Heavy on promises, light on details.
Nintendo of America has posted a statement on their Facebook page regarding the rampant shortage of Amiibo.
The statement does not name specific characters, dates or steps to prevent scalping, but does include the following paragraph:
"We’re trying to meet the demands of our fans and consumers by increasing the amount of amiibo we manufacture and ship to retail. We may continue to see consumer demand outpace supply levels for certain characters at times, but we will do our best to prevent that from happening."
The full statement can be found here.
In this day and age it's not that stinking hard. All you have to do is find a second manufacturing facility and a third manufacturing facility and have all 3 of them producing at full capacity. Suddenly you're pumping out three times as many and maybe I can actually find the fire emblem characters in a store so that I can use them on Codename: Steam.
In this day and age it's not that stinking hard. All you have to do is find a second manufacturing facility and a third manufacturing facility and have all 3 of them producing at full capacity. Suddenly you're pumping out three times as many and maybe I can actually find the fire emblem characters in a store so that I can use them on Codename: Steam.
It's nowhere near that easy.
In this day and age it's not that stinking hard. All you have to do is find a second manufacturing facility and a third manufacturing facility and have all 3 of them producing at full capacity. Suddenly you're pumping out three times as many and maybe I can actually find the fire emblem characters in a store so that I can use them on Codename: Steam.
It's nowhere near that easy.
Then you're going to have to enlighten me because I don't see how it isn't that easy. Yes there are many parts and yes it's taking people time, but that's why you get more manufacturing companies to help so that you at least come close to meeting demand. In the mean time the stretch out time between waves so that you can make more copies of each one.
Don't act so high and mighty. I actually know a lot about economics and if you had read my post I never said doing this would make Nintendo more money. I said they could fulfill demand. You see they've made games where content is hidden behind a plastic figure (see codename steam, & captain toad) and now since we can't find the figures we can't use that part of the game. It's frustrating I really want to use Amiibo on codename steam, but since they announced that fire emblem characters are playable on the game IF you have the Amiibo I haven't been able to find a single one. I'm still 0-4. I'm ticked and it and I have only Nintendo to blame as they could have made more of them and they chose not to several times (the first time is absolutely understandable but they have no excuse for the other times)In this day and age it's not that stinking hard. All you have to do is find a second manufacturing facility and a third manufacturing facility and have all 3 of them producing at full capacity. Suddenly you're pumping out three times as many and maybe I can actually find the fire emblem characters in a store so that I can use them on Codename: Steam.
It's nowhere near that easy.
Then you're going to have to enlighten me because I don't see how it isn't that easy. Yes there are many parts and yes it's taking people time, but that's why you get more manufacturing companies to help so that you at least come close to meeting demand. In the mean time the stretch out time between waves so that you can make more copies of each one.
Many people believe the mistaken idea that the more items you manufacture, the more money you will earn. This turns out to be false even for simplistic mathematical models. Real life has many variables and factors that must be "factored into the equation" so to speak. There is a considerable amount of mathematics involved in economics. If you don't believe me check out this link to see how much of it is understandable. [size=78%]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_economics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_economics)[/size]
There's such a thing as too much supply here. Retailers don't want tons of these sitting on store shelves, and Nintendo is producing them with that in mind.Sure there's such a thing as too much supply, but we're VERY FAR from that right now.
I feel like they've already said something similar... several times.Yes they have and with no improvement.
There's such a thing as too much supply here. Retailers don't want tons of these sitting on store shelves, and Nintendo is producing them with that in mind.Can retailers really be happy with the way things are right now? They get a fraction of what they could sell for the rare characters, have shelves filled with the same characters they've had since Amiibo first came out, and constantly have to deal telling people they can't buy what they came for.
In this day and age it's not that stinking hard. All you have to do is find a second manufacturing facility and a third manufacturing facility and have all 3 of them producing at full capacity. Suddenly you're pumping out three times as many and maybe I can actually find the fire emblem characters in a store so that I can use them on Codename: Steam.
It's nowhere near that easy.
Then you're going to have to enlighten me because I don't see how it isn't that easy. Yes there are many parts and yes it's taking people time, but that's why you get more manufacturing companies to help so that you at least come close to meeting demand. In the mean time the stretch out time between waves so that you can make more copies of each one.
It's nowhere near that easy.
Then you're going to have to enlighten me because I don't see how it isn't that easy. Yes there are many parts and yes it's taking people time, but that's why you get more manufacturing companies to help so that you at least come close to meeting demand. In the mean time the stretch out time between waves so that you can make more copies of each one.
First, you probably shouldn't say snippy things like "please enlighten me", then two posts later tell people not to talk down to you. :D
It's not as easy to just "find a manufacturing facility" (or two). You have to find one that's set up to actually manufacture something in the same line of what you're making. Then, you have to book it in advance. Like, many months (sometimes, over a year) in advance. Depending on what you need, special equipment (or special modifications to existing equipment) may be required. And we're dealing with RFID toys - something fairly new in the world of toys. All kinds of government compliance checks are required. These deals and details are all planned out far in advance. In the cases of some characters (namely, third party characters - but even secondary characters - for example, did you know that Nintendo doesn't own the rights to license Kirby?), the contracts were probably signed long enough ago that clearly specified how many figures could be manufactured and when they could be sold. Then, even after they're manufactured, it's generally six-to-twelve weeks from factory to warehouse for Chinese goods shipped via cargo ship to US.
