[fred256]

Agreed, I don't understand why the NES Classic Mini is still pretty much impossible to buy anywhere, and is 2.5-3x MSRP at third-party sellers on Amazon/Ebay. Surely by now Nintendo could've ramped production to match demand?

[wernercd]

How do you determine demand? Something like this could be a passing fad... build millions and bam no one wants it anymore...

[fred256]

I'm assuming 6 months after launch they'd have a decent idea of what the demand is.

[wernercd]

Demand doesn't stay the same... "hot items" over the Christmas season don't necessarily stay the hot item in March. Hot items LAST Christmas won't necessarily be hot NEXT Christmas.

Look at any number of "ZOMG MY KID MUST HAVE THIS!!!" items - from Tickle Me Elmo to Pogs to whatever the flavor'of'the'year is... that everyone had to get last year and now no one wants.

And... if they sell 1 million in December... then make another million for January... whats to say the "Market" is 3 million? or 30M? or 300k? Are the millions that wanted it in December still in the market or has the fad faded?

Companies have lost busted from making too many unsold items...

Ramping up demand doesn't happen over night... and sitting on unsold inventory isn't something companies want to do.