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pokoko on 03 December 2015
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Pavolink said:
pokoko said:

I think he's saying that the main consumer segment is taking them home and putting them on a shelf.  Obviously it's good that they're selling but they seem to want people to use them and show off the "DLC" aspect to others, who would then go out and buy their own Amiibo.  Basically, they want Amiibo to sell to people who are interested in the functionality, not just super-fans who buy for their collection.  One is a path to growth, the other not as much.

I think they wanted Amiibo to go viral and pull in new customers.  They wanted that Skylanders effect.  Kids, especially, will buy what other kids are playing with and your product adoption rate will grow exponentially.  My guess is that growth is more flat than hoped for and they're looking at 20 year old hardcore Nintendo fans buying them all up rather than 12 year olds who become new fans because of Amiibo exposure.

And what we can guess that they are going to do to reach this goal (because you explained very well)? Let's lock more content behind it, let's develop more games that needs them, let's focus more resources in amiibos, etc.

Locking deeper content away on Amiibo is one path but I think that would be a mistake.  Yes, there are certainly fans who accept anything Nintendo does but there are others who would be unhappy about such a practice.  It would be a risk.

That's the inherent flaw with Amiibo, though, in that, unlike Skylanders, it's not its own thing, but is instead designed to nudge fans of other Nintendo IP into buying them.  It needs it's own Amiibo branded software that fun and interesting as a stand-alone concept.  An Amiibo World RPG, for instance.  Perhaps we will see that on NX.

It wouldn't shock me to see them stuff Amiibo with more content, though, in order to make them a more compelling purchase for people who love a particular game, like Zelda or Mario.  More outfits, more powers, more functions, bonus levels, that kind of thing.

Or they could go all-in and do both, make them almost vital to the full "Nintendo experience".  That wouldn't shock me.  It all depends on how much they're investing in Amiibo being a major part of the future of Nintendo.