Overview
- Reggie Fils‑Aimé said at the NYU Game Centre Lecture Series this weekend that Nintendo released the NES Classic in 2016 and the SNES Classic in 2017 to “sustain our business” by providing high‑volume holiday products.
- He described the move as one of several short‑term commercial ideas used when the Wii U was struggling, saying the console was effectively “on life support.”
- Reggie said Nintendo also pulled the low‑interest 8GB Wii U SKU from retailers and increased collaboration with independent developers as part of the same effort to stabilize sales.
- The minis proved popular and together sold millions of units, and reporters note that the later success of the Nintendo Switch and the expansion of Switch Online made further standalone classic consoles unnecessary.
- The remark is retrospective reporting rather than a signal of new hardware plans and highlights how Nintendo used limited‑run products and digital services to bridge a weak hardware cycle until the Switch succeeded.