Nintendo has "dramatically increased" production of the SNES Classic in order to meet demand, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America President, confirmed during an interview with the Financial Times.
Such is the level of production that he believes nobody should be paying more than the $80 official price on auction sites. "I would strongly urge you not to over-bid on an SNES Classic on any of the auction sites," he tells the FT.
With such confident assurances, he and Nintendo will be left red-faced if we do see the SNES Classic sell out on day one.
As to why the NES Classic release was handled so poorly, Fils-Aime gave an interesting answer. When Nintendo was planning production, it based its order on lackluster sales of other standalone retro consoles. The company clearly didn't realize the impact its own brand and classic games would have on sales. The lack of further production is yet to be fully explained, with Fils-Aime pointing to problems "outside our control."
The SNES Classic isn't the only production headache Nintendo faces this holiday season. Last week, Fils-Aime couldn't promise everyone who wants a Switch this holiday season will be able to get one. In other words, production can't keep up with demand and the Switch will remain hard to find into next year.