UPDATED! Rumor! Certain Amiibo Figures Are Already Discontinued!
After a little over two weeks since release, it seems like Nintendo is already pulling the plug on some of their Amiibo toys to life figurines.
According to the Twitter feed for Canadian video game store Video Games Plus, Nintendo has officially discontinued Marth, Wii Fit Trainer & Villager Amiibo. When they looked to restock these already rare characters, Nintendo supposedly responded that they’ve been discontinued (along with the popular Gamecube adapter).
As many of us suspected would happen, Wii Fit Trainer, Villager and Marth have reportedly ceased production. While more popular characters like Mario, Pikachu, Link and Donkey Kong will still be produced, the more obscure characters aren’t likely to get another run, disappointing many a gamer while prices inflate online in the process (Marth hit $80 last night here in the US).
This decision is bizarre. I realize that not all characters will have the long term marketing power of others, but Smash Bros JUST came out! With only a few arriving in the launch shipments, and the apparent refusal to produce more, it looks like you might have missed out if you didn’t jump on them on day one.
Yet, I still can’t help be surprised by both Villager and Marth. The last Animal Crossing title solidified the series as a bonafide mega series, becoming one of the highest selling titles on the 3DS. While Marth himself isn’t terribly well known, the Fire Emblem series is definitely on the rise, not to mention that the swordsman is a Smash Bros icon, possibly being known more in the States for his role as a fighter than his own series!
If nothing else, this will just instill the fear in all of us over the rest of them selling out. Speaking of, I need to pre order all of Wave 2 now!
Source: nintendolife.com
UPDATE: According to a copy of an email by Nintendo of America’s Assistant PR Manager, David Young, posted to Twitter, this rumor is untrue and Nintendo is simply working to keep up with demand, especially on the rarer characters.
The letter states:
David from Nintendo jumping in here. We have not discontinued any of the amiibo figures. Naturally some are more popular than others, and stores will need to reorder these once they sell through. That said, I don’t know how long resupply will take, so I encourage people to pick up their favourite characters when they see them in this busy Holiday season.
Who do you believe? I guess we’ll have to keep checking store shelves to find out!
UPDATE #2: So now it turns out that some Amiibo actually HAVE been discontinued! According to Wired, Nintendo reached out and has confirmed in a statement that some Amiibo will not receive additional prints after their initial run.
“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.”
While no specific figures are mentioned, it’s clear that more obscure characters like Wii Fit Trainer and Marth would be the first to go. What will this mean for characters who aren’t quite on the upper echelon of popularity, like Fox or Samus? What will this mean for future waves? Are we going to have to horde all the Captain Falcon and King Dedede toys? I’ve lost the ability to trust…
So now it seems like David Young lied to us and broke our fragile hearts. Either that, or Nintendo has no idea what they’re doing for sure. All I know is that after becoming such a huge hit, especially when you consider the profit they’re poised to make if Bloomberg is to be believed, refusing to re-stock stores with a product that’s in such high demand would be leaving money on the table, and would be one of the few times that I would agree that Nintendo is out of touch.
Then again, maybe the original plan was to discontinue them, but seeing the high demand will force them to have a change of heart. We can only hope!
