Sorry man, but it's true. IDK if it was profits or fear of future political blowback from supporting "hunting", or what...but they announced it at the end of last year.
I truly believe their main problem was self-inflicted. For years they did a great job distinguishing each line of Nikon scopes from the others. You knew when you bought a Prostaff you were getting an excellent "entry level" scope (there were no 3s and 5s then). When you paid the little extra for the Buckmaster you were getting a scope that was built a little better, with slightly better lens coatings. For those who wanted Nikon's top offerings, there was the Monarch line of optics. It was simple and understandable.
But then they wanted all their scopes to look the same and have the same profile, almost certainly for the cost efficiency and consistency across product lines, so they dropped the Buckmaster and introduced the Buckmaster II...which looked EXACTLY like a Prostaff. At the same time the dropped the price of the Buckmaster II to within the same range as the Prostaff. Now customers were asking, "How does the Buckmaster II compare to the Buckmaster?" and, "Is the Buckmaster II any better than the Prostaff?"
Then, they dropped the Buckmaster II and for reasons I'll never understand, confused everyone by introducing the different lines within the lines. They offered the Prostaff 3, Prostaff 5, and Prostaff 7. They did the same with the Monarch - 3, 5, and 7. Suddenly, the customer was left wondering, "Is the Prostaff 5 as good as the Monarch 3?" The prices got all inter-mingled, and it became impossible to know what you were buying compared to the other offerings.
On top of that they had the "223" line of scopes, clearly aimed at the AR market. But could you use a "223" scope on a 308? What about a 300wsm?
Nikon had a GREAT thing going. But they screwed it all up with the absolute worst product designation/identity and marketing I've ever seen in my life.
This is all just my interpretation of things. Make of it what you will.
