Gamespot recently caught up with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime to discuss the issues the company has been having with the critically acclaimed NES Classic (it's still sold out pretty much everywhere since launching back in November of last year), and he confirmed that the issue boiled down to demand outpacing supply. Well, duh, but what explanation do they have for that?
"When we looked at that proposition what we believed was the adults, 30-40 years old, who grew up playing NES as a kid, 10 years old or so but had stepped away from the gaming category--that was going to be the buyer [of the NES Classic]," he explained. "As we thought about that, that led us to a certain level of supply." Confirming that they essentially screwed up by not realising that the "more active gamer" would be interested in the console, he said that the supply issues have now been "largely addressed", but if you're among those hunting for one, you likely won't agree with that!
As for whether Nintendo looks set to make the same mistake with the Nintendo Switch, Fils-Aime promised that they'll have at least 2 million units ready for launch in March, and he explained that this is a "huge amount", especially as it's not launching during a holiday month. "We're working to make sure that the supply chain [for Switch] is robust and there is a steady flow of hardware. The one piece we can't anticipate is the demand side of the equation but certainly from a supply, we feel like we're going to be well-positioned." Whether or not this proves to be the case remains to be seen.