Nintendo will stop shipping the reboot of its Nintendo Entertainment System console in North America this month.
The company wouldn't say what the cancellation meant for shipments of the console outside North America. The reboot, dubbed the NES Classic Edition, launched on November 10, 2016, and even though stores were plagued by severe shortages, Nintendo sold 1.5 million individual units by January 2017. News of the discontinuation was first reported by IGN.
Nintendo of America said in a statement to BuzzFeed News, "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 apologize. We have paid close attention to consumer feedback, and we greatly appreciate the incredible level of consumer interest and support for this product."
The company elaborated, "At this time, we have no plans to produce more NES Classic Edition systems for NOA regions."
People were confused and angry.
Nintendo owes its customers an explanation about the NES Classic https://t.co/1nkq4utkh4
Nintendo just discontinued the NES Classic?!? Well at least my aunt still has hers (I hope so) so I can ask her if I can play with it
Nintendo just said F*** You to everyone that was still patiently waiting for the day they could walk into a store and buy a #nesclassic
And they wondered what the decision was really about.
Some people on Twitter speculated that the move was meant to protect Nintendo's other consoles like the Switch and its virtual console, where you can buy digital versions of the same classic cartridge games that were available on the NES classic.
I hope Nintendo realizes that the Switch and NES Classic are for different markets. Pushing both at the same time doesn't harm the other. 😐
Sorry @Nintendo but your ploy to get me to buy a Switch by discontinuing the NES classic isn't going to work.
It makes sense to discontinue the NES Classic since they weren't making a lot on it. The Virtual console is more lucrative for them.
But mostly they were crushed.
I never even saw one at the local market. #nesclassic
@abrams Nintendo CEO: How's the NES Classic doing? Business Guy: Amazing! Can't keep it in stock! Nintendo CEO: ...kill it.
Great, now I'll never get one? ⚡️ “Nintendo is discontinuing the NES Classic” https://t.co/xTvTaizLcH
Goodbye for now, NES. You will be missed.
But you still could get one, maybe! They're shipping till the end of April!
