Nintendo Will Eventually Discontinue Less Popular Amiibos - Update 4

[Steven Bogos]

Nintendo Will Eventually Discontinue Less Popular Amiibos - Update 4

A Canadian retailer has claimed Nintendo told it the Marth, Wii Fit Trainer and Villager amiibos have already been discontinued.

Update 4: Nintendo got back to us, giving us the exact same statement that GameSpot received. So, if you're a Mario or Link fan, you're golden, but if you're a fan of one of the more obscure characters, you may wanna get your amiibo ASAP.

Update 3: Well, this is confusing. Despite what we had been told by Nintendo, GameSpot is now reporting [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-to-eventually-discontinue-some-amiibo-but/1100-6424091/] that less popular amiibos will be discontinued after selling through their initial shipments. "We will aim for certain amiibo to always be available. These will be for our most popular characters like Mario and Link. Due to shelf space constraints, other figures likely will not return to the market once they have sold through their initial shipment," said a Nintendo representative. We have once again reached out to our own Nintendo contacts for clarification.

Update 2: Nintendo has confirmed to us via email that no amiibos have been discontinued at this time, and the sold out figures will be restocked as soon as new stock is available. Marth, Villager, and Wii Fit Trainer fans rejoice!

Update: A screengrab of an email [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=142281145&posted=1#post142281145] from Nintendo of America's David Young has cropped up on NeoGAF, disputing Video Games Plus's initial claim. He states firmly that the figures have not been discontinued, and that some figures are simply more popular than others, leading to the shortage. We are still waiting to hear back from our Nintendo representative.

Orignal Story: Well, may have a bit of bad news for fans of certain Nintendo properties. Canadian video game retailer Video Games Plus [https://twitter.com/VideoGamesPlus_?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintendolinked.com%2Fnintendo-reportedly-discontinues-wii-fit-trainer-marth-villager-amiibo-figurines%2F&tw_i=541266788441665536&tw_p=tweetembed] has claimed that Nintendo has discontinued three of its most popular amiibo figures.

"Nintendo has officially discontinued Marth, Wii Fit Trainer & Villager amibos. Sorry folks these are gone forever," the retailer "We wish. [https://twitter.com/VideoGamesPlus_/status/541266788441665536] We have been notified by our official Nintendo distributor."

The retailer went on to explain that "We tried re-ordering all 3 from our official Nintendo distributor and after them checking with Nintendo on availability," claiming that Nintendo was refusing to send them more.

It does seem slightly... odd, considering that the figures launched in North America less than a month ago, and only just launched in Japan today, however, considering just how many amiibos Nintendo already has planned [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/138529-11-New-Amiibos-Announced-Sonic-Megaman-And-More-Update], it would sort of make sense to just do a single production run, in order to not clutter up too much shelf space.

We've reached out for Nintendo for confirmation on this, but in the meantime, if you're a Marth, Villager or Wii Fit Trainer fan... you may want to rush out and buy one.

Source: Nintendo Linked [https://twitter.com/VideoGamesPlus_/status/541268137438892033]

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[Zontar]

As a Canadian I have to ask: what the hell is Video Games Plus? I've never herd of these guys.

 

[totheendofsin]

This pisses me off, not even 3 days ago I had all three of the IN MY HANDS WALKING TO CHECKOUT! Then I had to go and listen to my 'better judgment' and get 'christmas presents' instead and put them back...

moral of the story children, always impulse buy and never listen to your better judgment

 

[Alfredo Jones]

Eh, I already got my Donkey Kong amiibo so I'm good. Now I'm just waiting for Captain Falcon's to be released so I can my mii in Mario Kart 8 can dress as him while racing in the Blue Falcon.

 

[Story]

Shit.
I really wanted that Villager figure. I had one in my hands on Day One, so that sucks. Better go ahead and preorder those Shulk and Ike figures.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

As a Canadian I have to ask: what the hell is Video Games Plus? I've never herd of these guys.

Same here. Nor have I kept up with what even an Amiibo is... <_<

 

[Roxas1359]

Welp, time to grab that Marth Amiibo now, and then preorder the Shulk one since it'll probably be discontinued really fast. Then I'll grab the Megaman one and the Ganondorf one.

 

[RaikuFA]

This dosen't make sense. I've never even seen those Amiibo's. I thought they were just delayed.

 

[Story]

This dosen't make sense. I've never even seen those Amiibo's. I thought they were just delayed.

