Nintendo has struck gold with Amiibos, its collectible figurine line that is said to actually have some impact on its video games, legend has it. But despite their ability to interact with games, most avid fans simply want to catch ‘em all. Nintendo, in their infinite wisdom, seems determined to not let that happen.
Amiibo fever reached perhaps its highest fever pitch yet this week with the “release” of the Wave 4 series. I use the term “release” loosely, because pre-orders for the figures sold out faster than Taylor Swift tickets, leaving thousands of fans out in the cold, and forced to turn to inevitable scalpers on eBay EBAY +0.27% for even a prayer of getting some of the new figurines.
Fans scrambling to get their hands on Wave 4 actually managed to melt down Gamestop’s website in a rush to order the figures, particularly retailer-exclusive Ness. When things finally did manage to get back online, soon enough, Wave 4was completely sold out.
Nintendo then managed to rub salt in its fans’ wounds by tweeting various Amiibo-insensitive things like, “Which Amiibo do you want for Easter?” or “You may know (famously unavailable figurine) Shulk as a Smash Bros. character and an Amiibo, but do you know about his Xenoblade Chronicles origins?” Fan replies were plentiful and caustic, given that so many were unable to get the Amiibos they desperately desired.
I have no stake in this. The photo above is the extent of my Amiibo collection at present. But I have been an avid collector over the years of everything from action figures to trading cards, so I understand the impulse. And I also understand the difference between the existence of a few rare collectibles and making your product downright impossible to get. Nintendo seems to be losing the plot when it comes to Amiibos, and they’re getting a point where the worm might start to turn against them.
Unlike some fans who believe that Nintendo is making Amiibos artificially scarce to drive up demand, I think the truth of it is that they’re simply in over their heads. Nintendo is really weird about correctly estimating their successes and failures. Famously, in early 2014, Nintendo cut their yearly forecast of Wii U sales from 9 million units to just 2.8 million, a 69% drop, when they realized the reality of the situation. Now, they’re having the opposite problem with Amiibos, something that has proved far more popular than they anticipated, and they seem utterly incapable of keeping up with demand.
We’re now at a point where it’s not just that people can’t get their hands on one or two ultra-rare figurines, as may be the case with any kind of collectible. If Nintendo is debuting entire new waves of Amiibos that sell out in a few hours, that’s a serious supply problem. They’re not only losing potential revenue, but they’re upsetting their fanbase in the process. On top of that, their tone-deaf social media campaigns are just making things worse.
Amiibos are a big win for Nintendo, as they’ve discovered a must-have product that fans are dying to get their hands on. It’s a foothold into the toy business, and bolsters their video games as well. But they will squander this opportunity if they don’t start understanding the market better, and adjusting their production accordingly. No, every single Amiibo doesn’t need millions of units molded, and some figures will always be more rare than others, but they need to shift the sales process away from fans scrambling to refreshing multiple tabs when the curtain goes up, or being forced to purchase rare figures on eBay from scalpers that are more than likely trying to rip them off.
Hopefully Nintendo will figure out a way to cope with stumbling into success yet again. But they need to do so quickly before the fad becomes too tiresome for fans to keep enjoying. Right now, Amiibo acquisition isn’t a hobby, it feels more like a job, and it’s only a matter of time before frustration overrides desire.
