NES Classic Edition Discontinued Worldwide

[Lizzy Finnegan]

NES Classic Edition Discontinued Worldwide

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Nintendo has confirmed that production on the miniature NES console has been discontinued worldwide.

The Reggie Fils-Aime saying [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167933-Nintendo-Announces-NES-Classic-Edition-Launching-in-November] that the console was intended to be for adults "who grew up playing NES as a kid...but had stepped away from the gaming category." However, the console's unexpected popularity among "more active gamers" led to more demand than the company had prepared for.

Last week, had also ceased [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/170091-The-Last-NES-Classic-Edition-Shipments-are-Hitting-North-America-This-Month].

Now, Nintendo has now officially confirmed in a statement to Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-04-18-nes-mini-discontinued-in-europe-too] that production on the console has stopped.

"We can confirm that we are no longer manufacturing the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System," a Nintendo spokesperson told Eurogamer. "If production resumes in the future, an update will be posted on the official Nintendo website."

A quick look at ebay [http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xnes+classic+edition.TRS0&_nkw=nes+classic+edition&_sacat=0&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true] shows multiple listings for the NES Classic Edition, ranging anywhere from around $200 to $500 as of the time of this posting.

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[RJ 17]

I believe Total Biscuit said it best: Nintendo just hates money.

 

[Bindal]

I believe Total Biscuit said it best: Nintendo just hates money.

After they got drowned in it with the DS and 3DS, probably.

 

[circularlogic88]

I don't think I'll ever understand Nintendo's business practices. Would've picked one up if I ever saw one in the stores. Guess I'll finally start dabbling Raspberry Pi and try finding a cool Nintendo-esque case to house it.

 

[MonsterCrit]

I believe Total Biscuit said it best: Nintendo just hates money.

Actually it's brilliant I mean how do you expect them to sell the subscription service on the Wii if people can just buy those classic games on something like the NES classic.

 

[Erttheking]

....WHY!? What is the fucking point? It was selling like hot cakes! UGH! Well, I smell a Jimquisition episode about this coming.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

I believe Total Biscuit said it best: Nintendo just hates money.

After they got drowned in it with the DS and 3DS, probably.

Pretty sure that money isn't as big as people think. Software makes the money, and though to a lesser degree, 3rd party doesn't do too well on DS and 3DS. Its like Monster Hunter and a couple of games I can't even name. Bravely Default did well.

And many people seem to think the Switch maybe in place as Nintendo's martketplace instead of the 3DS. I'm not so sure, but that idea is being thrown out there by Nintendo fans.

 

[RaikuFA]

....WHY!? What is the fucking point? It was selling like hot cakes! UGH! Well, I smell a Jimquisition episode about this coming.

He wrote an article about it.

http://www.thejimquisition.com/whats-nintendos-fucking-problem/

 

[Kurt91]

The only flaw that I can think of regarding the NES Classic was that you were stuck with whatever games were already on it. (I'm not including hacking it to add more, of course) I'll bet that anybody who used it as intended only played the major stuff like Mega Man and Super Mario Bros, and probably one of the lesser-known games that they particularly liked, and most of the games on there never got touched more than once.

The ONLY reason that I could understand stopping production and discontinuing the thing at this point would be if they had something better in mind that they wanted to replace it with. For instance, imagine something identical to the NES Classic, but it was able to access the Virtual Console section of the eShop. Make versions that are all identical, except that they look like various classic systems (NES Edition, Super NES Edition, Nintendo 64 Edition), and include either a controller similar to a Pro Controller, or a controller for each system represented. Finally, include an SD Card slot for storage. (No internal storage, to keep costs to a minimum)

If Nintendo was planning something like that, I can imagine discontinuing the NES Classic. I doubt it, though, so I have no idea why they'd do this. You'd think they'd keep it up until they had exhausted all the profit they could from it, then throw it out and start selling a "Super NES Classic", or even pull what Disney does with their old movies and cycle production between the various versions every few years. (Hell, let's say yearly cycles, and you tweak the games list each time. You get all the profits every few years, and the only additional work is having one guy spend ten minutes switching the ROM list.)

 

[fix-the-spade]

Pretty sure that money isn't as big as people think. Software makes the money, and though to a lesser degree, 3rd party doesn't do too well on DS and 3DS. Its like Monster Hunter and a couple of games I can't even name. Bravely Default did well.

A few years ago Nintendo reportedly had cash reserves of US$10billion, their policy of selling hardware at profit from launch or as close to launch as possible has paid literal dividends.

After all they have sold more than 200 million DS and 3DS units in the last decade, even if they made $10 per unit sold that's still a couple of billion dollars worth of profit. Except for the Virtual Boy, Wii U and N64 Nintendo have never really lost money on hardware.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Another head scratching move by Nintendo. I work in retail and I have never seen one of these things because they're so rare, and now they're not going to make any more. I just...okay, fine, whatever.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Pretty sure that money isn't as big as people think. Software makes the money, and though to a lesser degree, 3rd party doesn't do too well on DS and 3DS. Its like Monster Hunter and a couple of games I can't even name. Bravely Default did well.

A few years ago Nintendo reportedly had cash reserves of US$10billion, their policy of selling hardware at profit from launch or as close to launch as possible has paid literal dividends.

After all they have sold more than 200 million DS and 3DS units in the last decade, even if they made $10 per unit sold that's still a couple of billion dollars worth of profit. Except for the Virtual Boy, Wii U and N64 Nintendo have never really lost money on hardware.

That cash reserve is now at about 4.6 billion as of last year. Clearly they've lost a good chunk of that $10 billion. Its not losing money on hardware that's the problem. Sony and MS have up until this gen always sold hardware at a loss. Software money is king to these companies. While Nintendo rarely loses money on hardware, every home console they've put out barring the Wii has sold millions less than its predecessor. And Nintendo has had a hard time finding success with Nintendo since the N64. Hell, they effectively lost the niche import console market to the Playstation. They for sure don't see JRPGs sell on their home consoles like they used to back in the SNES and NES era. We're seeing more of that genre on PC than a Nintendo home console these days thanks to Japan's console market overall not doing to well.

 

[Chewster]

Apparently the Mini Famicom production halt is only temporary. Production will possibly resume later? Or so I read. [http://kotaku.com/nintendo-also-discontinues-the-mini-famicom-for-japan-1794319624]

So I guess this just lends more credibility to the theory that Nintendo is going to release a more flexible Mini NES version with pay and download capabilities or that they are somehow going to integrate it into the Switch store, though given their garbage track record with anything online, I won't be holding my breath for either option.

Honestly, after this round of consoles, I give up trying to understand. She Nintendo moves in mysterious ways.

 

[babinro]

I believe Total Biscuit said it best: Nintendo just hates money.

They really do.

This is great news for collectors but its strange that Nintendo deliberately choose to only cater to that market. There is an SNES version coming out now and I can only assume they'll make the same terrible choice.

If your goal was to make collectors happy while turning a whole new generation of casual fans towards roms/emulators to get a fix for their hype then mission accomplished Nintendo.