Whether they intentionally under-supplied retail stores to create a buzz, or sincerely were not ready for the massive popularity of these figurines, the fact that you need these figurines in order to take advantage of certain game add-ons seems like a terribly mismanaged project from its very conception. I had just wanted to get a Shulk Amiibo, but at the rate these collectors or scalpers are grabbing 'em, this whole thing has lost what little interest I had in them.
I don't get what Nintendo is doing with their Amiibo figurine line
Leo
#3
That’s the other part that confuses me. No store bothered to set a limit of how many figures you can purchase per person? This scenario is a scalper’s paradise. It’s the Beanie Baby craze repeated.
RpgN
#5
That’s your answer. If it was one incident, sure. But they’ve done the same with those gamecube controllers for SSB, limited editions that are sold out 3-4 minutes after they are announced on Nintendo Direct, games with low stock etc. Not to mention them being known about this before when they controlled the market.
I’ve noticed that they’ve been doing this especially this year and started a bit last year. You know how they have been talking about the need of keeping the value of their games high and wanting to distinguish themselves from mobile games?
That way they keep prices high, sell through is high and profit more more when consumers are forced to buy these games digitally when they can’t get hold of physical copies.
They even introduced demos with codes that can be gotten through a specific way. A further method to create hype, seem limited and special that way, part of the image they’re trying to get.
In conclusion, it’s intentional and it’s disgusting.
DG_Nick
#6
That it doesn’t make good business sense is the reason I don’t want to buy into that theory. Nintendo isn’t your friend, they’re a company, a business. Yes, to a certain extent they want to look good but that’s less important than money. Intentionally constraining their supply lowers profits, that’s just a fact. Something to consider is that Nintendo is not a toy company, and manufacturing these things I’m sure is not a small effort for them.
John
#8
It lowers potential profit but ensures return and lowers risk. Being conservative with production and knowingly (or, to the best of their knowledge) producing below the demand guarantees a return on investment. To be frank i thought the Amiibos would go to shit and die next to the E.T. cartridges, i never would’ve expected them to be so sought after. Maybe Ninty fucked itself up by having a long term safe ROI plan that underestimated demand and now it can’t handle how huge the market for Amiibos is.
RpgN
#9
As what has been mentioned before by John, I’ll try and offer my take on it too.
They can miss on profits from not providing enough copies to the market. Or they can provide too many copies and not enough demand, forcing the prices to go down, get less from each sold copy and be forced to buy back stock from retailers.
Because the wii u is performing below expectations and because they have had negative figures on their quarterly results, Nintendo thought it was viable to have the safest approach. All the while they are trying to keep their market an alternative choice to cheap mobile games.
This way not only will they be sure to sell through all of their stock, this also trains the consumers to buy Nintendo games straight away without waiting for price drops or finding used copies. When more consumers learn that, more sales for Nintendo.
DG_Nick
#10
It’s true that they could be playing it safe.
If they’re not meeting demand, they’re not making more profit. You aren’t getting more money by training people to buy early if there’s no stock to buy. That doesn’t make sense.
OneEightZero
#11
“When you continue to throw random things at a fire in hopes that they burn, it is difficult to tell the quantity required to sate the flames.” - Confucius 2015
MidnightTrain
#12
Yeah, that’s a great idea on paper. Here’s the thing, though. Smash is literally unplayable without a gamecube controller. There were millions of copies of smash sold, but how many adapters do you think were put out there? If by sheer luck I wasn’t checking Amazon during the 12 minutes window they had these in stock on a random day, my game would just be collecting dust on the shelf.
Along with my hopes and dreams
DG_Nick
#16
Pro controllers are a perfectly acceptable way for one person to play smash. I don’t feel entitled to 8 controllers so I was unable to assume that’s what you were talking about. My skin is the wrong color for that.
RpgN
#17
Clearly someone forgot how the wii was sold out everywhere and how that stunt made the system more desirable and successful. It makes perfect because they can increase production if demand is high on a consistent basis.
Speaking of Smash 8 player mode, which controllers are supported for 8 mode? That sounds like an awesome time with friends.
DG_Nick
#18
But that’s not what happened with the Wii, at least in the US. It took at least a year before you could just walk into a store and buy one. I’m sure there were tons of unsatisfied customers who waited outside shops in the cold that weren’t able to buy one and never did because of that experience.
The wii u remote, the wii remote, the wii pro controller, and a gamecube controller with the adapter. I think those are all of them. Obviously one person or more would have to settle for a lesser experience to make 8 players, but it might be doable since there’s so many options.