17th April 2017, 8:18 PM
Hmm, what do I think of this? It doesn't bother me much, really. I mean, yes, Nintendo's decision here is very odd. I still have never seen a NES Classic for sale in a store, and now I don't know if I ever will, at least not new. But... it's just a standalone built-in-games system, it's not something actually important like a real console is. I have never bought these built-in-games-only systems, because I really dislike being limited to only a fraction of a systems' library with no, or no legal, way to play other games on the thing, and i don't think I'd buy a NES Classic even if I did buy it in a store. It is kind of neat looking, but not enough so to make me want one.
Apart from that though, while it is crazy to stop making these without ever actually producing enough to come even remotely close to meeting demand, Nintendo seems to have decided that they'd rather not make more money I guess... either that or they think that if they shipped a lot more they would end up sitting on shelves and not selling, once demand was met; it's possible. None of these stand-alone retro systems have ever been lasting sellers, each one sells for a bit and then is replaced with the next model the next year. This one, because it's from Nintendo, is just a much bigger deal than the usual AtGames stuff and the like.
As for the theory that they discontinued it because of that it has been completely hacked open, that does sound like a Nintendo-like thing to do, doesn't it... even if they aren't selling games for it, and in the past Nintendo's efforts to block homebrew on past consoles have always been cracked eventually, they can't even try to fix this, at least on the systems out there, and selling something which is easy to play the whole NES library on with no way for them to issue firmware that tries to patch that out or something? Sure, I'd probably agree that Nintendo's sales would not be impacted at all by that, but they have always been somewhat obsessive about hating emulation so I would not be surprised at all if that did play a role in their discontinuing the thing, whether or not they admit it.
Additionally, even if people wanted the things, is there really a lot of profit in a pretty cheap item which you can't then sell people more software for? It helped get Nintendo positive attention last Christmas at a time they needed it, but if there is ANY kind of supply-line either/or between the Switch and NES Classic, or even 3DS and NES Classic, it's obvious which should get the focus. Who knows on this point though.
Also... as I said earlier, the Atari and Sega clone systems release new models regularly, they do not keep selling the same one. It wouldn't be surprising if we eventually see a NES Classic 2, or a SNES Classic, or something along those lines; Nintendo of Japan's statement even said something that you could take as implying that there may be future models. But if they don't do that and just focus on the Switch, since it's a massive hit, that wouldn't surprise me at all either.
Apart from that though, while it is crazy to stop making these without ever actually producing enough to come even remotely close to meeting demand, Nintendo seems to have decided that they'd rather not make more money I guess... either that or they think that if they shipped a lot more they would end up sitting on shelves and not selling, once demand was met; it's possible. None of these stand-alone retro systems have ever been lasting sellers, each one sells for a bit and then is replaced with the next model the next year. This one, because it's from Nintendo, is just a much bigger deal than the usual AtGames stuff and the like.
As for the theory that they discontinued it because of that it has been completely hacked open, that does sound like a Nintendo-like thing to do, doesn't it... even if they aren't selling games for it, and in the past Nintendo's efforts to block homebrew on past consoles have always been cracked eventually, they can't even try to fix this, at least on the systems out there, and selling something which is easy to play the whole NES library on with no way for them to issue firmware that tries to patch that out or something? Sure, I'd probably agree that Nintendo's sales would not be impacted at all by that, but they have always been somewhat obsessive about hating emulation so I would not be surprised at all if that did play a role in their discontinuing the thing, whether or not they admit it.
Additionally, even if people wanted the things, is there really a lot of profit in a pretty cheap item which you can't then sell people more software for? It helped get Nintendo positive attention last Christmas at a time they needed it, but if there is ANY kind of supply-line either/or between the Switch and NES Classic, or even 3DS and NES Classic, it's obvious which should get the focus. Who knows on this point though.
Also... as I said earlier, the Atari and Sega clone systems release new models regularly, they do not keep selling the same one. It wouldn't be surprising if we eventually see a NES Classic 2, or a SNES Classic, or something along those lines; Nintendo of Japan's statement even said something that you could take as implying that there may be future models. But if they don't do that and just focus on the Switch, since it's a massive hit, that wouldn't surprise me at all either.
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