
Ask HN: Why doesn't Nintendo ramp up production of classic? - nodesocket
Everywhere is solid out, and with a MSRP of $59.99, they are being sold for 4x or 5x by 3rd parties due to demand. However, Nintendo is not seeing any of that revenue. They should just raise the price to $99 and sell them directly from their website and dropship directly.
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CmdrSprinkles
Because Nintendo is a toy company and basically view the classic (and amiibos
(and gamecube controllers that only work with one game)) as cabbage patch
dolls.

This first wave was to gauge interest and build hype. It came out early
November and made people want them in the lead-up to xmas. If Nintendo weren't
still living in the 80s they would have a very large burst of stock this week,
but so be it.

The next big wave is going to be mid-December when parents (and loved ones)
are buying gifts and want "the big thing".

Then we'll get a large wave in early January for all the people who get cash
for xmas.

And then we'll just get a continuous stream so that every sane person can buy
one in February or march

As for why Nintendo does it this way: it lets them tell their board that they
"won the holidays" because they had the must-have product. And next year
they'll have the snes classic (or nes classic 2 if they can find more games).
They make less this way, but they can pretty much guarantee they turn a profit
and have good stories for shareholders.

As for direct shipping: Part of that is Nintendo not really having invested in
the infrastructure for that scale of direct orders. But I suspect a big chunk
of this is Nintendo trying to earn some good will with retailers who have
dismissed them due to bloated stocks of wii Us, 3dses, and amiibos. Because
Nintendo need to push the shyft and while they may think they can win with a
Vita they aren't dumb enough to forget that retailers killed the psp go.

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matt_s
They are probably going to make more from the Mario iOS game coming out in 2
weeks. That requires zero ramp up of production and a couple of TV ads could
make it the new "thing" everyone plays.

The target demographic with money today matches exactly with people that
played those games as a kid. A lot of people would "pass" on the legacy
looking console at a store but would tap away $5-10 on a phone without
thinking about it.

I really hope they step out of their closed garden and port more games to
iOS/Android. Mobile games can be the gateway to more people buying their
systems, old or new.

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qwrusz
It's been out a week? Pretty sure they are ramping up production. It takes
time to hit the switch to build and then deliver to stores. Ask this again if
supply is still low mid-December.

As for why they don't raise the price and sell directly, you can ask this
about every company that doesn't sell their products directly. Why don't they
do it?

I would guess with this particular product for Nintendo is not really about
the money. A company never wants to depend on profits from selling nostalgia
alone, they want to look forward and grow and make new things for excited,
engaged customers.

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flukus
Nintendo is a very conservative company. They try to set production at a
sustainable level, not increasing and decreasing numbers every month. We saw
this with the wii, they increased production every month until they reached an
equilibrium point.

As for selling directly, they don't won't to burn bridges with retailers that
still have a large role in pushing their products.

