Nintendo has abruptly decided to end North American production of the NES Classic, one of their most popular items in years, the company said today.
In a statement to IGN, Nintendo confirmed that it will no longer produce new mini-NES systems in North America — at least in 2017:
Throughout April, NOA territories will receive the last shipments of Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition systems for this year. We encourage anyone interested in obtaining this system to check with retail outlets regarding availability. We understand that it has been difficult for many consumers to find a system, and for that we apologise. We have paid close attention to consumer feedback, and we greatly appreciate the incredible level of consumer interest and support for this product.
The NES Classic, an adorable miniature computer with an NES-styled shell that plays 30 different classic NES games, has been one of the most popular limited edition items in recent memory. Scalpers have made a fortune buying up NES Classics and marking up prices on eBay, and this decision will no doubt exacerbate that problem.
In Australia, reports have already surfaced of stores receiving their final shipments of the NES Classic. Vooks wrote that stores have been told “that stores have been told there will be no more NES Mini stock to order and to stop taking orders / pre-orders for them if they were doing so.”
Given the widespread excitement, interest, and sales of the NES Classic, it only makes sense for Nintendo to stop selling it.
Comments
46 responses to “Nintendo Discontinues The NES Classic”
Discontinued? I though they already did back in December.
Great, now the eBay arseholes will be even more vindictive about buying them up.
Wandered into target yesterday and they had about 8! Bought one on a whim – glad I did. It makes sense Nintendo are protecting their virtual console sales.
Wanna grab one for me? >.> I checked by everywhere but nobody had any.
Great form Nintendo. When what you make is still selling out you then go and stop completely.. Really good business decision right there..
I just…
I don’t…
Whyyyyy…?
So that they can retool the factories for a SNES mini.
One would hope but my gut tells me they won’t simply because everyone expects them to.
guess this is to keep demand high for the snes mini this christmas, everyone order asap or you’ll miss out like you did on the nes mini! then a couple months after that nes back in production
I preordered the NES Mini months in advance of launch and still got screwed over and never received one. I got a Raspberry Pi instead. Now I don’t need the SNES Mini either. Maybe the N64 Mini or GCN Mini will win me back.
i didn’t pre order and got one easy enough. i was lucky
Now you’ve got the Pi at least you’ve got access to every single SNES, NES, N64 and every other friggin retro Nintendo game instead of being limited to 30 🙂
Hey normally I wouldn’t be for it, but if Nintendo insist on screwing over their own customers like this, screw them.
I can imagine Nintendo in Japan at the time.
Bean Counter #49: “Boss, the Switch is not moving as fast as we had hoped.”
Tatsumi Kimishima: “What is the reason?”
Bean Counter #49: “Many are still putting in orders for the Classic NES and giving the Switch a miss.”
Tatsumi Kimishima: “Well, cancel the Classic NES!”
Kinda related but not I guess…
I actually played the Switch for the first time last night and absolutely hated it. The controllers are too tiny, the buttons horribly placed and it’s got to be the worst controller I’ve handled in years. I have no doubt the Pro-Controller will make things better, but as it stands the standard controller for the switch itself, for someone like me with adult hands? God-fucking-awful.
I didn’t mind the Switch as is but yes, the Pro controller is a must by.
It has motion controls as well but at least they are miles more accurate than the detection in the standard controllers.
Maybe I’m the opposite of trump and I’ve got giant, giant man hands which are anti-Switch :O
One way to find out…
[Shouts to someone off frame!]
FRANK! BRING IN THE DUKE!
[A shadow looms over Weresmurf as a original XBox controller the size of an 18 wheeler is swung at him.]
@wisehacker Honest confession: I can hold the Duke with ease lol
@weresmurf, doesn’t surprise me.
I have no doubt that for some the Duke was the right size but for the majority of gamers it was too big.
It’s a problem with no real solution; there are always going to be some people where the controller is the wrong size.
Except for the Switch which was designed for midget hobbits.
My brother! I’ve been ranting about how awful the Switch is to deaf ears, but finally someone else who understands!
The controller was awful to hold, even with the little grip things they had. Felt lightweight and shoddy to be honest, not sturdy at all, like they could break very easily. I can’t see us buying one.
Completely agree. The switch controls were already a failure before the console was released because it ignores many years of established control design and human hand ergonomics. People working on controllers can look at that Switch design and tell it immediate fails before even touching it.
This Switch was designed to have narrow sides which doesn’t leave room for ergonomic accessible controls. Analog stick directly above or below the Face buttons is automatic fail. Thumbs don’t stretch up-and-down they stretch left-to-right. That’s basic fundamentals. And all the buttons are too close together.
