statement, Nintendo has confirmed its intent not just to continue selling the SNES Classic Mini beyond the end of this calendar year (which was when it was originally slated for discontinuation), but also to bring back the NES Classic Mini next year, too.

The NES Classic Mini’s availability was a total mess, with the system being produced in extremely short supplies, and being sold out, then being flipped on auction sites for exorbitant prices. Nintendo has previously emphasized that the SNES Classic Mini would not be a repeat of that, with Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime very explicitly urging would be buyers to not resort to buying from scalpers.

The exact date that the NES Classic Mini will return to being sold next year is unknown for now- Nintendo has promised to share more details on this on a future date.

Google has released the list of the top searched terms on their search engine globally in 2016, and it looks like the most searched video game related items worldwide this year included Pokemon GO, which is the landmark mobile AR game that released earlier this year to phenomenal success. Pokemon GO being on the list should not surprise anyone- it is the most successful mobile game of all time, after all.

What does surprise is the fact that Nintendo Switch is one of the top searched terms in 2016, too- it actually ranks extremely high among consumer tech related search terms, and is the only bit of video game related hardware to make it on the list. This seems to indicate that interest in Nintendo’s upcoming system is at an all time high- if Nintendo were to play it right, they could have a hit on their hands.

Regionally, the situation appears to largely be the same- in the US, Pokemon GO features as one of the most searched terms across categories (not including other Pokemon GO related searches, such as ‘What is Pokemon GO‘, ‘how do you play Pokemon GO‘, and ‘Pokemon GO memes’); that said, the highest ranked video game (as in, not an app) for the US appears to be Slither.io followed by Agar.io. Overwatch is next, predictably, and the controversial No Man’s Sky gets a peek in at number 9, too. On the hardware front, the Nintendo Switch is again, shockingly searched for a lot, featuring in the top 5, and the PS4 Pro manages to get in the Top 10 as well, although it is beaten to the punch by Nintendo’s NES Classic Mini. The Scorpio does not figure in the list.

Pokemon GO‘s dominance continues over on the UK charts, where, again, Nintendo manages to beat Sony on the hardware related searches too- though here, the search term is a more generic ‘Nintendo,’ and the Sony hardware figuring on the list is not PlayStation 4 Pro, but PlayStation VR.

Given the sample size and representation – this is a collation of Google searches, which means that nothing is ever going to get as representative of mainstream opinion as this will – this can be safely used to gauge interest in something by the mainstream public, beyond even the gaming enthusiast sphere, and… it sounds like Nintendo, in spite of having to suffer the ignominy of the Wii U’s failure, had a banner year this year, with Pokemon GO and the NES Classic Mini. Interest in their upcoming Switch appears to be at an all time high, with searches for it rivalling searches for Samsung and Apple devices, which means that if Nintendo somehow manages to not mess things up from here, they could have a legitimate bona fide hit on their hands again- they just need to play their cards very, very carefully.