Did Nintendo's NES Mini strategy work? (deliberate undersupply)

R

Rangers

Legend
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-04-19-sources-nintendo-to-launch-snes-mini-this-year

Nintendo's plans for SNES mini are also a major reason why last year's NES mini did not see a reprieve from discontinuation, Eurogamer understands, despite the latter's continued popularity and sell-out status.
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For those who dont know, Nintendo recently discontinued the NES mini everywhere, despite very few ever being available.

I hate to admit it but it probably worked. It got people convinced Switch would sell out, which may have partly become a self fulfilling prophecy. It got Nintendo "street cred" again as well. Would switch have done exactly as well if NES mini never existed? Maybe. Maybe not.

We hate the strategy but, it arguably kinda works.
 
As one podcaster I listen to recently said.

Nintendo hates to make money.

Despite demand for the NES Classic Edtion never dying, Nintendo never intended to make anymore outside of the initial manufacturing run. This makes sense if you basically just want it to be a collectable, I guess. But they could be making a fairly respectable profit on it if they at least continued to make and sell it until demand was equal to supply. And then stop there so it didn't become something that was in oversupply. As it stands, there's a lot of people that are angry or upset that they won't be able to get one.

The podcaster speculated that maybe Nintendo feared it would eat into Nintendo's Virtual Console game sales (NES games sell for 4.99 USD). Hence, why it was a one time only limited run.

However, that has nothing to do with the Switch. They just plain did not anticipate the demand that would be out there for the Switch. Hell, last year even people on this forum were predicting that the Switch might not sell out of their initial allocation. It's almost 7 weeks now, and it's still almost impossible to find one for MSRP in the US. I'm not alone either. 2 of the podcasters on the Co-Optional podcast have been checking everyday and haven't been able to get one either. One of their guest hosts last week finally got one only because they got a special allocation offer from Amazon for being an Amazon Prime member.

Regards,
SB
 
However, that has nothing to do with the Switch.
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Not sure.

1. It reestablished Nintendo as a purveyor of hot or desirable products
2. It primed everybody to believe and expect that Switch would sell out. Leading scalpers and other to order them as quickly as possible.

Did it have a HUGE effect, probably not. Some effect? Quite possibly.

How much possible profit could they make on a $59 NES Mini vs other things, such as software? That may have also played into their thinking. They cant sell software on Mini, it's a one time only profit, thus inherently limited. We must assume the much bigger profits lay in Switch, so they would attempt to pump those sales up..
 
This as a theory is nuts. The NES Mini was a toy made in incredibly low numbers. While it was clear that demand, or rather interest, exceeded actual supply there's no way to determine whether this was by a little or a lot nor can I see evidence, or even any rational person, equating Nintendo's handling of the NES Mini toy to the Switch.

Slow news day so publish a mad article because it'll get clicks. This is today's web-based media. It's not intended to be taken seriously but then threads like these turn up. :rolleyes:
 
mmmh...
Chrono Trigger ?
Mario Kart ?
Bomberman ?
Final Fantasy ?

There's potential here !
 
Assuming the SNES mini does happen, I would expect Nintendo to have much better supply this time. With that said, these are intended to be limited run products that capitalize on the Christmas holiday. With the NES mini, Nintendo was trying to pull back in some gamers who have fond memories of playing on the NES, but drifted away from games over the years. They wanted to get these consumers interacting with their IP's again, hoping to pull them back in and steer them towards their dedicated gaming consoles. The problem is the product became really popular amongst core Nintendo fans who like to collect Nintendo products. So the collectors scarfed them up. Its going to happen again with the SNES mini, but with greater supply they could potentially accommodate everyone. So I personally do not believe they intentionally created a shortage, but underestimated the demand from people who already own their dedicated devices. Reggie even talked about this, gamers who own the games already on a 3DS or Wii U were still buying NES mini's. Almost as crazy as the amiibo craze. Nintendo has found a knack for selling their rabbid fans more and more products.
 
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