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Nintendo Sells Nearly 200,000 Units Of Its Mini Retro Console (cnbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the sales-up dept.

Strong sales for Nintendo's NES Classic Edition, a miniature version of its video game console from the 80s, could point to a new revenue stream for the Japanese games maker. From a report on CNBC: The NES Classic Edition sold 196,000 units in November in the U.S. since its launch on November 11, according to industry tracker NPD Group. Demand for the console far outstripped supply, with many retailers selling out of the product. The NES Classic Edition is a miniature version of the original console, which was released in North America in 1985 and has sold 61 million units worldwide. The Classic Edition is a "plug-and-play" device, meaning it just needs to be plugged into a television and comes bundled with 30 retro games. In Japan, a similar product called the Nintendo Classic Famicom sold 261,381 units in its first week of sales, according to data from Media Create.

3 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. 30? by invictusvoyd · · Score: 3, Informative

    it just needs to be plugged into a television and comes bundled with 30 retro games

    Couldnâ(TM)t they fit like 300 retro games in that?

  2. Selling out? by meerling · · Score: 4, Informative

    "With many retailers selling out"
    When you consider how they massively shorted everyone this isn't a surprise.
    One of our local stores was supposed to get over 100 of them. They got 12, and haven't been able to get anymore. With their supplier telling them the might get some more next year, they said F-it and have dropped the product.

    Another store around here had 60 ordered. They got 3. Since then they've received 2 more.

    Nintendo is once again pulling a huge stupid out it's hat. Supply is so short many people are deciding it's not worth it, especially since they just wanted to give them as christmas gifts. No point in that if you can't get one until halfway through next year.

    1. Re:Selling out? by MattskEE · · Score: 4, Informative

      I agree, people don't have the patience for these tactics in today's world. It would have made an ideal Christmas gift at $60, but if you can only find it for $200 on eBay it's not worth nearly that much, especially when you consider that you still need to separately buy a 2nd controller, plus controller extension cables since what it comes with are way too short.

      These days it's also very easy to assembly a Raspberry Pi based emulation system with Retropie, it can play games from a much wider range of consoles, costs about the same amount as the NES classic, and can use modern wireless controllers. Lots of people are also playing these games with emulators on their phones, sometimes with separate bluetooth controllers.

      I think Nintendo missed their main market insertion opportunity because while people would have satisfied their retro urge for $60, the wait will send a lot of people to emulators with the pirated ROMs, and Nintendo will get nothing.