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Forums - Nintendo - Will Amiibo drive Wii U sales?

Arcturus on 27 June 2014
mZuzek said:
Arcturus said:
I don't think it will drive sales of Wii U. It's just an add-on for Nintendo franchises. If you weren't planning on buying a Wii U for those Nintendo games, Amiibo isn't going to compel you to do so.


That's looking at it from a gamer point of view.
Amiibo is going to be targeted at kids and if successful could become really big.
It obviously depends on how expensive they'll be though. Have Nintendo already announced the pricing for it? If it's relatively cheap and the Wii U gets a $50 price cut before holiday, I can see it driving a lot of sales.

But what is going to make kids want it? What does Amiibo bring to the table that will make someone, or some kid, say "I need a Wii U for this!". From what I've seen, Amiibo looks like just an add-on for certain Nintendo games. The market for Amiibo is those who own a Wii U and who buy Nintendo games. I don't see what would cause people or kids who previously weren't interested in Wii U or Nintendo games to suddenly say "I need this!"



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Dunban67 on 27 June 2014
Darwinianevolution said:
They will make a good profit out of this (not as much as everyone says, mind you), but it won't drive sales unless Nintendo makes a Skylanders-like videogame out of Amiibo, not just expansions of other games.


What you said



Metalheadgamer on 27 June 2014

it depends if they do innovative things with it or not. But I have faith they will.



Pristine20 on 27 June 2014
ps4tw said:
Nope. Again Nintendo is appealing to Nintendo fans, and they already own a Wii U.

^This.



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leedlelee on 27 June 2014

If they market this new venture effectively, I think it could pay off...
But given Nintendo's reluctance to effectively market, I think the cynicism is perfectly reasonable...



Have a nice day...

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Razeak on 27 June 2014

Amiibos are cool, but are going to be held back without a dedicated game. I think they are going to be fairly popular, just not as big as they could be.



DarkRPGamer007 on 27 June 2014

I could actually see Amiibo figures going way higher than Wii U sales. A lot of people will buy them thinking they're just collectibles. Also I highly doubt they'll drive sales. Not saying they won't help Nintendo's profits as a whole, just won't help Wii U



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JWeinCom on 27 June 2014

Based on what I've seen I'm inclined to say no.

With Disney Infinity and Skylanders, it's a simple sell. You buy these characters and you can play as them. Easy. With Amiibo it's not so clear.

Well, you can play Link without any figurine. But, if you buy a Link figurine, then you can have a computer controlled Link character who can learn to fight you. Then you can have your toy Link fight other toy Links.

It's just not a clear benefit, especially to younger or more casual players I think the idea of toys coming to life on their own is kind of neat, but they haven't really shown it to have a meaningful impact on gaming.

Nintendo is in a weird spot with this. They want the figures to work with multiple games, which would help them stand apart from things like skylanders. At the same time, they don't want to lock content from key releases behind cute figuring paywalls. That's admirable, but without making the figurines necessary for certain content, it's a tough sell.

With all that being said, the figurines are really neat looking. Definitely going to be picking up Mega Man, Kirby, and Zero Suit Samus when they're available.