Nintendo: 2.3 Million NES Classic Editions Sold

By Edwin Kee
NES Classic Edition
The NES Classic Edition is the latest hit from the company. John Kinsley/ Wikipedia

The NES Classic Edition is one particular console that has certainly captured the imagination of the masses. After all, who would have thought that an 8-bit machine would have continued to shift huge volumes, carrying games that are more than 30 years old? Of course, there has been the introduction of HDMI connectivity in order to have it keep up with the times, but the phenomenal success of selling 2.3 million units of the NES Classic Edition is a feat not to be sneezed at.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé was proud to announce of the 2.3 million figure, where the official figure stood at 1.5 million NES Classic Editions sold globally just a few months back. At that particular point in time, everyone more or less thought that the console would continue to go on sale, but Nintendo threw a spanner in the works by surprising the whole gaming world at large, announcing that they were going to discontinue the console. This $59.99 console had proven itself to be extremely elusive in nature, and those who have failed to find any stock of it at retail stores such as Best Buy might even be desperate enough to stump up a couple of hundred dollars, or even more, on secondary markets.

Fils-Aimé shared, "We had originally planned for this to be a product for last holiday. We just didn't anticipate how incredible the response would be. Once we saw that response, we added shipments and extended the product for as long as we could to meet more of that consumer demand."

Would there be any plans to see the NES Classic Edition relaunch some time down the road? Fils-Aimé declined to answer that question, although Nintendo has already mentioned that the company itself has "no plans to produce more NES Classic Edition systems for NOA regions. The lack of resources on Nintendo’s part could be the main reason behind the discontinuation of the NES Classic Edition, as Fils-Aimé shed more light on the situation, "Even with that extraordinary level of performance, we understand that people are frustrated about not being able to find the system, and for that we really do apologize. But from our perspective, it's important to recognize where our future is and the key areas that we need to drive. We've got a lot going on right now and we don't have unlimited resources."

This is certainly a bummer, as it does bring back memories of old, and is a good way to bridge the generations as the younger ones these days will be able to enjoy the likes of Mario back in the 8-bit days. Something tells me that this might even be a clue as to what Nintendo might roll out in the future -- how about a SNES Classic Edition? Now that would certainly turn many heads, and wallets are bound to be whipped out in double quick time.We can only sit tight and wait to see what is Nintendo’s next move.

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