Nintendo apologizes, promises better Amiibo communication and distribution - Polidicks

[img]https://img1.etsystatic.com/051/1/7134977/il_570xN.740664685_jwxh.jpg[/img] [quote]It’s no secret that Nintendo’s Amiibos, while popular, have been a bit of a mess. The little figurines function like Skylanders for Nintendo games, depicting a range of characters with NFC chips in them that allow them to be used in various games. That is, if you can get your hands on them. While it’s hard to tell exactly whether the biggest problem comes from overwhelming demand or bungled supply, but pick your poison. Some Amiibos are virtually impossible to find, and Nintendo’s fourth wave essentially broke all of Gamestop, from the website to the retail stores. Worse still, Nintendo has been sort of tone deaf throughout the whole process, and this is the first real response the company has given.[/quote] [quote]“We appreciate the enthusiasm that our fans continue to show toward amiibo. Sales for the product have exceeded our expectations. We understand how frustrating it can be at times if consumers are unable to find certain figures, and we apologize for that. 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. As our library of amiibo continues to grow, some figures will be easier to find than others. We are constantly looking for the opportunity to reissue amiibo and are already making plans to bring back some currently out-of-stock amiibo figures. Stay tuned for details. Nintendo plans to make it easier for consumers to know when new amiibo are on the way, through Nintendo press announcements, timely updates on our social media channels and working closely with retailers. We remain committed to keeping amiibo affordable and easy to access as a platform to enhance game-play experiences. These plans include Animal Crossing amiibo cards that will become available by the end of 2015, and a free-to-download app for Wii U called amiibo tap: Nintendo’s Greatest Bits that launched on April 30, 2015, that lets consumers enjoy playable scenes from certain NES and Super NES games with amiibo.”[/quote] [url=http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2015/05/04/nintendo-we-messed-up-with-amiibos/]Source[/url]

wasn't the main reason Amiibo shipments and other nintendo shipments were so fucked up due to the LA port strikes

[QUOTE=Wii60;47661487]wasn't the main reason Amiibo shipments and other nintendo shipments were so fucked up due to the LA port strikes[/QUOTE] They're hard to get in Europe AND Japan as it is, but that probably didn't help.

THAT'S what they should be apologizing for...yeah okay.

god those things are terrible

I thought the point was that they were supposed to be hard-to-get collectibles, deliberately in short supply to keep the valuable.

Still waiting on that not-New 3DS NFC accessory, Nintendo. It was promised for "the summer" in Nintendo's recent financial report, but I'm hoping it's earlier summer instead of later summer. Sure they're little gimmicks as far as in-game tie-ins go (at least for Smash), but they're decent-quality figurines for the intended retail price and it's a neat little gimmick. I don't plan on collecting all of them, but I want to grab one or two to try it out. But until Nintendo gets this NFC puck out, I'm not because I can't do anything with them.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;47661526]I thought the point was that they were supposed to be hard-to-get collectibles, deliberately in short supply to keep the valuable.[/QUOTE] It's actually Nintendo inability to understand the basic concept of supply and demand. They constantly shit out the unpopular and over stocked amiibos, while not giving two shits about the rare and popular ones. I went to Fry's Electronics the other day and they have fucking rows of Mario/Link/Pikachu/Peach/etc amiibos. They literally can't sell them because people already have them, or don't want them.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;47661556]Still waiting on that not-New 3DS NFC accessory, Nintendo. It was promised for "the summer" in Nintendo's recent financial report, but I'm hoping it's earlier summer instead of later summer. Sure they're little gimmicks as far as in-game tie-ins go (at least for Smash), but they're decent-quality figurines for the intended retail price and it's a neat little gimmick. I don't plan on collecting all of them, but I want to grab one or two to try it out. But until Nintendo gets this NFC puck out, I'm not because I can't do anything with them.[/QUOTE] They said September

[QUOTE=MadBomber;47661494]They're hard to get in Europe AND Japan as it is, but that probably didn't help.[/QUOTE] What? My local electronics store has a pretty good amount of them.

[QUOTE=daigennki;47661957]What? My local electronics store has a pretty good amount of them.[/QUOTE] All the stores here have all of them in stock too. Idk what this problem is but I haven't seen it.

Still waiting for an opportunity to get King Dedede and Pacman.

I hear Germany has a good supply of all the current ones

I kind of assumed they did this on purpose. Recreating the whole "damn I wish I could get my hands on a wii" experience.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;47661526]I thought the point was that they were supposed to be hard-to-get collectibles, deliberately in short supply to keep the valuable.[/QUOTE] But they're not collectables, they're basically pretty companion apps to go along with whatever game they're for. The production quality on some is pretty bad though, certainly not collectable figurine standard.

I still dont see the appeal of amiibos on any level. The content they offer isn't anything special and as a figure they're pretty ugly.

I don't want them to make all the amiibo available at all times, or making them as common as Mario. you end up with the beanie baby effect otherwise. though various re-releases would be nice, like every few months re-release this character or that, something like that.

