Nintendo just won't stop fucking up

Nintendo, for all of it's greatness, stays shooting itself in the foot. 

Yeah, they look like they're riding high with the early Switch sales, they keep a few billion in the bank as a general rule, and they always make some of the best games on the market.  They have brand loyalty unlike anything else in the video game industry.  But that's kind of the problem.  Because of these things, they're always trying to float some bullshit, which they can do, because they're Nintendo.  And the discontinuing the NES Classic is one of those stupid, stupid things.

Now, according to them, they never intended for the NES Classic to become a permanent sales item, because they just wanted to get their name back out in the streets.  That's their real reason for it.  They had the Switch coming, and people didn't really get into the Wii U, so they released this thing to remind us who they were.  It was a mixtape before the album, except, it's with the expectation that Jay-Z would be forgotten.  That's how off base Nintendo was.  They thought they would be forgotten, even though Nintendo had been a household name for 30 years. 

So they never expected that the NES Classic would blow up like it did.  But here's where most companies would change course and take advantage of this brand new revenue stream.  Here's where most companies might be like, "let's milk this, and maybe release another one next year for the SNES."  Not Nintendo, though.  They were like, "Nah, we don't need this extra money.  Even though we could change course, let's just stick to our original decision, the one that didn't have all of the information."

And because of that bad decision making, the NES Classic is gone forever, unless you have a few hundred laying around to buy one on eBay.

Apparently, they're doing this because they want to push the Virtual Console again, which is such a fucking Nintendo-like decision that it makes me want to set something on fire.  They do shit like this all the time, and they never learn, even after it backfires. 

Look, there's nothing wrong with the Virtual Console.  I like the Virtual Console.  I've given it lots of money to buy games I already have.  I bought Super Mario Bros. 3 twice this year.  It's such a senseless decision on my part, you'd think that someone at Nintendo is operating my brain.  But everybody that wants to play those games isn't going to buy a Wii U or a Switch just to play them.  And not only that, there's only 30 games on the thing.  I'm sure there will be plenty of other games on the Virtual Console that you're gonna be able to sell for the 12th time.  You're killing a new revenue stream on the fact that someone might not want to buy Dr. Mario again if they already have it on the NES Classic. 

But that's how stubborn Nintendo is.  That's the kind of thinking that had them sticking with Friend Codes for their internet service, in the face of XBox Live dominating online gaming.  Nintendo had about five chances to get their internet strategy right, and failed every time, even though there were successful examples all around them that they could have been copying.  They said that they didn't need third-party developers, even though third-party developers are the ones that sell the biggest selling games of the year, each and every year.  They really believe they don't need Grand Theft Auto on their systems because Mario Kart 8 is gonna hold everything down.  They even said that internet gaming wasn't going to last, while watching XBox Live and Steam become brand names right in their face.  They're like the Prince of video games.  Geniuses at creativity, but too stubborn to hire a corporate wizard to sell this shit for them.  No marketing person would tell you to stick with Friend Codes, but they don't have time to listen, because they gotta get another Zelda game out. 

They never learn, and yet, it never matters.  Let's face it, they're Nintendo.  They single-handedly resurrected the video game industry and maintained it for a decade.  They're always profitable.  They still dominate handheld gaming, even though they've re-released that same handheld system about six times.  They're doing a lot correctly.  But it's like CM Punk said about Vince McMahon:  He's a millionaire that should be a billionaire.  And it isn't because they discontinued the NES Classic, but it's not not because they discontinued it, either.