Nintendo could throw all this money at putting all of this together and by time the first restocks are on the shelves, folks could have moved on to something new/different/exciting. Marth first went on sold in November (and sold out almost immediately). It's half a year later and we still don't have the restocks on US shelves yet (and that's without trying to rig up additional factories).
On top of this, Nintendo is tied to retailer orders. Nintendo signed agreements (possibly a year or longer) with retailers to say "In May, we will ship you X amount of Y figure." - now, for something like the port strike, I'm sure there's language in the contract that gives them some leeway. But I doubt there's much wiggle-room for "Yeah, we'd rather make more Little Macs this month than the new ones we promised you."
Nintendo grossly underestimated demand of these figures to begin with - and that is their initial downfall. They need to do everything reasonable in their power to get things fixed as soon as possible. I don't know what that is, but I do know it's a whole lot more than just finding another factory or two.
You point out that Kirby is owned by HAL??? How many people do you know that are trying and failing to find a Kirby?
Marth, you just proved my point 6 MONTHS and I was in Walmart and Best Buy today and neither had Marth (they both had Kirby)
Nintendo's been doing a lot of "talking" about fixing the Amiibo supply problem since the first wave, and so far the situation's only gotten worse. Meanwhile, Wave 4 sold out in 15 minutes here in the states while simultaneously taking down the website of the biggest dedicated gaming realtor. I lucked out that one of the staff here found several stores with full shelves of Wave 4 figures in Australia that I was able to procure a Ness; Lucina; and Robin, but that raises questions of its own as to where Nintendo's allocating their resources. I'd like to acquire a Shulk; Ike; & Marth someday, but given the current state of Amiibo that is nowhere near a reasonable expectation.
I'm tired of Nintendo's excuses and empty promises. It feels like all Nintendo's done since the Wii U launched (if not much earlier) is make excuses for whatever latest way they've ****ed up.
However, Intelligent Systems is 100% owned by Nintendo so Fire Emblem Characters (Ike Marth, Robin, Lucina) are not a problem. Little Mac Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, Wario, Toad, Rosalina, Pit are fully owned by Nintendo.
There's such a thing as too much supply here. Retailers don't want tons of these sitting on store shelves, and Nintendo is producing them with that in mind.
If I have misspoken something, please do feel free to offer a correction. I won't be offended.
I may argue the point with you, but I won't be offended. :D
Nintendo needs to fix this problem before people leave to Microsoft or Sony. You may in short term keep loyal fans but in long term screwing over your faithful will have dire circumstances in the future.
Nintendo needs to fix this problem before people leave to Microsoft or Sony. You may in short term keep loyal fans but in long term screwing over your faithful will have dire circumstances in the future.
The kind of people that want a Robin amiibo aren't the people who are just going to stop being Nintendo fans all of a sudden.
Nintendo needs to fix this problem before people leave to Microsoft or Sony. You may in short term keep loyal fans but in long term screwing over your faithful will have dire circumstances in the future.
The kind of people that want a Robin amiibo aren't the people who are just going to stop being Nintendo fans all of a sudden.
I agree, but they (ahem.. I) might be the kind of people who just stop chasing and choose not to support distribution practices that are explicitly customer-unfriendly. I'm not buying games that require Amiibo to unlock content unless those figures are very easy to find.
The Animal Crossing cards were pretty easy to find (and were even sold on N's webstore for quite a while.)
The Animal Crossing cards were pretty easy to find (and were even sold on N's webstore for quite a while.)
...
But man, claiming you're not buying Captain Toad because of the amiibo? How long was that game out before they announced the update that added amiibo support? Were you planning to buy it before, then decided against because they added more content for free that you never have to worry about?
Take a guess at how long it took my latest twitter account @Retail_Dalek to make a tweet about amiibo... 3 tweets...
So just to follow up on Nintendo's latest round of failure, I've been keeping an eye on my 1 nearest GameStops, my local Best Buy, and my local Walmart over the last few days. Of these 4 establishments, only one got any of this supposed Amiibo restock, and that Gamestop only got ONE Amiibo figure: an Ike Amiibo that was already reserved to a person whose pre-order was unfulfilled back in December. One Amiibo in my entire city. That's the extent of Nintendo's efforts, the culmination of their promises for the last few months. Pathetic.
So just to follow up on Nintendo's latest round of failure, I've been keeping an eye on my 1 nearest GameStops, my local Best Buy, and my local Walmart over the last few days. Of these 4 establishments, only one got any of this supposed Amiibo restock, and that Gamestop only got ONE Amiibo figure: an Ike Amiibo that was already reserved to a person whose pre-order was unfulfilled back in December. One Amiibo in my entire city. That's the extent of Nintendo's efforts, the culmination of their promises for the last few months. Pathetic.
