Iwata on amiibo – why Nintendo chose the size/consistent price, 3DS impact, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, New Nintendo 3DS, News | 2 Comments
I would like to know a little more about amiibo. Even by taking into consideration the difference in the Wii U hardware installed bases in Japan, Europe and the United States, when I calculate how many amiibo figures have been sold against the number of compatible software titles sold in the same region, I still cannot tell why the amiibo attach rate shows such regional disparity. Also, with Nintendo 3DS compatibility, how do you think the potential of amiibo will grow? I would appreciate it if you could touch on profitability too.
Firstly, you are correct in saying that the sales of amiibo and its attach rate to the compatible software, or how many amiibo figures each consumer has purchased, differ by region.
When it comes to the figure and video game entertainment category, there are two existing franchises: Activision released “Skylanders” four years ago, and Disney released “Disney Infinity” two years ago. In contrast to these two franchises, in which each figure is compatible with one software title, amiibo is compatible with multiple software titles. While under development, it was internally referred to as “NFP (Nintendo Figurine Platform).” In other words, we were spreading the message inside the company that amiibo would be a “platform.” What we are offering with one amiibo figure is the ability to experience a range of entertainment with a variety of software. However, before we actually launched amiibo, the number of consumers who were aware of the overall concept of this product category, namely, toy figures are lined up on a store shelf in the video game section and when you buy and use it with a game, something very fun would happen, differed greatly in Japan from the rest of the world. This product category is called “Toys to Life” in the overseas markets, and it has established a large market in the United States. Although the size of the market in Europe is smaller than the U.S., there is still a certain level of awareness. On the other hand, while “Toys to Life” products had been introduced also in the Japanese market, they were yet to show results in this country. In addition, when it comes to popular toy figures in Japan, they are generally a bit smaller in size and cost a bit less than amiibo. In fact, when we first explained amiibo to Japanese distributors, they advised us that amiibo would be a little too big in size and cost slightly too much for a toy figure in Japan. However, because we were aware of size of the global market for this product category, we decided that this size and price point was most appropriate for the global market. Now that we have witnessed solid results for amiibo in the U.S., Australia and Europe, we believe we made the right decision. So, to answer to your question, we acknowledge the large awareness gap for “Toys to Life” products and their uses in Japan and the overseas markets, and we feel that some time is needed to close this gap.
Photos showing the back of the Super Mario amiibo boxes
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Images | 0 comments
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Best Buy handing out $5 coupon for Wii U/3DS game if you can’t find Meta Knight amiibo today
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments
The Meta Knight amiibo should be in Best Buy locations across the United States today. However, if you head to your store and are unable to find the figure, you should be receiving a unique coupon that takes $5 off any Wii U/3DS game. This coupon will only be provided to consumers today!
Video: A look at the Meta Knight amiibo
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments
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Nintendo España confirms Super Mario amiibo for Rosalina, Donkey Kong and Wario?
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Rumors | 11 Comments
Speculation about Rosalina, Donkey Kong and Wario getting their own Super Mario amiibo first surfaced last week when Nintendo updated the Japanese Mario Party 10 website with a few images (see above). Now Nintendo España is adding fuel to the fire and may have essentially confirmed the rumors.
Take a look at this roughly translated section from a Nintendo España / Spain press release:
From the collection of Super Smash Bros., now on sale, you can play with amiibo Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Luigi and Bowser. What have not you done with them and not find them anywhere? The March 20 comes a new collection of ad hoc amiibo made for Mario Party 10: Super Mario Collection, which includes new amiibo Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Bowser, Estela, Donkey Kong and Wario.
That’s still not a complete and total confirmation, since there’s a small possibility that the press release text is an error. We’ll let you know if we hear anything out of Nintendo of America/UK!
Takahashi would love to see an Xenoblade amiibo series
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 15 Comments
Tetsuya Takahashi posted a couple of additional tweets on the Japanese Xenoblade Chronicles X Twitter account today. However, rather than sharing more on the game, he instead spoke about another topic: amiibo.
Takahashi mentioned that he supervised the Shulk amiibo since its early prototype stages. He also expressed a desire for there to be an Xenoblade amiibo series in the future, though perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into it – at least not yet.
Below are Takahashi’s full comments:
It’s been about a month since I posted. The Shulk amiibo came out! I’ve been supervising this since the early prototype stages, but I’d like to say thanks to all the people who’ve worked very hard on the amiibo. I saw a production model at the start of this month and I was very impressed with the build quality. This time it’s a Smash Bros. figurine, but I’d love for there to be a Xenoblade [amiibo] series sometime in the future, too.
I know I’d buy a ton of Xenoblade amiibo. What about you folks?!
More: Amiibo, Tetsuya Takahashi
Satoru Iwata confirms port strike is reason for shipment woes in US
Posted on 9 years ago by Dennis Gagliardotto(@LyonHart_) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 18 Comments
A translation coming from Nintendo’s recent investor Q&A meeting shows the President of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, admitting that the port strike on the west coast of America has had an impact on shipments regarding amiibo and the New Nintendo 3DS XL.
This would explain the amount of delays, shortages and vague dates we’ve been getting since amiibo first launched alongside Super Smash Bros. for Wii U back on November 21st, 2014, which is the only time there’s been a solid date on an amiibo release in the US. Video games, on the other hand, haven’t been impacted in this strike, as “games are light and can be flown to America”, Iwata says.
Let’s just hope this doesn’t go on for much longer so both the consumers and Nintendo can go about amiibo and any future products stress free.
The Q&A meeting is currently available in Japanese here
More: Amiibo, Meeting, Satoru Iwata
Toys “R” Us to sell fan-made amiibo customizations on its website
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 12 Comments
Toys “R” Us is in talks to sell custom amiibo from creator “Evilos”. While the two sides are in the negotiating phases, everything is proceeding as planned and the fan-made figures will be sold online at some point. Pricing and other details are up in the air at the moment, but we’ll let you know more as soon as we receive more information.
GameStop – Ike amiibo pre-orders could be delayed until spring, King Dedede until summer; one per household for Ike
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments
Have you pre-ordered an Ike or King Dedede amiibo at GameStop? Then you’ll probably be interested in hearing the latest update from the retailer, via a memo obtained by Destructoid.
Those who reserved Ike before December 27 should have their orders fulfilled within the next week or so. However, all reservations that came after won’t be completed until spring. Ike is also being limited to one per household.
The situation is similar with King Dedede. If you got your pre-order in before December 31, expect the figure to arrive soon. Unfortunately, all other orders won’t be fulfilled until summer.
Mega Man and Sonic are safe at least. GameStop says that these two figures will reach all consumers in one wave, unlike Ike and King Dedede.
Rumor: West coast port strike impacting Nintendo’s supply
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, New Nintendo 3DS, Rumors | 5 Comments
Nintendo stock in North America as of late has become a bit ridiculous as of late. Finding amiibo, New 3DS XL systems, and other products in stores has been far from easy.
Whatever’s going on could partially be attributed to the port strike happening on the west coast, which has been taking place for several months. 70 percent of goods coming from Asia have been affected, Reuters says. Nintendo hardware and amiibo come from China, and ships tend to head to the west coast since it’s the shortest route. That happens to be where the strike is happening.
Nintendo hasn’t commented on whether the port strike has impacted them. However, Kotaku writes that it has heard from people at the company that supply of amiibo and New 3DS systems have been affected.
