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NES Classic Edition Vs PS4 Vs Xbox One: Black Friday, Cyber Monday eBay Sales Give Sony Another Holiday Win

By Patrick Frye
Published on: 07:17 PST, Nov 30, 2016

The NES Classic Edition is a hot seller, but during the big holiday sales season, PS4 and Xbox One still managed to outsell Nintendo’s retro mini-console. This is surprising due to how heavy the demand was for the Mini NES.

Nintendo’s shortage of the console could have been the biggest reason for the lack of sales numbers, as the console quickly sold out in seconds across online and walk-in retailers. This happened back in July, as soon as Nintendo posted the page on Amazon, Walmart, or anywhere pre-orders were made available. Walmart had tried to be fair with a week of 5 p.m. sales online, but sale bots grabbed every one, ensuring that nobody trying to buy it manually had a chance.

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It could easily be next July before scalpers are done grabbing every unit Nintendo puts out and raising the price to around $250 each. At this price, it’s still a good deal considering what the console and its games sold for back in the 80s. It is even a lower price than both competing console bundles.

However, the lack of a lengthy controller cord and the ability to load more games on the miniature console may have marred the demand a bit. Over the Black Friday 2016 weekend, the PlayStation 4 still outsold the competition on eBay, according to Polygon.

On Black Friday, the PS4 flew off the virtual shelves once every 20 seconds, while the Xbox One sold once every minute, and the NES Classic Edition went once every two minutes. By these estimates, the PlayStation 4 sold six times faster than the mini-console.

This isn’t the PS4 Slim or Pro, but the original. It seems not everybody is convinced that the upgraded consoles are worth the cost yet. The same could be said for the Xbox One, which picked up in sales on Cyber Monday despite not being the upgraded S model.

Around 20,000 new Xbox One units sold on Cyber Monday, the same as the Mini NES. However, used sales for the Xbox One put the number up by another 13,000. Approximately 15,000 new PS4 units sold the same day, along with 12,000 used consoles.

Again, this could be the result of what appears to be a shortage of NES Classic Edition consoles, made worse by online bots buying them faster than anyone could manually purchase.

Target is hoping to change this, according to I4U. They are planning to stock new consoles every day to give human shoppers a chance to own Nintendo’s little box of nostalgia. The latest update claims that shoppers are lining up in the morning to snatch up the console in person. Again, it could be July before you can casually walk into a store and grab one off the physical shelf.

It’s possible that Nintendo is intentionally withholding supply like they did with Amiibo sales, artificially controlling the demand by trickling new ones out every day.

Did you buy a console over the past week? Which one or ones did you get?

[Featured Image by Keith Homan/Shutterstock.com]

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