Topic: Nintendo of America Issues Statement on Amiibo Supply Issues

[broodwars]

Edit: 2 nearest GameStops.

[Leo13]

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

[UncleBob]

I think most stores are holding their restocks for May 29th.

[lolmonade]

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.
 
 

[fred13]

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.

[lolmonade]

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.

Not that anyone's truly interested this, but once I get home from work, I'll be glad to detail out a realistic scenario of how this probably played out at Nintendo, or how it would play out at any company that purchases a product & sends it to a retailer.  There's a lot of potential pitfalls that can be piled on-top of Nintendo's general conervative nature that would cause it to be delayed or even worse at this point.

[broodwars]

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.

[pokepal148]

"Our restock plan is real"

[UncleBob]

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.

[UncleBob]

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.

[pokepal148]

Ah, the few benefits of working retail.

[Khushrenada]

Complaining about Amiibo stock is still a thing?

I feel like this is old news.

(insert shrug gif)

[Phil]

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.

Apparently it's 2 per character. Not two amiibo total.

[UncleBob]

Yeah, they've tweeted both today. Gr.

[pokepal148]

I actually work at Walmart and I strongly believe the restock (at least for our store) is still in the warehouse given how barren our amiibo display is right now. More then likely they're basically not going to bother replacing our stock until wave 4 comes out.