Even Super Smash Bros.' Director is Having Trouble Finding Amiibos in Stores

[Steven Bogos]

Even Super Smash Bros.' Director is Having Trouble Finding Amiibos in Stores

Super Smash Bros. game director Masahiro Sakurai shares the pain of those of you scrambling to find your favorite amiibo in stores.

Are you having trouble finding your favorite discontinued [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/amiibo]. Even Nintendo vastly underestimated their popularity, and is desperately trying to meet demand.

Meanwhile, Sakurai wave 3 amiibos [https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/558489529704013825] that were just released in Japan, only to be met with some bad news. "I went to buy the new amiibos but Shiek, Meta Knight, Lucario and Rosalina were sold out so I couldn't buy them," said the director.

"Some amiibo were very popular at launch, and it is possible that some amiibo in the United States, Canada and Latin America may not be available right now due to high demand and our efforts to manage shelf space during the launch period," said Nintendo of America in an official statement. It now looks like that shortage has spread to Japan (or at least, Tokyo).

Nintendo is planning on releasing even more amiibos [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139459-Nintendos-New-Wave-Of-Mario-And-Smash-Bros-Amiibos-Arriving-This-Spring] this spring, and if the previous waves were anything to go by, you had better scramble if you wanna pick up your favorite character! I'm personally lucky enough to live in rural Japan, which means my local electronics store always has a healthy supply of amiibos.

Source: Twitter (Japanese) [https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/558489529704013825]

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[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

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Spoiler

Nintendo you have failed in selling these toys.

 

[Weaver]

Nintendo, make an amiibo webstore if you're so concerned about space.

 

[Maze1125]

...............

Spoiler

Nintendo you have failed in selling these toys.

No they haven't. Artificial rarity tends to increase popularity and future sales, rather than reduce them.

 

[Scow2]

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Spoiler

Nintendo you have failed in selling these toys.

No they haven't. Artificial rarity tends to increase popularity and future sales, rather than reduce them.

I don't even think it's artificial rarity - the demand just vastly outstrips the supply and anticipated demand.

Nintendo, make an amiibo webstore if you're so concerned about space.

I know this may come as a shock to you... but things in webstores actually need to exist in the real world as well, and have production facilities to create them.

 

[xaszatm]

...............

Spoiler

Nintendo you have failed in selling these toys.

No they haven't. Artificial rarity tends to increase popularity and future sales, rather than reduce them.

I don't even think it's artificial rarity - the demand just vastly outstrips the supply and anticipated demand.

Nintendo, make an amiibo webstore if you're so concerned about space.

I know this may come as a shock to you... but things in webstores actually need to exist in the real world as well, and have production facilities to create them.

Yeah, people seem to be forgetting that Nintendo has been suffering overstock problems since the launch of the 3DS. It's no surprise that now, the go into the opposite direction to avoid the warehouses of 3DS limited bundles problem they had. It sucks, but there is a reasoning behind the shortage.

 

[And Man]

All I care about is getting a Shulk amiibo, but it's a Gamestop exclusive and Gamestop is out of preorders. Out of preorders. That doesn't even make sense and basically goes against the whole point of a preorder

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

"Some amiibo were very popular at launch, and it is possible that some amiibo in the United States, Canada and Latin America may not be available right now due to high demand and our efforts to manage shelf space during the launch period," said Nintendo of America...

Really? I never would have guessed. It's not like Amiibo are the latest popular toys. Those products totally don't get bought up, as soon as they are put on shelves or listed online, by collectors and scalpers buying as many as they can find. It would in no way help the situation if stores at least put a (better) limit on how many you can buy or send to a single address./major sarcasm

The sad thing is I just read an article yesterday with former Nintendo executive Dan Alderman talking about how Nintendo takes so long to adjust to the changing market. Basically, everyone in the hierarchy has to agree on everything. One "no" can kill an idea. I'd bet that problem is why it takes so long for more of a specific Amiibo to be made or more of any limited item to be made for launch. There is probably at least one person on the board concerned about the company eating the cost of extra products that won't sell or paying for warehouse space for a lot items yet to ship, despite the fact it is well known that Nintendo's special editions and Amiibos are highly sought after.

 

[EyeReaper]

Yup. I've pretty much given up on finding a meta-knight or Dedede for under 20 bucks. Sad face.

