I tried multiple browsers on my PC and on my phone but was unable to snag a NES Classic Edition from BestBuy.com.  

Was anyone able to get one?

 

I feel really bad for the people who haven't been able to get one of these.

 

Got one, assuming that Best Buy didn't over sell their stock. Won't believe it till I get it.

 

I got one in my cart and got as far as putting in my payment info, but got stuck trying to process the payment over and over again for about 45 minutes. Eventually it told me "out of stock" and removed it from my cart. Lame.

 

Totally forgot about this. Was helping a friend pack to move  

 

Never have I seen a more idiotic roll-out than the Classic and the Switch. All this has done is feed into a scalper environment. I wasn't planning to purchase the Switch right now anyhow...but I sure empathize for those who can't find one at retail. And the Classic? Yeah...thanks Nintendo. Hate to say it but the WiiU just might end up being my last Nintendo, simply for the fact that if I wanted to buy something, it's not available...and when it may become available, I'll have invested in something like the Scorpio by then. Kind of sad...

 

The Classic supply was botched, sure. They might have been able to figure out that demand would be much higher with more market research. But they didn't even intend for the console to be a big deal in the first place. It was just supposed to be a cute nostalgic toy for Christmas. Backwards strategy maybe, but it's a missed opportunity for Nintendo as much as for anyone else.

The Switch though?? They prepared to have a decent launch with stock left over. I think Nintendo could have far worse problems than running out because they're getting their strongest console launch sales ever. Getting mad about it and swearing off Nintendo because someone else has trouble finding a system you didn't even want yet sounds like you were waiting to seize on any available excuse. It's not like other manufacturers have never experienced this.

 

I think people are just getting sick and tired of this Nintendo products being scarce and more trouble than their worth to get trend that's been happening for years now. The Wii, Amiibos, the NES Mini. Now the Switch and its Pro Controller. Probably other past products too I can't think of ATM.

Potential customers have a right to feel frustrated and even angry when they're standing there waving their wad of cash and yelling 'I WANT to give you my money! I WANT to support you!' at Nintendo. And getting silence or bullshit excuses because Nintendo just can't seem to get its act together. They just keep failing hard at market research again and again, and they either make too much of something and get stuck sitting on it. Or they don't make enough, and later scramble to up production to satisfy the huge demand. Or they just don't and piss people off in the NES Mini's case.

People are just getting fed up with getting jerked around by Nintendo.

 

Demand for the Switch has far outstripped the expectations of even retailers and industry analysts. Retailers, by the way, are responsible for deciding how much of a product to order. Nintendo has not been great at market research, that's true. But they don't bear that responsibility alone, and past a certain point the reaction ceases to be reasonable frustration and becomes consumer entitlement. Getting mad that a product you don't want is scarce, and moreover that it's scarce specifically because an unreasonable number of people are buying them, seems to cross over into that territory.

 

Exactly how much of it is retailers, though? There seems to be a repeating refrain of "well, I'd order more but I was only sent "X" when I needed 3 times that amount". That's not on the retailer. That's Nintendo suppressing supply. It's happened with Amiibo. It's happened with the NES Classic. It's happening now with the Switch. Yeah, they eventually make enough...but it's after the zeitgeist and everyone has moved on. That's not practicing good business. That's called "missing the boat".

 

So you've got actual statements from official retailers stating that the Switch was deliberately undershipped? 'Cause I'm not sure how that jibes with the Switch surpassing the Wii's launch sales. The units have gotta be there to get sold, and they got sold, so...

Nintendo made more than they thought they needed (again, enough to outsell the Wii's massive launch sales), and they were upfront about how many would be available. They're literally making as many as they can now, as fast as they can. That's the opposite of suppressing supply. Nobody can make infinity of something.

 

Just a heads up there some really obvious scammers on Amazon "selling" NES Classic for ridiculously low prices. below retail low. Avoid them like the plague.

 

No, but Nintendo was estimating a sale of 2 million units on the Switch, worldwide. 500,000 were reportedly sold in Japan. We can probably assume another 500,000 were sold in other countries outside America. That leaves only about 1 million units for America. There are roughly 326 million Americans. I know they were preparing for WiiU level sales...but even that did over 3 million in one fiscal quarter. In other words, they manufactured 1 million too few. Why would you do that as a business?

There's rumors that Nintendo doubled their supply for 2017 to 20 million. Hopefully that means more this summer...but if their first quarter sales don't meet Wii or WiiU standards of 3+ Million units moved, it's purely Nintendo not making enough consoles. I don't think it's because they're playing the market "safe"...past history of sales shows first quarter on their consoles ALWAYS perform well. Rather, it looks like they're playing out of the Amiibo playbook of suppressing supply to create higher demand. People want what they can't get, fueling a higher sense of need going into the later part of the year where supplies will APPARENTLY be plentiful...maybe.

As for the Classic, there really isn't any other explanation than the latter. They've had five months of sales on the books to gauge production needs for retailers. And retailers continue to have tags with no product. How long will retailers continue to have zero product on the shelf before they just dump it out of their system?

 

Two million is how many they were planning to have available for launch day, not the entirety of Q1. So comparing that 2 million sold in under a week to 3 million sold across 3 months seems a little disingenuous. As you go on to mention, we don't really know how many they plan to ship for the rest of the quarter.

First off, that's definitely an "if". You don't get to use it yet. Second, using a rumored increase in production to argue that Nintendo isn't trying to meet demand just illustrates how tortured peoples' thinking is on this subject.

