Urban Outfitters NES Classic Sale Appears To Have Been Just A Botched Traffic Grab

It is often said around this time of year that this is the season to be jolly, but screw that, I'm a little ticked off at the moment. Check that, I'm a LOT ticked off and I don't know whether to direct my rage at Nintendo, Urban Outfitters, or ultimately myself for getting sucked into this consumer culture that castrates the true spirit of the season. You see, I've been trying and failing to secure an NES Classic Edition console, the equivalent of this year's Tickle Me Elmo or Cabbage Patch doll, and it's maddening. It shouldn't be. After all, the system is rigged for failure, and I know that. But when a company seemingly goes out of its way to mishandle a sale on a high demand product the way Urban Outfitters just did, well, it's reactionary to feel this way. Let me explain.

If you haven't been following the situation with Nintendo and its retro throwback console, welcome back from your coma. While you were passed out, Nintendo brought back a miniature version of its original NES that debuted in the 1980s. It doesn't take cartridges like the original console did back in the day, but it does come pre-loaded with 30 classic games, including gems such as Super Mario Bros 1-3, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kirby's Adventure, Castlevania, Techmo Bowl, and many others. It's a nostalgic trip back in time and it's only $60! Well, it's supposed to be.

As Nintendo has a habit of doing, it under-produced the console and retailers that carried it sold out of inventory within minutes. Subsequent restocks, rare as they are, sell out in seconds. That was the case when Walmart sold an untold number of units each day on its website precisely at 2PM Pacific (5PM Eastern) from November 14-18, and good luck getting one of the few that trickle into Target in the wee hours of the morning at unpredictable times.


This brings us to Urban Outfitters, a hipster clothing and accessory store. It's the last place someone would think to look for an NES Classic Edition console, but it emerged for many as a last hope in securing one before Christmas without paying an inflated price on eBay or Craisglist. Riding the frenzy, Urban Outfitters drummed up excited by announcing on Instagram that it would have NES Classics for sale on December 6.

That caught the Internet's attention, but it was the next post a day before the sale that made it "game on" for everyone trying to get their mitts on an NES Classic. Urban Outfitters posted a picture of the actual console and retail box with the caption, "It's almost time! The NES Classic Edition will be available online tomorrow morning," followed by more text on how to enter a drawing to win one.

This is where things start to go sour. Urban Outfitters has some stock coming in and given the enormous demand for this gadget, it wants to generate some buzz (rightfully so). Fair enough, but the vague time frame of "tomorrow morning" had shoppers staying up until midnight Eastern to see if that's when it would flip the switch. It didn't happen, so many of those same shoppers stayed up another three hours until midnight Pacific (3:00 AM Eastern). Still nothing.