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WiiU

The Disappointing Scarcity of Amiibo

by Neal Ronaghan - December 11, 2014, 5:11 am EST
Total comments: 36

Fear and loathing in Nintendo Land.

Panic set in as the second wave of Amiibo approached. All it took was one little quote from Nintendo to finally make me doubt the likelihood of getting all the Amiibo by just going to retail stores and not pre-ordering.

"We will aim for certain amiibo to always be available. These will be for our most popular characters like Mario and Link. Due to shelf space constraints, other figures likely will not return to the market once they have sold through their initial shipment."

They further elaborated in another statement as well: “Some amiibo were very popular at launch, and it is possible that some amiibo in the United States, Canada and Latin America may not be available right now due to high demand and our efforts to manage shelf space during the launch period. Certain sold-out amiibo may return to these markets at a later stage. We are continually aiming to always have a regular supply of amiibo in the marketplace and there are many waves of amiibo to come. The distribution and availability of amiibo in other regions around the world may be different.”

While the second statement softens the blow, it still all kind of says to me: "Hey Fire Emblem, F-Zero, Kid Icarus fans! Good luck, ya jerks! And when Duck Hunt comes out? Hahaha! Scalper Paradise, baby!"

Wave two, consisting of six new figures ranging from Luigi to Diddy Kong, is due out in Toys”R”Us on Friday December 12, Target on December 14, and Best Buy on December 14 or 19. Or maybe this is just a dream and we’ve all been dead for years. Not sure at this point.

With Toys”R”Us getting the figures first, I pre-ordered Little Mac and Pit from their website out of sheer terror (they have a buy one get one 40% off deal going on as well as free shipping). I love Punch-Out!!. There is no way in hell I can possibly risk missing out on a Little Mac toy. I would have preferred to make Captain Falcon the second figure in that order, but his pre-order is already sold out. Maybe that's it for the Captain? I don't know. Nintendo might not know either.

In this same time, I also pre-ordered two of the store-exclusive Amiibo from wave three. Keep in mind, wave three is due out in February. It's early December. Pre-orders for Lucario (the Toys"R"Us exclusive) are closed, but I'm not bent out of shape about that one because I don't really care for Lucario. I did lock down Meta Knight (Best Buy exclusive) and Shulk (GameStop exclusive). Shulk is all set for in-store pickup at the GameStop down the road from me. Meta Knight is getting shipped to me because the option for in-store pickup wasn't available for the eight different Best Buys surrounding my home and work.

Today, I traveled to a Toys”R”Us near my office to scope things out. They had just received a shipment that included Diddy Kong and Zelda. Unlike my experience last time, the Toys”R”Us employee was incredibly helpful, though. In all likelihood, the other figures will be coming in shipments in the next few days. For those worried about rarity, Zelda seemed to be plentiful while Diddy Kong was in shorter supply.

All this insanity has led me to draw one major conclusion from all of this Amiibo fear and worrying: F*** this. I was already on the fence about trying to collect every figure, but now I want to give up that aspiration. If I do miss out on Captain Falcon? Well, that’ll suck, but whatever. I’ll try to get the ones I really want and stop. Or just totally give in and pre-order all of them and pray nothing bad happens to the pre-orders. More and more, the excitement of Amiibo is being overshadowed by this ominous cloud of scarcity and limited releases. This isn’t like when the Wii was hard to find. You knew more Wii consoles were on the way. It’s not like Nintendo stopped producing the system after a month. Hell, this isn’t even like Atlus games before digital distribution. Atlus ran additional print runs of popular games if there was demand (and were generally pretty transparent about it, too). There has been no clear indication that Nintendo will ever produce another Marth or Villager Amiibo again. And because of that, any figure pegged as potentially rare will be scooped up by toy scalpers and forthwith eBay sellers.

It’s just sad because the blueprint for Amiibo is out there with Skylanders and Disney Infinity. Skylanders’ first year was rocky, as some figures were incredibly hard to find, but eventually, all of the 32 initial figures were feasible to get. It totally got dicey, but that was more from Activision getting caught off-guard by the demand for a completely new video game concept. Look at Disney Infinity’s launch last year. As far as I know, all of those figures were easy to find. You might even be able to find most of those figures in stores right now.

