Nintendo President strongly advises against paying scalpers and promises more systems will be available this holiday season and in 2018.
In what hopefully will be a blow to the secondary market Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime, is trying to calm angry fans after the disastrous pre-order fiasco for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic. In an interview with the Financial Times he advised gamers eager to get their hands on one:
“I would strongly urge you not to over-bid on an SNES Classic on any of the auction sites. You shouldn’t [have to] pay more than $79.99.”
It was no surprise that when retailers opened for pre-orders on the retro system they sold out immediately. Leaving many fans frustrated. You can read our rather cynical article on the matter but basically, people were pissed. Quickly scalper listing quickly popped up with multiple listings a piece, some at over $300 about four times the MSRP of the console.
Since then retailers have taken action, many canceling duplicate orders of the system, although none are yet to open up further pre-orders. Now Nintendo, who had previously said that the SNES Classic would be produced in larger numbers than the NES Classic, is also stepping up for fans. They have confirmed once more that there would be many more units shipped this holiday season and there will be no need for fans to turn to secondary markets.
Fils-Aime explained that the previous shortages with the NES Classic were in part due to the unexpected popularity of the system which was originally only meant to have a limited run. At least that is what their market research told them. coupled with not wanted to outshine their 3DS, Nintendo severely miscalculated but they will not make the same mistake.
When asked about the shortage of pre-orders, Fils-Aime said that the issues fans had experienced with pre-ordering the system were not due to a supply issue. The shortages were outside the company’s control and people desperate to get their hands on the SNES Classic should not worry. The company has “dramatically increased” production and anticipate having no issue getting systems on the shelves this holiday season.
Even better news is that the SNES Classic will continue to ship in 2018 and that even the NES Classic will return in 2018.
We’re happy to confirm that we’ll continue to ship stock of #SNESmini to Europe in 2018.
► https://t.co/4O6fOwHSTK pic.twitter.com/Fv4VfMa82T— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) September 12, 2017
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Is this a relief for you or is it too little too late?
This article first appeared on DVSGaming.org
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