Nintendo Apologizes to Fans for Problems with Amiibo Line, Promises to Re-Issue Characters
If you are fan of those little figurines of video game characters called Amiibo, Nintendo’s line of toys-to-life figurines for Wii U and 3DS video games, things have been rough as of late. It is hard to get certain characters with store exclusives and the mad rush to pre-orders. The deluge of pre-orders has caused websites to break down, and some fans have missed out on pre-ordering that desired favorite. In addition, there is a huge scalper problem with the figures. Scalpers buy out all the rare, hard-to-find Amiibos and then sell them for jacked-up prices. In short, fans become enraged, and a Nintendo catches a lot of the flak.
Per Game Informer, Nintendo has finally responded to the fan complaints regarding “Amiibogeddon” as it’s called. In the new statement, Nintendo addresses consumer demand outpacing supply levels and “looking for the opportunity” to reissue certain Amiibos that are out-of-stock. You can read the full statement below:
We appreciate the enthusiasm that our fans continue to show toward amiibo. Sales for the product have exceeded our expectations. We understand how frustrating it can be at times if consumers are unable to find certain figures, and we apologize for that.
We’re trying to meet the demands of our fans and consumers by increasing the amount of amiibo we manufacture and ship to retail. We may continue to see consumer demand outpace supply levels for certain characters at times, but we will do our best to prevent that from happening.
As our library of amiibo continues to grow, some figures will be easier to find than others. We are constantly looking for the opportunity to reissue amiibo and are already making plans to bring back some currently out-of-stock amiibo figures. Stay tuned for details.
Nintendo plans to make it easier for consumers to know when new amiibo are on the way, through Nintendo press announcements, timely updates on our social media channels and working closely with retailers.
We remain committed to keeping amiibo affordable and easy to access as a platform to enhance game-play experiences. These plans include Animal Crossing amiibo cards that will become available by the end of 2015, and a free-to-download app for Wii U called amiibo tap: Nintendo’s Greatest Bits that launched on April 30, 2015, that lets consumers enjoy playable scenes from certain NES and Super NES games with amiibo.
It really just depends if gamers and fans want to believe Nintendo’s sincerity here or not. At least Nintendo apologized for the problems. However, I do not think the statement really addresses the scalper problem with the Amiibos.