That's correct, but keep in mind we can not criticize Nintendo the holy ones
So just to follow up on Nintendo's latest round of failure, I've been keeping an eye on my 1 nearest GameStops, my local Best Buy, and my local Walmart over the last few days. Of these 4 establishments, only one got any of this supposed Amiibo restock, and that Gamestop only got ONE Amiibo figure: an Ike Amiibo that was already reserved to a person whose pre-order was unfulfilled back in December. One Amiibo in my entire city. That's the extent of Nintendo's efforts, the culmination of their promises for the last few months. Pathetic.
That's correct, but keep in mind we can not criticize Nintendo the holy ones
That's funny, I'd suggest most forumers on this site are hyper-critical of Nintendo. It's one thing to criticize Nintendo for their clear failures in forecasting demand, but then to suggest it's as simple as (a) ramping-up orders, (b) finding another manufacturer to produce more amiibo, or (c) offering it on their website as a way to order them shows a clear misunderstanding of production, demand planning, or possible contractual agreements between Nintendo and the retailers who currently sell Amiibo.
But I know this is a site devoted primarily to people who care to talk about it from a fan perspective, so it isn't terribly surprising many here don't care about those nuances or at least have that provide context.
So just to follow up on Nintendo's latest round of failure, I've been keeping an eye on my 1 nearest GameStops, my local Best Buy, and my local Walmart over the last few days. Of these 4 establishments, only one got any of this supposed Amiibo restock, and that Gamestop only got ONE Amiibo figure: an Ike Amiibo that was already reserved to a person whose pre-order was unfulfilled back in December. One Amiibo in my entire city. That's the extent of Nintendo's efforts, the culmination of their promises for the last few months. Pathetic.
That's correct, but keep in mind we can not criticize Nintendo the holy ones
That's funny, I'd suggest most forumers on this site are hyper-critical of Nintendo. It's one thing to criticize Nintendo for their clear failures in forecasting demand, but then to suggest it's as simple as (a) ramping-up orders, (b) finding another manufacturer to produce more amiibo, or (c) offering it on their website as a way to order them shows a clear misunderstanding of production, demand planning, or possible contractual agreements between Nintendo and the retailers who currently sell Amiibo.
But I know this is a site devoted primarily to people who care to talk about it from a fan perspective, so it isn't terribly surprising many here don't care about those nuances or at least have that provide context.
I actually can understand and forgive failing to forecast demand. It's the complete inability to adjust that is baffling me. Until someone can show me where I'm misunderstanding (keep in mind I work in manufacturing so I understand some of the difficulties) they launched these things 6 months ago and it didn't take long at all to realize they weren't producing enough. At first I thought it was awesome that they couldn't keep up with demand because I assumed that within 3-4 months they would increase supply to meet demand and we'd be ok. Instead I waited 6 months (this thread is the first time I even felt frustrated by it) before I lost my patience and I've officially lost it. For quite some time I was ok with arranging trades on craigslist and paying a little extra for some of the figures, but it should have been fixed by now instead it's gotten WORSE. I wouldn't have lost my patience if it had at least improved a little instead it's worse. There's literally NO EXCUSE especially considering it's really only 1 area (North America) where they underestimated demand.
So just to follow up on Nintendo's latest round of failure, I've been keeping an eye on my 1 nearest GameStops, my local Best Buy, and my local Walmart over the last few days. Of these 4 establishments, only one got any of this supposed Amiibo restock, and that Gamestop only got ONE Amiibo figure: an Ike Amiibo that was already reserved to a person whose pre-order was unfulfilled back in December. One Amiibo in my entire city. That's the extent of Nintendo's efforts, the culmination of their promises for the last few months. Pathetic.
That's correct, but keep in mind we can not criticize Nintendo the holy ones
That's funny, I'd suggest most forumers on this site are hyper-critical of Nintendo. It's one thing to criticize Nintendo for their clear failures in forecasting demand, but then to suggest it's as simple as (a) ramping-up orders, (b) finding another manufacturer to produce more amiibo, or (c) offering it on their website as a way to order them shows a clear misunderstanding of production, demand planning, or possible contractual agreements between Nintendo and the retailers who currently sell Amiibo.
Well, my issue in this case is that Nintendo promised a restock that clearly either hasn't happened (still no sign of that alleged Marth Amiibo restock they've been promising for months) or has been so woefully miniscule that it doesn't justify Nintendo hyping it. If you can't supply, don't pretend that you can. It just makes you look even more incompetent than you've already proven to be.
I think most stores are holding their restocks for May 29th.
Friday is shaping up to be interesting. Robin and Lucina are going to be super-hard to get, Target opens first and is limiting customers to two figures (total) per person, and, of course, they have an exclusive, which means you can't complete your collection at Target.
My wife has a catering job early Friday morning, so it's going to be interesting to make this work... but I think I can do it. :D
