Wow, maybe Nintendo isn’t in such bad shape after all: The company has officially sold over 10 million Amiibos around the world in the slightly more than six months since it launched the toy line. That’s an incredible success, especially considering how badly Nintendo bungled the launch in some ways. And, with a huge new round of Amiibo figures coming out in late May, the success of the platform shows no signs of stopping. So you better get used to Amiibos: They’re stickin’ around.
Amiibo Sales Top 10 Million
Nintendo recently reported its financial results for the fiscal year that ended in March 2015, and one of the highlights was the success of Amiibo. The Amiibo platform débuted in November with the launch of Super Smash Bros Wii U, and by the end of 2014, 5.7 million Amiibo figures had been shipped to retailers worldwide. By the end of March, the number was at 10.5 million. And while that number may seem lower than you would expect, remember that game sales usually dip dramatically after the holiday season. Nintendo’s report even comments on it:
It is safe to say that we achieved very strong growth even in the period immediately after the year-end sales season was over. Our assessment is that people purchase additional Amiibo figures without any seasonal bias, as they are relatively more affordable than video game titles.
In addition, Nintendo reminded its shareholders that the company is aware of the ongoing Amiibo shortage, specifically as it affects certain figures. They’re aiming to solve it, but it will never be a perfect fit:
We have increased production for amiibo figures that have sold out very quickly after launch, that are indispensable to play a certain game and for which we have received strong demand from retailers and consumers. However, we are very sorry that we can’t promise at what point we will likely be able to resolve the current situation because figures such as these require a considerable amount of time to produce, store shelf space is limited and it is difficult to precisely predict the exact amount of overall demand.
Sounds like Nintendo needs a new executive vice president of supply chain logistics, amirite??? Just kidding, because it makes sense: Amiibo sales are obviously hard to predict. But the company knows it needs to make more.
Amiibo sales so far have skewed heavily toward North America, with a gasp-inducing 66% of sales coming from Canada and the United States. Japan clocks in at a measly 11%, with Europe contributing most of the rest of the balance.
Nintendo hasn’t had a strong growth engine like Amiibo in a long time. A major success story for the company is big news, and it’s almost certainly going to double down on the platform. That means more titles that support Amiibo, more Amiibos that offer major functionality, and simply more Amiibos overall. So I hope you like ‘em, ‘cuz they ain’t going nowhere. After all, over 10 million have been bought already!
