I know this has shown up before but I'd like to take this a little more into consideration. I'm sure many of you have heard of Nintendo's new NFC figurines coming out in 2015 called Amiibos. But the question that has been circulating the internet is will they be successful or fail? Seeing how Activision made a titan out of Skylanders and Disney then came along and made Skylanders eat their dust with the Disney Infinity set of characters. Seeing how powerful those two have become not only gives many a good feeling that Amiibos will prevail, but also gives many a sense that they could be doomed due to huge competition. But the thing is, Amiibos are very different from Skylanders and Disney Infinity. Let's pretend you're buying just a normal, deluxe edition Wii U. No bundles or anything. That alone is $299.99. To buy Disney Infinity then (was) $64.99. Then getting a character (since most fans probably want more) is $14.99 per character. If Nintendo makes the characters even only $9.99, and maybe bundles them with games like Smash, Mario Kart etc for only $5 extra (added to the game) then there is no way that these could fail. Also, one reason that Disney Infinity became such a huge hit was due to the charming and profilic characters that were available to play as. Now Nintendo's even more loveable and profilic icons, for possibly cheaper, are entering the competition. Another advantage for Nintendo is that gaming is their turf. Disney is known better for movie and TV then games but Nintendo is possibly the most well known gaming company ever. So yeah, I have faith that Amiibos will succeed and help Wii U along the way too :)

I think the little figures will sell well and help Nintendo out financially, but without a game of their own similar to Disney and Activision's I don't see many toy purchasers actually caring enough about their function in games like SSB and supposedly Mario Kart at some point to buy a WiiU solely to make use of the toy. I believe the previous games were so successful and thus the toy lines were successful partly because of the novelty of the use of physical toys within a game and partially because these toys were necessary for a game that became extremely popular. Without a similar game I think that Nintendo's Amiibos will sell mostly to gaming enthusiasts and the currently announced functions in games will not sway many to buy a WiiU for SSB and MK if they hadn't already.

Depends what actually do the toys do? I mean skylanders and disney its obvious but nintendo figures im not sure

It's pokemon phenomenon all over again. No joke. It has all the tools to be the next big thing. Variety, Nintendo has a lot of IP, a lot. They're game cross capable and not only that, it Amiibo will continue to grace Nintendo software throughout Wii U and so on. Amiibo has the appeal that no only caters to kids, but to adults as well. From the core audience to the casual. Kid's won't ever have enough of these. The amiibo are like pokemon, there may be 2 of the same kind, but they're never the same. It's going to be gangbusters.

PS4 be aware, and xbox1 continue to fail, because Amiibo, NFC, was the trojan horse Nintendo should have flaunted over the other consoles.

Gold.

Infinity and Skylanders both really are average/above-average games. Nintendo creates better quality games. I'm pretty sure they've carefully thought through how Amiibo works to really make games better.

While Infinity benefits from being Disney-cast, Skylanders started from the Spryo Universe. Commercially a successful one, but not one you'd bet a billion dollars on prior to Skylanders -- and yet that's where it's at today.

Consider Nintendo's tendency to make really great games with highly visible IP and you have a starting point towards a major success in Amiibo

I feel Amiibos will do more for Nintendo financially than it will for Wii U sales. Financially if Amiibos take off as a toy line from the more casual consumer(that just want high quality Nintendo themed toys),then this will be huge for Nintendo,mixed in with the more hardcore group(gamers) who will collect them to use in various games Nintendo has planned.. then you'll have something big

It all depends on how well Nintendo markets these and which stores they put them in. If they're exclusive to one store like Gamestop or something,then these will fail

Both.

It is a gimmick, but they will also sell a lot.

As a parent though, fuck this. I made the mistake of buying the first Skylanders game. I'm out of these shenanigans.

I kind of feel like you and most people that are hopeful for amiibos don't know that much about them.  Unlike disney infinity and skylanders, you don't actually get to play with the figures you buy.  You tap them on your controller and a computer bot shows up on the screen.  You can play against said bot or with it cooperatively.  However, it doesn't add a new character that you personally can play with.  

Also, if you don't have the correct line of amiibo, you won't actually get all the benefits of the amiibo.  For example, in smash bros you can level up your bot and it develops its own AI based on how you play against it (jumps more, hides, uses more powers, etc.).  However, if you use a mario kart amiibo on smash bros, it will just be a basic bot.  No leveling up, no AI learning.  So to get full functionality for your games, you will have to buy multiple versions of each character depending on the game.  

I also highly doubt nintendo would undercut current skylander/disney infinity figure prices.  If anything, they will come out more expensive...

Both. They will make them a lot of money, but they will still be only a gimmick.
I'd be surprised if they move a lot of consoles tbh...
What i could see though is that some games sell better because they get exclusive Amiibos bundled with them.

I could see Amiibo being successful on it's own, but I don't believe it will have much of an effect on sales.

Edit: I wish people would stop using the word gimmick as if it were inherently negative. Amiibo is by definition, a gimmick.