The key words from Nintendo of America’s comment might be “shelf space constraints.” Amiibo is, at this point, only available for one console (and the worst-selling home console at that), whereas Disney Infinity and Skylanders are available for nearly every single console released in the past decade as well as tablets. If that’s really why the figures are fading away quickly, then maybe some sort of online store would suffice.

But even after all of my ranting, I’ll be out there this weekend looking for Captain Falcon and Luigi. And maybe that’s the problem.

Note: after writing this editorial, Neal has pre-ordered the rest of wave two and is already planning to pre-order wave three.

Talkback

CericDecember 11, 2014

Honestly Nintendo should just have a rotating presence on there store of "retired" figures if its Shelf Constraints.

EvilMarioDecember 11, 2014

It seems like another case of Nintendo misreading the response to their product. Really the scheduling for Amiibos is odd though. Waves come basically every three weeks, leaving a very short window for the last wave to sell before moving on. If they were offering three month windows, with more stock, maybe it'd make more sense? Now that they've seen the success of their product, I hope they'll be inclined to produce more. Even if they just let you order directly through Nintendo themselves online, it'd be a start and keep retail space clear for the next batch.

KDR_11kDecember 11, 2014

I really just want a Kirby because Kirby is adorable.

AdrockDecember 11, 2014

I kind of want Busty Samus because she's my go-to character and if the Amiibo can help me improve, that might be enough to entice me to purchase. Unfortunately, she hasn't been announced. Wii Fit Trainer is apparently impossible to find, but she would have been my second choice. Still, I'm not too interested in buying a bunch of these. One or two maybe, three at most. I'll probably talk myself out of it though.

I really want one of Olimar, but that hasn't been announced either.

Leo13December 11, 2014

I'm considering buying a few of these, but there is one that I MUST HAVE and that one to me is worth Pre-ordering...Shulk.

Triforce HermitDecember 11, 2014

Shulk, Palutena, Link, and Fox are the only ones I care for. Two of those however might not restock (Shulk and Fox), and Palutena doesn't exist (missed opportunity). So yeah, Amiibo has been managed horribly.

TrueNerdDecember 11, 2014

Looks like my method of "Not Giving A Single Fuck About Amiibos" is working out even better than I expected. But yes, Nintendo's plan and execution regarding these things is weird/bad even by their standards.

ejamerDecember 11, 2014

Meh. I wanted to buy Villager because an Animal Crossing toy was too good to pass up, even if I'm not sure how useful it would end up being when it comes to gaming. Seems like that isn't going to happen.

Amiibo didn't seem terribly well thought out and implemented on the technical side, and now Nintendo has whiffed on the delivery of the physical goods as well.  Maybe using artificial scarcity to generate hype and drive sales is intentional, or maybe it's just another case of Nintendo doing a poor job judging/meeting demand. Either way, it just means I'm even less interested in collecting these figures.

Ian SaneDecember 11, 2014

I figured Nintendo was more likely to do the opposite, to overestimate demand and get stuck with unsold merchandise.  I thought they would think that THIS is the big difference maker for the Wii U and that its absence was what was holding the console back.  Instead it seems like they're being very cautious, likely because of poor Wii U sales.  But then with Nintendo you never know.  They could have just bungled the manufacturing.

SorenDecember 11, 2014

My dear Amiibo
Before, no one wanted you
Ahhhhhhh, I can't find Marth!!

CericDecember 11, 2014

I know what your all saying but, 3 week waves do make sense in there own way.  It gets a lot of different ones out while Smash is still in the gamer conscious.

I think Nintendo knows that at the moment they just don't have another good vehicle for these.

Amiibo, like Skylanders, relies on scarcity to get people in a fervor to scoop up the figures as soon as possible.  Believe it or not, Nintendo may be on the right side of this from a business standpoint, even if several of us get left in the dust for  wanting certain figures.

I meant to also mention  - I fully expect limited edition variants to be released sometime after these initial waves of characters.

StratosDecember 11, 2014

I'm still convinced that they will keep making all of them for at least a few months. I think there is a translation/miss-phrase that occurred.

