Last week, Nintendo announced that they would be discontinuing the NES Classic. If you didn’t know, the NES Classic is a miniaturized version of the original NES that comes complete with 30 games. The system was so popular that stores have been unable to keep their shelves stocked. Nintendo may be unable to keep up with production, which might indicate why they are discontinuing it. However, I believe there are other reasons at play.  Theories abound as to why Nintendo discontinued the NES Classic. I wrote a piece outlining my belief that Nintendo increased market demand to maximize profits when shortages were first reported last year. While I cannot prove this, the news of the discontinuation seems to provide additional evidence. Another idea is that Nintendo realized they could make much more money selling the old NES games individually through the Switch and Nintendo Store, rather than 30 at once in the Classic. This is possible, but I think they will be missing out o...

Yesterday Nintendo released the NES Classic in the United States. Gamers everywhere salivated at the thought of being able to relive their childhood memories by playing NES classics like Super Mario Bros, Punchout and The Legend of Zelda. But in typical Nintendo fashion they bungled the release. The NES Classic sold out in every store within minutes of opening and some did not even receive any. Stores that were lucky enough to have some were only given a limited supply, some as few as ten. So why did Nintendo fail to anticipate the excitement of the release? simple they didn't. Nintendo has a history of failing to understand supply and demand. The Wii was one of the hottest systems to own 8 years ago. But Nintendo was never able to keep up with demand. During the holiday season 2009, they doubled their supplies but were still unable to make sure stores across the U.S. were stocked. Similarly the Majora's Mask 3DSXL went out of stock in mere minutes after its release. N...