Nintendo has seemingly stumbled on a money maker with it’s Amiibo figures as demand for some of the interactive video game figures continues to outstrip supply. In response, Nintendo has signalled its intentions to ramp up amiibo production in order to satisfy customer demand.
The issue Nintendo is facing is that specific figures are proving to be more popular and thus demand for them is so high the Japanese Games giant hadn’t planned for so much interest. Given Nintendo’s recent financial past, this will be a shot in the arm for the struggling company as it claws back to profitability.
In that case, the amiibo shortage is good news for Nintendo, and after a prolonged period of silence the company has now moved to assure fans that things will get better. Nintendo released a statement via TechChrunch explaining that it understands customers concerns and was working towards alleviate the acute shortages of certain models. The company also points to upcoming features that will be rolled before the end of the year such as amiibo cards, as well as the ability to use amiibo with some of the games in Nintendo’s vas catalogue.
This is what the statement said as seen on TechChrunch:
“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.
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.”
Amiibo fans will pleased with this latest bit of news as so far amiibo have turned out just like any popular gaming software or harware: that of those who profit by hoarding then selling items at a high price while genuine gamers miss out on their favourite pieces. Hopefully things will get beeter soon, and as the Amiibo King, that all subjects have the amiibo that they wish for and desire without restriction!