Once again its Nintendo having its gimmick willfully ruining it control design, and ignoring what third parties would want from controls. Nintendo have been completely ignoring third-party developer wishes for controller design for generations.
Oh and the worst controls is actually the 3DS. That controller nub is an abomination, along with the rest of the 3DS controls being bad.
For sure. My first console was a NES. Christmas gift when I was 5. Longtime Nintendo fan who hasn’t purchased one of their home consoles since the Wii. They seem to make poor decisions solely to piss people off.
See, that’s the thing, isn’t it? It’s so hard to condemn piracy when a company seems intent on making it as difficult as possible for you to give them your money.
TBH, the NES is a little before my time but I am totally keen for a SNES mini. But after seeing what went down with the NES I might miss it. I don’t really want to be part of a ravenous horde for a device that plays games I already played over 20 years ago.
Jesus, they were building Wii U’s for longer than that and they couldn’t give those away.
Oh well, just go the Raspberry Pi option, it sounds like you’d end up with a better product anyway that can play more than just NES games.
https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/12/how-to-build-your-own-mini-snes/
Ahh artificially raising the value.
One day someone at Nintendo will realise that you can be financially successful by being consumer friendly too. They don’t always need to ensure their products are as expensive,annoying and inaccessible as possible.
Completely agree. Nintendo are basically the Apple Computers of the gaming world. HEY LOOK AT US WE ARE QUIRKY AND DIFFERENT EVEN WHEN IT MEANS OUR CUSTOMERS ARE SCREWED. Bravo.
I thought $99 for a classic NES including a controller was very good value, personally.
Hence why they are discontinuing it…because it’s very good value.
I believe that was the point of the initial comment…
What are you talking about? They’ve taken it off the market completely, they aren’t increasing the price. I really don’t understand what you or the original comment is going on about.
The point is, it’s ironic that when Nintendo is finally making huge money off something they decide to discontinue it. Then when something’s a flop, they keep trying to feed it to us…
A normal company would be trying to milk this cash cow for all it’s worth. Not Ninty though…
If my comment was seemed confused it’s because I was confused by their decision.
As a potential customer, I can tell you with certainty that this decision sucks. It’s already hard for people to get these things and now their loyal customers are now going to be gouged by third parties for additional profits Nintendo could have had.
From a business perspective they must have their reasons, but like I said surely they could have found a way to satisfy those reasons without f*cking over people who would happily give Nintendo a fair price for one of these machines.
They don’t do that though, because they’re Nintendo. They never seem to weight up their options and come to a decision that would benefit the consumer.
They don’t want their games to be affordable, because they prefer to encourage “perceived value” to the extent where they’ll chase retailers who try to sell their games cheaply.
They don’t want their games to be accessible, which is why they’ve always tried so hard to region lock everything.
They don’t want people to be able to buy a mini-NES, presumably because they want to charge $5 each for these games on the Switch store.
They don’t want to sell their machines at a break-even price, because they’d rather make money up front and not have to rely on making and selling lots of good games.
In all these cases they could have chosen to adopt a pro-consumer business model which would see them sell more to a broader audience and profit that way. They never take those options, they just gouge at every opportunity.
Great final line to this article. Nintendo, listening to their customers. Listening so well in fact, they do the opposite of general demand.
Oh well. Back to emulating then.
Nintendo are absolutely f**ked. They continuously make decisions which are at odds with their consumer base. The are greedy and idiotic and I’ll never give them any money again.
Greedy? This thing is basically printing them money, they decide to discontinue it and you’re calling them greedy?
read between the lines. The new version of the virtual console is coming.
Most likely incompatible with the last version. Legacy titles sold for 10-20 bucks each.
This sort of thing HAS to be why it was axed:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Nintendo-Mini-NES-Classic-upgraded-with-600-Games-Dont-settle-for-30-/152509302461?hash=item23824346bd:g:LQMAAOSwOgdYqsTq
So their solution to pirates putting all their ROMs onto a NES… is to make is so the pirates have to go back to whatever else they were running their ROMs off of?
Hopefully this move means they are gearing up to start making a “Nintendo Classics Mini: SNES”. followed by a mini N64.
I’ve been trying to get one for ages, finally managed to get one last week from EB games!
Ffs. Just stopped by EB yesterday to ask what the go was, and they said they were still taking orders online. Was too caught up with other things to place one when I home, but now it looks like everyone’s removed all listings.
Typical Nintendo shooting themselves in the foot. One would think after the last decade of their market share taking a nosedive they may have learned to give their customers what they want.
I was able to buy a few of them over the past few months. Have one to use, one as a backup and purchased another to keep as a display item. They should re-release them for Christmas each year.