File Under "What?" Nintendo Shuts Down the Classic Edition

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Steve Anderson
The Video Store Guy
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File Under "What?" Nintendo Shuts Down the Classic Edition

Some business decisions look positively ludicrous on their face, and Nintendo recently made one of these itself. Starting this month, Nintendo will shut down production on the Classic Edition and, with that, take a major revenue stream out of the market.

It's a shocking move by Nintendo, especially given that the Classic Edition--a system containing 30 classic games--has been frantically selling out in stores for the last six months.

As for reason, there doesn't seem to be much of one. A Nintendo representative noted that the system was never "...intended to be an ongoing, long-term product," further noting that added shipments were brought in to augment the original plans. In fact, reports note that, so far, Nintendo has already sold around 1.5 million systems for a combined gross around $90 million.

Further, Nintendo apparently wasn't prepared for the sales level generated; it was looking to sell specifically to the older gamer who grew up with eight-bit Nintendo. Its much more universal appeal came as a shock to the company.

However, given reports that Nintendo is also doubling its Switch production, so it could well be that Nintendo is shutting down one product line to free up capacity for building more of the item that's Nintendo's biggest chance of successful gain right now.

It's kind of bizarre to think that it would actually be a good move to shut down a profitable product line in order to free up capacity for an even more profitable product line. Yet it's not a bad idea; if you've got a box that makes three twenties come out every day and another box that makes six twenties, it's worth stopping one to make the other.

The surface bizarrity doesn't stop--diversification isn't a bad thing as it protects against sudden profit loss--but there is a reasonable explanation. Sometimes, that's the best you can get, and you just have to carry on regardless.



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