Quote from: Stratos

I'm still convinced that they will keep making all of them for at least a few months. I think there is a translation/miss-phrase that occurred.

Then they should be out in front of it and making sure people actually know what's going on.

nhainesDecember 12, 2014

I think Nintendo should patch out Amiibo support for rare figures that are discontinued.  I would find that amusing.

ShyGuyDecember 12, 2014

Not as disappointing as their relationship with Ubisoft, amirite??

ejamerDecember 12, 2014

Quote from: nhaines

I think Nintendo should patch out Amiibo support for rare figures that are discontinued.  I would find that amusing.

This made me laugh out loud.  ;D

broodwarsDecember 12, 2014

The more we find out about the Amiibos, the more clear it becomes that Nintendo rushed the product to market without any idea what they were going to support them or what they were going to use them for.

broodwarsDecember 12, 2014

EDIT:

Quote from: broodwars

The more we find out about the Amiibos, the more clear it becomes that Nintendo rushed the product to market without any idea how they were going to support them or what they were going to use them for.

Evan_BDecember 12, 2014

Welcome to the toy collector's world, Neal. We've dealt with the bull for years.

I…I can't find Rosalina & Luma available for pre-order anywhere!!! *panics*

marvel_moviefan_2012December 13, 2014

People having trouble finding them are you checking hobby shops and toy stores or just the video game stores and box stores?

StratosDecember 13, 2014

After discontinuing them they should offer to sell their unlockable DLC in-game.

RABicleDecember 14, 2014

LOL, their plan is working. Look how desperate you grown men are acting.

This is like beanie babies.

StogiDecember 14, 2014

Exactly what I was thinking.. I had no interest in them before but now I see dollar signs.

Jo351December 16, 2014

Quote from: Kairon

I…I can't find Rosalina & Luma available for pre-order anywhere!!! *panics*

Target has it listed online, but unavailable.  I would just check that once a day and hope it doesn't sell out too quickly once they allow orders.  I thought about checking on pre-oreder in store sometime too.

As for me I am making a point to get the characters I want and no more.  So Samus and Marth obtained, Ike preordered and Rosalina to be preordered.  Now I just wait for the other FE characters and ZSS to be announced.

Mop it upDecember 16, 2014

Quote from: lolmonade

Amiibo, like Skylanders, relies on scarcity to get people in a fervor to scoop up the figures as soon as possible.  Believe it or not, Nintendo may be on the right side of this from a business standpoint, even if several of us get left in the dust for  wanting certain figures.

Yeah, this whole thing feels manufactured by Nintendo. Unfortunately, people are buying into it.

Them giving a "maybe they'll be back, maybe not" kind of non-answer isn't ineptitude. They know exactly what they're doing.

UncleBobRichard Cook, Guest ContributorDecember 16, 2014

What I think folks don't fully understand - it's not 100% up to Nintendo.  Will retailers place orders for these figures in enough of a quantity to get Nintendo to reprint them?

StratosDecember 16, 2014

I think the current fervor is indicative of retailers continuing to order all figures through the rest of the winter at the least.

PhilPhillip Stortzum, December 16, 2014

I took the liberty of pre-ordering the particular Amiibo figurines I really wanted-- Pit, Captain Falcon, Little Mac, King Dedede, Mega Man, Metaknight, and Ike.


I "figure" that I already have toys of Diddy Kong and Luigi, so I don't really need an Amiibo of them.

SorenDecember 16, 2014

I really only want Amiibo figures for the characters I main. Unfortunately, aside from Kirby, the others (Shulk, Robin, Zero Suit Samus) will require a pre-order at the earliest possible time.

StratosDecember 16, 2014

I am curious how they will do Robin. Will we get the boy or girl version, or both in even more limited quantities.


I assume we will see Lucina at some point (maybe a Chrom piece?). These waves are going to become increasingly obscure until we will be forced to pre-order entire waves if we hope to get them un-scalped.


I also wonder how long it will be until we start seeing non-playable/non-Smash characters.

I just want Olimar. It can't just be about relevance and popularity, there have been two Pikmin games (and two remakes of Pikmin games) since the last F-Zero game.

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