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Since making their debut last November, Nintendo’s Amiibo figures have become a hot commodity. The most popular Nintendo icons are fairly easy to come by, but characters like Animal Crossing‘s Villager, Wii Fit Trainer and Marth have been nigh impossible to find.
Nintendo seems keenly aware of the shortages and will apparently make moves to rectify the situation. In a statement posted on Nintendo of America’s Facebook page, the company apologized for the shortages and confirmed that the rarest Amiibo will return to availability. We’ve mirrored the statement 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.
The news will come as a relief for fans that have struggled to find their personal favorites. Japanese gamers have already found some reissues popping up in stores. While Nintendo of America’s statement did not specifically address this, it would appear that the reissues might bear some differences from the original releases. A poster on Reddit took these comparison photos of the original Villager Amiibo and the Japanese re-release. Whether or not this is an actual running change remains to be seen, however. If so, it will be interesting to see if the demand for the unchanged version of the character remains high!
Does Nintendo’s statement fill you with confidence that the shortages will soon be fixed? Let us know in the comments below!
Sources: Nintendo, My Amiibo News
