Nintendo may be dealing with a massive shortage of its new NES Classic Edition console, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still selling a ton. In fact, according to retail data provided by sales tracking firm NPD Group, Nintendo has sold more than 196,000 units in the US since the device went on sale early last month. That means the NES Classic Edition was close to selling in one month what the Wii U sold in six this year. According to NPD, the Wii U sold 220,000 units from April through September.
Nintendo has sold nearly 200,000 NES Classic Edition consoles in the US
is a Senior Producer on Decoder. Previously, he reported on the technology and gaming industries for more than a decade.
The NES Classic Edition, which sells for $59.99, is essentially a shrunken-down version of the original hardware. It doesn’t take cartridges. Instead, it comes preloaded with 30 classic games. Demand has been so high for the device that it remains sold out at every single available retail channel in the US, save for select windows of time each day that outlets like Walmart, GameStop, and Amazon have used to quickly sell off their available inventory.
According to Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo’s president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, the company is not deliberately restricting supply, as some frustrated consumers have suggested. “Every day there’s more going into the retail channel,” he said in an interview with CNET. “The overall level of demand is certainly greater than we anticipated, that’s why we’re suffering through the shortages out there in the marketplace.”
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