“We’re trying.”
That basically sums up what Nintendo said when they released a statement via their official Facebook regarding the difficulty that consumers have faced trying to get their hands on some of the figurines since their release last fall.
“We appreciate the enthusiasm that our fans continue to show toward amiibo. Sales for the product have exceeded our expectations,” the post reads. “We understand how frustrating it can be at times if consumers are unable to find certain figures, and we apologize for that.”
The statement says the company is “constantly looking for opportunities to reissue amiibo.” Many of the figurines beyond the now “common” ones such as Mario, Link, and Kirby, have become extremely difficult to find in any store, and preorders sell out for many of the new figurines immediately. As each figure begins to support more and more content in released games, what happens when players can’t access a portion of a game because an amiibo isn’t able to be found?
The statement is in full 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.
