If you believe in conspiracy theories, Nintendo is at the forefront of an intriguing one: Why is Nintendo discontinuing the NES Classic Edition?

The NES Classic Edition is gaming console that includes 30 preloaded Nintendo games. These are classic games from the early days of Nintendo, including Super Mario Bros., Tecmo Bowl, and Donkey Kong. The classic console has been in high demand since its release in 2016.

It was extremely tough to find any NES Classic Edition models for sale through retailers around last holiday season. Availability didn’t improve much in the months after the holidays.

After selling 1.5 million of these consoles, Nintendo announced it would stop selling them in North America as of early May. Understandably, those who were still waiting to find an NES Classic Edition at a retailer — and not wanting to pay huge markup prices on the secondary market — were extremely disappointed and questioning the decision. And nothing sparks conspiracy theories like decisions that don’t seem to make sense at first glance.

So we’ve scoured the Internet and collected the five most interesting theories about why Nintendo is discontinuing the NES Classic Edition. Pick your favorite conspiracy theory and then spread it on social media as far and wide as you can!

1. Placing the Focus on Switch

Nintendo released its latest gaming console, the Nintendo Switch, in March. It has been a popular option thus far. In its first two months of sales, Nintendo announced it had sold more than 900,000 Switch consoles in North America.

So the theory says Nintendo planned all along to stop offering NES Classic at the same time it introduced Switch, hoping to use NES Classic only to generate buzz for the company by the time of Switch’s debut, because the Switch was appearing at an odd time of the year. And the theory says Nintendo didn’t want competing systems on the market together.

2. Releasing a Virtual Console on Switch

One of the more popular conspiracy theory says Nintendo plans to use the popularity of the NES Classic Edition to increase sales of Switch. Nintendo may release a Virtual Console for Switch — perhaps around the holidays — that would allow you to play old Nintendo games on Switch. Those who couldn’t find an NES Classic Edition to buy may be willing to buy a Switch to obtain access to the old games, allowing Nintendo to introduce those interested in classic games to the new games on the Switch, and vice versa.

Nintendo hasn’t had much luck in creating Virtual Consoles in the past though, meaning the company would need to take a big step forward to make this theory become reality.

3. Misjudging NES Classic’s Popularity

This isn’t much of a conspiracy theory, but it says Nintendo simply misjudged how popular the NES Classic Edition would be. Rather than trying to ramp production and potentially overcompensate and compete with Switch, Nintendo just decided to let the console fade away.

This theory makes some sense, as NES Classic Edition’s launch was plagued with scarcity issues from the beginning. Some product shortages can help drive demand, but, at some point, if the product shortages are too great, it costs the company profits.

4. Keeping Them Wanting More

Looking from the outside, it appears Nintendo has little to no idea that people love the company’s old graphics and old games. Instead, the conspiracy theory says Nintendo knows exactly how popular these games are, and it will use the product scarcity to generate demand and to set up similar future products that will have a higher price point.

People who were unable to purchase an NES Classic Edition this time may be willing to spend even more if the company releases another retro console down the road. Like the old saying in show business, always keep them wanting more!

5. Hacking Ruined It for the Rest of Us

Hackers jumped on the NES Classic Edition soon after its introduction, releasing code to allow purchasers to download and add games to it illegally. The theory says such hacking caused Nintendo to curtail production in an attempt to figure out how to regain control of the product.

Perhaps Nintendo had spent several weeks attempting to block the hacking, eventually choosing to give up and just stop selling the unit. If another classic console is released in the future, Nintendo likely will take greater steps to reduce the possibility of hacking.

Bottom Line: It’s Now Officially a Sellers Market

Regardless of exactly why Nintendo decided now was a good time to stop selling the classic console in North America, it did. And we as customers suffer the consequences.

If you thought it was tough to obtain an NES Classic Edition before, just wait. Customers were still holding out hope a few months ago that their local retailer or Amazon might receive a shipment of the consoles. They waited to buy, hoping to make a purchase at retail price. Now though? The secondary market just received a whole new set of potential buyers and the high prices increased even more.

It was a sellers market for NES Classic Edition consoles before this announcement. Now it’s a sellers market times 10. And no conspiracy theory can fix that problem.

Why, oh Why, Is Nintendo Discontinuing the NES Classic Edition?

The hottest gift for this past holiday season was the NES Classic Edition. And if you’re like most people, you didn’t receive or give one. The ability to play old Nintendo system games on a retro-looking device — taking adults back to their childhoods — led to the unit being sold out in many places. It was tough to find NES Classic at a reasonable price, as those who had units jacked up the cost. Supply and demand, after all.

Now that the holiday rush is over though, finding the NES Classic Edition in stock is a possibility again. So if you still want this throwback video game console as a gift for you or someone else, here’s your chance. (After all, there’s never a bad time of year to give or receive a gift, right?) We’ve collected more than a dozen options to help you find the NES Classic Edition.

Shopping Tracker

If you want to purchase the device at a local brick and mortar store — and you don’t want to drive around town all day or make several phone calls to find the unit in stock — a shopping tracker can give you a clue as to when local stores have received a shipment of the NES Classic consoles.

Of the tracker options we researched, BrickSeek seemed to do the best job with finding NES Classic at the largest variety of brick and mortar stores. You will have to enter your local information, but the service can give you alerts when new units become available.

A Dozen Online Options

You also can check online stores for the NES Classic Edition console. As you’ll see once you start clicking on the links below, it still can be tough to find a console near the unit’s MSRP of $59.99. But prices are starting to drop since the holidays, so you shouldn’t have to pay more than triple the MSRP as you did in December.

The price listed with each link is the cheapest price found at the time of this writing. But check the links as prices and inventory will change.

• Amazon: $128.98
• Best Buy: Out of stock
• ChunkToys: $189.99
• eBay: Varying prices with auction format
• GameStop: Out of stock
• Google Shopping: Varying prices from multiple sellers
• Jet: $149.50
• Newegg: $210.95
• Player’s Choice: $189.99
• Target: NES Classic is not sold at Target.com, but you can use the link to check the inventory at your local stores.
• Toys R Us: Out of stock
• Walmart: $160.80

Don’t give up on your NES Classic Edition dream! It’ll take some work to find a unit in stock at a great price, but if you have some persistence, you’ll be using Bo Jackson to run through Tecmo Bowl defenses in no time.

Where Can I Find the NES Classic in stock?