I tried to preorder a Greninja amiibo at my local game store like 3 weeks before it was due to come out (pre-orders had been open for only like 2 days) and their entire stock was sold out, it's ridiculous. I hope Nintendo actually does something about this

[QUOTE=Oizen;47662257]I still dont see the appeal of amiibos on any level. The content they offer isn't anything special and as a figure they're pretty ugly.[/QUOTE] They'e cheap, affordable figures for series that don't generally see much official merch (F-Zero, or Earthbound for example) also, they really don't look that bad. sure there are some offenders like Marth, or Villager, but other Amiibo looks pretty nice. My DeDeDe amiibo looks pretty damn good considering he only cost me $13. The game functionality is just intended to be the icing on the cake. The only problem is greedy re-sellers.

[QUOTE=Oizen;47662257]I still dont see the appeal of amiibos on any level. The content they offer isn't anything special and as a figure they're pretty ugly.[/QUOTE] It's an opinion type of thing. I think they look great and I like their functionality. Wouldn't know how to explain it to you honestly.

[QUOTE=Gamerman12;47662260]I don't want them to make all the amiibo available at all times, or making them as common as Mario. you end up with [B]the beanie baby effect[/B] otherwise. though various re-releases would be nice, like every few months re-release this character or that, something like that.[/QUOTE] Who cares about some shitty scalpers, it's better for the consumer in this case for everything to be equally common. Anyone can get whichever Amiibo they want without having to pay 60+ dollars because someone wants easy money.

How can this be an issue in 2015? Why can't they just offer them in an online store, ship internationally from China, and make a monthly new batch based on demand there?

[QUOTE=murple;47662109]I hear Germany has a good supply of all the current ones[/QUOTE] Lately it's getting harder and harder trying to find non-commons here in Germany. Especially on german online sites like amazon.de since some guys realised that you can actually import those stuff to the US.

If I was into collecting amiibos, this wouldn't sound too reassuring to me. Only a few weeks ago, they announced that they would be doing even more retailer exclusives.

[QUOTE=ThatSprite;47662267]I tried to preorder a Greninja amiibo at my local game store like 3 weeks before it was due to come out (pre-orders had been open for only like 2 days) and their entire stock was sold out, it's ridiculous. I hope Nintendo actually does something about this[/QUOTE] For many amiibos in America if you don't preorder within five minutes to an hour of preorders opening you're shit out of luck.

this doesn't even mean anything, other than thinly mentioning that they're doing something that people already knows about. like Ike/Marth being restocked due to Code Name S.T.E.A.M., Villager is presumably getting a restock in preparation for the Happy Home spinoff though chances are any AC card might work as a Villager. Looking for main Nintendo characters who isn't Mario/Peach but is from an early batch? Good luck trying to get a Kirby or a Zelda despite being core Amiibos, at least the latter might be restocked whenever Zelda U comes out, but you'll probably have to hope they release a major new/neutral title to hopefully fuel the demand for more Amiibo, could kind of see them doing the Ace Combat thing with the Arwing with amiibo colors. or the Amiibos with reoccurring titles but is slightly old enough to justify a restock would actually get restocks; but since they're kind of saving Duck Hunt Dog, Mr Game & Watch for last they're probably going to be temporary Unicorn deities for the time being. Weirdly over here, even Mario somehow ran out of visible stock, even after months of them being out. the SMB batch sold out of everyone except Yoshi/Peach then even those sold out. SSB-wise, everyone was probably there but then whittled down to Mario, Yoshi, Peach, Samus, Link, Fox and DK. Ike/Bowser/Sheik was temporarily common after their release but went out of stock. now its only Peach, DK, Pikachu and Samus survives with like 1 Link and this was after Pac-Man/Ness/Charizard/Robin/whatever was released. so i don't think they have old ones shipped with new ones.

[QUOTE=Gamerman12;47662287]I think they look great [/QUOTE] [video=youtube;lb3N01lm6P8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb3N01lm6P8[/video] The entire Fire Emblem Cast looks pretty bad honestly. Especially if you compare the Lucina amiibo to the likes of the Lucina Figma.

[QUOTE=Oizen;47663166][video=youtube;lb3N01lm6P8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb3N01lm6P8[/video] The entire Fire Emblem Cast looks pretty bad honestly. Especially if you compare the Lucina amiibo to the likes of the Lucina Figma.[/QUOTE] Yeah I remember laughing at Marth and putting him back down when they first came out. If only I knew the huge mistake I made in not buying it.

Frankly all of the faces of Fire Emblem amiibo look awful. Robin is passable, but barely. :v:

[QUOTE=murple;47662109]I hear Germany has a good supply of all the current ones[/QUOTE] I hunt for Amiibo and't it's hard as fuck to get on the newest ones. There are countless of Bower, Mario, Luigi and Peach in the stores and the others go for 30 - 100€ each on Ebay or Amazon Marketplace. I still can't get my hands on LittleMac.