On April 13th, Nintendo discontinued the NES Classic Edition in North America. The only explanation that they gave is that they always intended for it to be a limited edition release, and that they have in fact produced more than they originally expected to.
Understandably, the Internet erupted in reaction. There are still a lot of people who wanted one, and now never will. My heart goes out to each and every one of them. Just searching Twitter alone is a gut wrenching experience.
The news also brought out all the assholes and opportunists that dwell online. I’m not just talking about the scalpers (who immediately jacked up the prices on their own stock), but the tech writers and pundits who used the news as a chance to come up with a clickbait articles with titles like “The TRUE reason Nintendo killed the Classic”, in which they simply offer wild, often illogical speculation.
And unfortunately, speculation is all we have, which is why everyone remains in a state of confusion and disbelief. Let’s try and cut through some of that confusion by putting some of the speculation to rest.