Remind me to invest in some tinfoil companies.

It's hard to argue that there's no other explanation when nobody's offering an explanation for how this imaginary strategy benefits Nintendo. Unless you think they're secretly scalping these on eBay themselves, inflated demand creates no benefit to Nintendo while they are out of stock. Until someone can provide a solid explanation for why they'd even want to do that, it remains a crackpot conspiracy theory.

 

And yet, the other explanation is equally daft. "Gee, we didn't think we'd plan to sell that many and we don't have enough in the pipeline to meet demand for at least a month after launch. Durpity-doo!" And yet, Microsoft and Sony seem to meet their demand and supply numbers VERY WELL.

While yes, we can suppose they're making a million more available before the end of quarter one...where are they? They only have two more months to get those million units into retailer hands...and even then, that would be shorting themselves. Why not have 3 million, the same as the previous two console releases in sales, ready to go at day 1 and in retail stores? Who thought parsing out 3+ million units was a good idea instead of making all 3 million instantly available?

Seeing as Nintendo predates both as a company, you'd think they'd understand this market better than either. My expectations of Nintendo as a business are higher than that. So, that leaves me with thinking the former...this is a marketing strategy to create hype for their system to create better later quarter sales. A slow trickle to maintain the hype, so to speak, while maintaining a profit margin on a balance sheet.

 

False dilemma - RationalWiki

No they don't. Microsoft has been having trouble generating demand, and as for Sony... did we really forget the PS3 launch already?

Well you've had no trouble suggesting you can divine the unknown before. You tell me.

And you think they can't? If so, then there's not really room to complain that they don't do what they can't do. If they can, then there's nothing to worry about unless you think that they deliberately won't. But then you'd be using something that hasn't happened as evidence to argue that they're doing what hasn't happened yet.

This is good, let's come back to this...

Why not have 30 million. Why not a billion? This is all very easy to say. Everyone knows electronics manufacturers can make infinity of anything, instantly and on demand, with no concern for cost, labor availability, quality assurance, or sourcing parts, right?

Would you? They've been competing globally with Sony longer now than the period of time that they weren't, and they don't have Sony's prior experience from the general consumer electronics market. It doesn't make things any simpler that they prefer to avoid the predictable aspects of the games market to focus on unexplored "blue ocean" areas.

So you say, and yet you are making some pretty low assumptions about them.

So it's whichever is convenient for you, then. Cool.

 

Since the rest of your argument is basically "nuh-uh, you're wrong, you're delusional", I'll narrow down my response to this.

Because they have actual sales numbers to base expectations off of. Yeah, it's not THE SWITCH, per se. But they have numbers on the Wii, the WiiU, the DS, the 3DS, etc. No where am I asserting that Nintendo should make 30 million, billion, infinity...that's hyperbole and let's stay out of that. What I am saying is that history bears to the fact that Nintendo is almost guaranteed to sell 3 million units in three months. So...why would you make only enough to sell 2 million based off your expectations of first day sales? Why not make enough to last your entire first quarter? If a few don't sell on day one, that's okay...they are bound to sell eventually because your sales say they almost guaranteed will. What is the advantage of making just enough to meet your low expectations but far less than you really, honestly should? Why short yourself?

I work with budgets every year in my profession. Yes, it's nice to budget low and end up with higher intake. But there's no compulsion to do better in that environment...and you ultimately end up selling yourself short because you aren't striving for a higher achievement. Yes, there are other factors at stake...perhaps certain processors aren't available in the quantities Nintendo needs at launch so they offer only the systems they have ready might be an argument to make. And if it was a one-time event, it would be understandable.

But Nintendo seems to be operating on a trickle-out basis for sometime now. It may be an incorrect perception...but it's a now common perception shared by not only me but many others. And in all things, how consumers perceive a company is ultimately what makes or breaks it. I am very pro-Nintendo. But when I see fellow fans unable to get their hands on Nintendo product, in the case of the NES Classic five months going at retail pricing, it makes me less supportive than before. And VERY disappointed in them.

 

@flamepanther

Yeah, you're right. Sony and MS have had similar supply and demand issues in the past. The difference is how quickly they met the demand with an adequate supply of product, compared to Nintendo. I remember people still having a hard time finding a Wii a year after it launched. At the very least you couldn't just walk into a major retailer whenever you felt like it and grabbed one off the shelf. I don't remember the PS3 or the 360 being hard to find that long after their launches.

I'm a longtime Nintendo fan too. Got my NES for Christmas when I was 10 I think. And that was it, I was hooked and a gamer for life. Nintendo's consoles were top priority for me, bought before anything else. Even the Gamecube, which I still bust out now and then. I wanted a Wii, even though I wasn't sold on the motion controls gimmick. But of course it was a scarce commodity, and I eventually lost interest in it. Wanted a WiiU too but it wasn't a high priority, and then the rumors of Nintendo already working on another console started up and the WiiU became pointless to me. Wouldn't mind having a Switch, but it's a wait and see thing for me.

But yeah, it's as a longtime fan and remembering that Nintendo used to own the console war, used to be the king of the hill is why I'm so critical of them. I look at Nintendo today and see a company that just seems lost and out of touch. And in danger of ending up like Sega.

 

I still miss Sega consoles. Well, at least I have my old ones. I sometimes think about getting a Saturn.

 

Looks like walmart.com got these in stock at midnight last night. to bad i was sleep lol