Trying to keep tabs on where and when you can pick up Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition has morphed into something of a cat and mouse game. Predictably, eager and nostalgic fans have continued to drain supply as soon as retailers restock their shelves. Suffice it to say, the NES Classic Edition is this holiday season’s hot ticket item.
While Nintendo thus far hasn’t divulged any specific sales figures for the NES CE, new data from the NPD Group reveals (via Venture Beat) that Nintendo sold upwards of 196,000 units in the United States during the month of November alone. All in all, that’s an incredibly impressive start for a limited-supply throwback console packed with games that date back more than three decades.
“In its debut month, the NES Classic Edition sold 196,000 units, leading the retro console segment,” NPD analyst Sam Naji said in a statement.
With demand so high for the NES Classic, it’s likely that Nintendo could sell even more units in December if it is able to get more product into retail channels. But it may struggle to do that as it is still catching up with orders that consumers placed in November.
To put the 196,000 figure into context, Polygon astutely points out that NES CE sales in just one month rivaled Wii U sales (~220,000) over the course of a six month period stretching from April through September.
Nostalgia is clearly a powerful motivator and Nintendo finally seems willing to placate users who clearly care more deeply about the Nintendo experience they grew up with than they do about more modern titles like Super Mario Run. So while it’d be nice if the NES CE offered users a way to download additional games, far be it from us to be too greedy now that Nintendo finally decided to come around.
Unfortunately, the incredible success Nintendo is enjoying with the NES CE hasn’t convinced the gaming giant to release retro NES titles for iOS. As we covered yesterday, legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto would not only find such an endeavor boring and “not very fun creatively”, but he also doubts that users would be willing to pay for old games.
For anyone still waiting to get their hands on Nintendo’s retro console, Best Buy recently told BGR that the console will be available on a “first-come, first served” basis beginning next Tuesday, December 20.