On the plus side, about a week ago I did get a pre-order down on my main man Pit, luckily. Looking at the Amazon pricings, I think I should have ordered two.

 

[RaikuFA]

Yup. I've pretty much given up on finding a meta-knight or Dedede for under 20 bucks. Sad face.

On the plus side, about a week ago I did get a pre-order down on my main man Pit, luckily. Looking at the Amazon pricings, I think I should have ordered two.

Same here with Shulk and Megaman. I'm waiting to preorder Ness and Charizard(charizard for my brother).

Might get the FE ones for Codename S.T.E.A.M. since they are gonna reprint Marth.

 

[marioandsonic]

Let me know when they come out with a Ganondorf. I've been waiting for him for a while now...

 

[Roxas1359]

Let me know when they come out with a Ganondorf. I've been waiting for him for a while now...

With how current Amiibos are now, you'd probably have to preorder him instantly if you wanted him.

Yeah, people seem to be forgetting that Nintendo has been suffering overstock problems since the launch of the 3DS. It's no surprise that now, the go into the opposite direction to avoid the warehouses of 3DS limited bundles problem they had. It sucks, but there is a reasoning behind the shortage.

While there was indeed a reason, I think at this point it's just gotten way to bad for even that reason anymore. Amiibos, GameCube Adapters, and everything with Majora's Mask (well bar the SG which is useless thanks to the internet) has shown that Nintendo is vastly underproducing everything. And even then with Amiibos, there certainly aren't shortages of Mario, Peach, Yoshi, and Kirby that's for sure. In all honesty, despite this possibly sounding mean, I'm glad Sakurai got screwed over in this case. Really unless some executive in some form were to get screwed by this nothing would change, and the fact that the Director of the game himself got screwed doesn't show well at all. While many consumers voice their frustrations, it seemed like nothing was going to happen, but now that Sakurai has been affected he's probably already told Nintendo what he thinks of it, as Sakurai tends to not mince words at all.

 

[Garlador]

"Sir, all our Amiibos are selling out! Thousands of people with money are demanding we take their money in exchange for more Amiibos! What should we do? Should we make more, sell them, take their money, and make them happy customers?'

"No, don't be ridiculous. It's IMPOSSIBLE to make more. It just is for some reason. We have more important things to attend to anyway, like ensuring nobody can get Gamecube Adapter cables, Majora's Mask Limited Editions, Majora's Mask-themed New 3DS systems, and making more special editions limited to day one releases exclusive to our New York store at ungodly hours of the morning during a work day!"

It's hard for me to love you sometimes, Nintendo.

 

[Dragonbums]

I feel kinda bad right now because I definitely remember ordering an import of a Japanese Lucario Amiibo to be shipped here. In fact I even got a notification from ebay telling me that it's been shipped yesterday...sorry Sakurai. At least you don't have to deal with bullshit store exclusives.

But...he works at Nintendo though...surely Nintendo would of had some complimentary amiibos for any staff member that wants one?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm not sure what this article is supposed to inspire. Is it sympathy for Sakurai, a double palm in the face, outrage at Nintendo's mishap, what?

 

[Charli]

He had to go out and BUY THEM?! ...Jeez you'd think he'd get the whole set free on principle.

 

[KDR_11k]

Given how filled bargain bins are with Skylanders do you really blame Nintendo for being worried about filling stores with shelf keepers and risking them not carrying future Amiibo waves?

 

[Chaos Isaac]

To be entirely honest, i'm surprised people are even buying the things.
I really don't see the point asides maybe 'sweet action figures, bro'. Unless...

Wait, are we playing pokemon with our Amiibos and no one told me?

 

[Doom972]

He had to go out and BUY THEM?! ...Jeez you'd think he'd get the whole set free on principle.

It's a PR stunt. It's Nintendo's way of saying "OMFG our totally awesome not-cheap-plastic-figurines are selling out! BUY THEM NOW!".

I'm pretty sure he could easily get each and every one of them if he hasn't already.

 

[elvor0]

To be entirely honest, i'm surprised people are even buying the things.
I really don't see the point asides maybe 'sweet action figures, bro'. Unless...

Well you've just answered your own question. They're high-ish quality(though not as high as the prototype models were -_-) Nintendo figures, are you really that surprised they're selling like hot cakes? If I weren't so poor I'd buy them, and I own neither Smash Bros 4 nor a Wii U; they're lovely figurines.