Nintendo got caught in an issue that is extremely time sensitive.As most people point out, the NES Classic's viability is strongly centered around the holiday season. So ramping up production extremely will cost them extremely past the holiday season. So you can't go overboard on the production lines. Supply chain can also be problematic depending on availability and pricing of parts. These things don't change quickly. They're planned out. Let's also factor in hindsight where everyone is saying it was obvious but yet look at the dozens of retro consoles that have been released over the years. You can walk into Target and buy an Atari, a Genesis, etc and none of those set the world on fire in sales. This wasn't as easy to predict both from the retailer or Nintendo given the history of similar devices. So let's put everything in perspective.
1) I can hardly claim to be an expert on such things, but how much R&D do you believe went into these things? A $60 emulation machine. There's no special drive, processors, chips or the like. The emulation is being handled by proven talent in N.E.R.D ( responsible for the excellent 3DS emulation). This was revealed back in July, so clearly it was conceived quite a few months prior to that. At the point of announcing this thing, issues like parts availability and pricing should have been sorted so that nothing barring extremely unforeseen circumstances disrupts production leading up to the target launch date. The launch date was announced when the Mini was revealed. Surely the requisite homework like working out part availability with respective manufacturers occurred so that launching November 11th with enough inventory was an obtainable goal? I mean, did they have production targets here? Any goals or semblance of a plan at all?? The Wii U is dead as a doorknob with everyone anticipating the Switch. How many units of those get moved this holiday? A few thousand? They'd probably make more profit per unit selling these inexpensive produced Minis than whatever they're making on the meager number of U's sold. This thing, and the 3Ds, is pretty much all they have to carry them this Christmas. How do you fuck up supply to this extent when you have little else but an aging handheld that has any level of market relevance to push?
2) I find it hard to believe that Nintendo isn't aware of the cultural significance of the NES and its classics titles, to compare their own in-house developed console to the shoddy At-games emulation machines. Do you think Nintendo isn't aware of how valued their games are amongst collectors, and thus can't figure out that a cheap emulation machine designed in the image of the iconic NES with modern TV connections wouldn't sell? Did they turn off all social media after the reveal and missed the buzz this thing created? Those far inferior AtGAMES consoles do sell, not gangbusters, but they move. So what's the worst that happens here if they produced these in decent numbers? Nintendo floods the market and the mini sells out over Christmas, then post holiday they trickle down to 'at worst' ATGAMES console level( and we know a Nintendo produced retro machine is going to do better)? What are they planning to sell between January and March when Switch launches, or have they written off those months completely? Because there's some potential to move those units post-holiday as something impulse buy territory while people wait for the next console.
And if they were totally blind about demand( I mean really?) that's what opening up preorders can do, to get some idea. It can't be creating artificial demand, as I keep hearing, because then they'd be raising the price of subsequent waves to take advantage of increased demand and fervor. No, what they're doing is pissing off prospective buyers who want one for presents, and making it a very Merry Christmas for scalpers. Ugh....
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