The NES Classic shortage is now a nation-wide problem in North America – everyone and their mother wants to buy the miniature, digital version of the Nintendo Entertainment System but they can’t find it anywhere.

This is a huge problem and missed opportunity for Nintendo. This could’ve been a perfect time to generate hype for the Nintendo Switch which is releasing in March 2017, but instead the company created bad publicity for itself. Today, even Microsoft publishing General Manager and Xbox Executive Shannon Loftis tweeted out her frustration towards Nintendo: “Irrationally angry at not being able to get the NES Classic. Come on, Nintendo. Why would you short-bake these?” She has a point.

Nintendo replied with generic public relations discourse: “The NES Classic is a hot item, and we are working hard to keep up with consumer demand. There will be a steady flow of additional systems through the holiday shopping season and into the new year”. While that’s nice to hear, Nintendo should’ve predicted this situation before it even started and ship a ton of systems. It’s doubtful this will hurt the company, but what it will do is dampen the hype it could’ve generated for their next generation system.