Nah, they sold out really quickly and were under stocked. I think my small GameStop store had one Marth, 3 Villagers, and 5 Wii Fitt Trainers. So they are stupid rare right now. I think Marth is selling for 200$ on E-bay or something like that.

Edit:
Honestly, if Nintendo were smart, they'd give them one more run as limited editions next time to really ruffle some feathers. Right now though, only collectors are gonna rake in the cash.

 

[Roxas1359]

Nah, they sold out really quickly and were under stocked. I think my small GameStop store had one Marth, 3 Villagers, and 5 Wii Fitt Trainers. So they are stupid rare right now. I think Marth is selling for 200$ on E-bay or something like that.

Edit:
Honestly, if Nintendo were smart, they'd give them one more run as limited editions next time to really ruffle some feathers. Right now though, only collectors are gonna rake in the cash.

I think Nintendo highly underestimated stock for a lot of places. The Best Buy I preordered my copy of Smash Wii U from received under the requested amount of Amiibos as well as bundled versions of Smash Wii U that came with the GameCube adapter.

 

[Story]

Nah, they sold out really quickly and were under stocked. I think my small GameStop store had one Marth, 3 Villagers, and 5 Wii Fitt Trainers. So they are stupid rare right now. I think Marth is selling for 200$ on E-bay or something like that.

Edit:
Honestly, if Nintendo were smart, they'd give them one more run as limited editions next time to really ruffle some feathers. Right now though, only collectors are gonna rake in the cash.

I think Nintendo highly underestimated stock for a lot of places. The Best Buy I preordered my copy of Smash Wii U from received under the requested amount of Amiibos as well as bundled versions of Smash Wii U that came with the GameCube adapter.

Yeah, I completely agree. Same with the GameCube adapters in general, we've had a lot of requests for those. The bundles I understand though since, at least the employees, were told they would be limited.

 

[Vault101]

huh values gonna go way up

also...erm...why would nintendo discontinue them?

 

[ShirowShirow]

Some of these Amiibos are going to be stupid rare.

 

[ccggenius12]

But Nintendo... Your characters aren't Skylanders... They have a lot of history and sentimentality attached to them, you can't just drop them, never to be seen again.
Also, the local Best buy never even had a shelf spot for them, but they're in the 2014 Nintendo Holiday Gift Guide. Why would you put something in that that's not even going to be for sale in December...
I guess I'm glad I didn't choose to buy into this, the collect-them-all instinct would have destroyed my bank account even harder with short print runs.

 

[Story]

huh values gonna go way up

also...erm...why would nintendo discontinue them?

My guess is that those were the three characters that didn't have a big fan base and wouldn't see compatible amiibo content outside of Smash with any of their future games. They were cut to focus production on more Marios or Pikachus or whatever. I think Nintendo under estimates some of their franchises and their respective fans, like Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing.

 

[Darren716]

huh values gonna go way up

also...erm...why would nintendo discontinue them?

My only guess is to re-release them later as "special limited edition" and drive the price up $15. People will pay more especially if how everywhere online is out of stock, and how much the price of these three figures have risen already.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Wow I'm glad I got Marth when I did. I guess I'll have to make sure to grab up Ike and Shulk as quickly as possible as well and just abandon hope of ever seeing a Lucina figure.

I got Marth at Target, I knew that was the one I wanted the most and I hadn't seen it anywhere else, so I grabbed it. I suppose I was lucky.

Edit: Ike, Shulk and Pit pre-ordered.


Edit 2: Well it's nice to know they're not actually discontinued. I don't regret pre-ordering the other figures though, I would've bought them anyway.

This also happened with the first run of Skylanders figures, back when it was a new concept, Activision didn't anticipate the rush for figures, they were completely sold out of retailers for months and the most in demand figures were impossible to find (now they're on their fourth game and retailers can't get rid of half of them).

Edit 3: I don't even know anymore.

 

[C.TYR]

So, yeah, I just went online and bought the last Wii Fit Trainer Amiibo left in a walmart near me right now.
I don't care if I don't even have a Wii-U or Smash right now, I will and I want this dumb thing.
Also I live in a tiny town, so those things are still in stock.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

I, uhh...

Wait, aren't these supposed to be this extremely, heavily marketed thing along with the Wii U?

Why would you suddenly discontinue them?

... I, what?

 

[-Dragmire-]

As a Canadian I have to ask: what the hell is Video Games Plus? I've never herd of these guys.

Their website only lists 2 store locations. I'm not sure they're a major retailer.

source: https://www.videogamesplus.ca/store_locations.php