Xbox Exec Responds to NES Classic Shortages, As Nintendo Promises More Stock

I understand limiting stock to generate hype. But... the hype has been generated. Along with Hatchimals, this thing is easily the top in demand holiday gift of 2016. It is the Furby, Beanie Baby, or Cabbage Patch Kid of 2016. So... now they should be capitalizing on that, right? Right?

Nope. It's still next to impossible to get one, unless you want to watch stock trackers like a hawk, and spend gas or bus fare to go all over town (or the region) trying your luck, or lining up extremely early in the cold at Target or wherever that does get a few in every now and again. And these retailers routinely report that they only get anywhere from 3 to 12 at a time.

Why not at least offer preorders and limit one per customer online? That would at least give everyone an equal and fair chance against the scalper bots, albeit still a slim one with tight supply.

If the theory is that they are generating artificial scarcity to drive up demand... they are blowing the capitalization phase of that strategy. This is the time, now, before the end of the month, to capitalize. If they don't, a lot of the impulse buy, stocking stuffer appeal will be gone. Sure we'll all get around to buying one - maybe - eventually - when it becomes ubiquitous in coming months. But they will have blown the best time to capitalize, not to mention the good will and positive emotional associations kids and parents alike would have formed by getting one in time for the Holidays.

I love Nintendo. Always have. Always will. But at moments like this, they are aggravating and frustrating to no end. I have health issues and can't go all over the place hunting down what should be a fun impulse buy online. If it's not available online... I'm not getting one. (And I refuse to engage in non-public-domain homebrew or emulation, personally.)

It's what Nintendo has been doing for a great many years.

I'm not sure why people are surprised every time they release new hardware, they limit supplies. It inflates demand and creates HYPE and we see news articles like this that get other consumers interested in something they might have passed up before.

It's free advertising. It's not right, and it's a despicable practice, but I've grown accustomed to this move by companies, and especially Nintendo. for a great many years now.

ITT: "I'll just stick to stealing." LOL

Still can't believe they didn't include contra in the games

I think I'm the only one who sees no appeal in this thing. You can emulate all of these on a handheld for free, and that's where I'd prefer to be playing them. If I wanted to play them.

On a FHD TV, an 8-bit console is going to look like total garbage. At least on my PSP or 3DS, I can play with 1:1 pixel mapping if I want to. And it's just much more convenient. You can take it anywhere and not be tethered to a 3" controller.

Artificial shortages create an irrational desire among consumers.

Lol ill stick to my emulators

Once again Nintendo proving how crap a company the really are

Pricing is ridiculous. 2 dollars per game but VC titles cost 5 each? WTF.

In the 1980s and 1990s this strategy may have worked but now people are smart enough to know they can purchase online from 3rd party venues, and unfortunately these 3rd party venues are scalping the prices to make a huge profit on Nintendo's error.

I'm just waiting for the Mini N64

After seeing a comment below i can see on ebay that since the system was cheap, people have bought a bunch and are reselling them for stupid amounts of money. This coupled with the fact that these game are all available on the 3DS etc as well as easily available on emulators, probably meant Nintendo wasnt expecting that many to sell. Either way irrationally angry is a stupid way to be over something like this, especially form an adult and xbox executive, i get her point but am also past the point of...i cant have one NOW.....RRRAGGGEEEEE

I mean or you could just buy an old NES and a bunch of games and not waste your money on a system with only 30 games..

Same old Nintendo, so glad they have learned over the decades. No wonder they are still so far behind the times.

Because if you don't purchase one within the first few weeks of its release THE WORLD WILL TEAR ITSELF ASUNDER.
Come on, folks. If you want to play NES games that badly, I mean... we all know the solution.

The thing has the chipset of a dollar store calculator......they could have had enough day one to satisfy the demand easily. This is Nintendo and although I have been a fanboy for three decades now, their schtick is getting old. I will not feel so bad when they go the way of Sega after the Switch flops.

Oh please, they could have made enough to meet demand. Typical Nintendo, we're all sick of it.

I can wait for mine. I'm not paying $200 for this thing on ebay.

The logic of the criticism of Nintendo doing this.

Nintendo outsells their early stock: F*** you Nintendo! Dick move!

Nintendo DOESN'T outsell their stock (ex: Wii U): lol F*** you, Nintendo! You suck now! Go third party!

Jeez, they can't win here, can they?

Well one thing I can say is that saves will go back to the cartridge, so no storage space needed...cost of system reduced. And seeing as how they were able to do more with SNES games once they added the FX chip, in guessing they could do at lot more with a system that's less powerful than PS4 or XBOX ONE.

My guess is Nintendo has created a system that runs more efficiently, cost way less, that can run games as good as anything currently on the market by using cartridges.

I can already imagine most people in the gaming industry wanting these. 99 percent of them probably grew up with the NES! I'm in no rush to get one and I hope they don't make these things limited...

Fred Meyer by my house still had them. Seattle area

Call me when they get a version that has Captain Skyhawk...

Nintendo always does this. They must feel the only way they can generate excitement is to create faux shortages, so then people sell the systems on Kijiji and eBay and it becomes a story on a slow news day. I admit it's a cool idea but a 2.5' controller cable is ludicrous and useless. How did Nintendo manage to eff that up? It's a cable!

Wow it did that well?

Lil off topic...

Question for my tech heads:

If the switch is slightly underpowered compared to the ONE/4, could the use of cartridges close that gap by handling some of the processing?

Not my area of expertise?

I want one.

Don't really care about all the "reasons" supplied on this board. I already have most of the games on VC or I have the carts.

I just think it's a fun little toy and for $60 I'm not trying to think too hard about it or where it "fits" in the industry.

In Ninty makes an SNES and a an N64 one, I'll be buying those too.

It's a tactic. This isn't the first time Nintendo intentionally shorted supply to give the illusion of demand. Retailers put in an order for 10 of them, and get 2. Of course it's going to "sell out." This is why marketing strategists make very nice salaries.

Played the heck out of these games a long time ago. I'll spend my time with my new games.

please everyone don't buy the console on Ebay.

$500 bucks is just .... well you know.