Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Aime has refuted claims that the company are deliberately constraining amiibo supply as “rubbish,” sharing that “there is no business in disappointing your consumer.”
His comments were made in response to the belief that Nintendo were stimulating excitement and demand by intentionally shipping a reduced amount of stock. However, Fils-Aime shared with Kotaku that they “want every consumer to be satisfied,” and feel that it is possible to own every amiibo.
He also showed disregard for “the flipper,” that treats amiibo “like gold” in trying to make a quick profit. Nintendo would rather make sure that “the everyday consumer” is “completely satisfied” by removing the frustration surrounding not being able to find the amiibo that they’re after.
Kotaku’s interview transcript with Reggie Fils-Aime surrounding amiibo is below:
Fils-Aime: “We just launched wave 4, and over roughly the past 30 days we’ve sold over a million Amiibo in just the United States. What does that suggest? It suggests we’ve made dramatic improvements in the supply chain, that we’re putting significant amounts of Amiibo into the marketplace. We’ve done replenishments on Marth. We’ve done replenishments on the Wii Fit Trainer, some of the more rare Amiibo. So, our strategy is to satisfy as much of that demand as we can and that’s what we’re working hard to do.”
Totilo: “People sometimes say that Nintendo keeps supply low at times because it is ultimately positive for Nintendo for people to be talking about how, ‘Oh I wanted this and it was sold out and I wanted to get one, it’s the hot item to get,’ that you guys intentionally constrain supply in order to create more excitement. What do you make of that?”
Fils-Aime: “That’s why I shared the million-unit number. You don’t sell through a million units by constraining supply. And, honestly, there is no business in disappointing your consumer. The mentality that suggests we are somehow constricting supply is rubbish. We want every consumer to be satisfied. We want every Amiibo player out there to be a completionist and have every single one. We’re working hard to get the supply into stores.”
Totilo: “Do you have any strategies to give people more opportunities? I see Amazon will do a limited-edition Amiibo. I may be getting the retailer wrong. And it’s sold out before anybody can even get it. It feels to me like trying to get concert tickets now. You’re competing with the scalpers or whoever. Do you guys have ideas or plans or anything you can share about that?”
Fils-Aime: “I think you have to put the auction person off to the side.”
Totilo: “The eBay flipper.”
Fils-Aime: “Right. The flipper, you have to put them off to the side. This is a consumer who thinks these are like gold. We’re focused on the everyday consumer, and we want that consumer to be completely satisfied. In the end, though, the retailer manages how they execute a pre-sale or how they make the product available. We certainly give suggestions and guidance. The retailer is making that call. And, again, to separate, when there’s a supply issue, that’s Nintendo’s fault. But in terms of managing a pre-sale process, that’s something that each individual retailer controls.”
Totilo: “Right. The 3DS Majora’s Mask was a ridiculously hot item for you guys.”
Fils-Aime: “And we brought that back a second time as well. That’s another case where we saw that the pre-sales were going extremely strong, the production cycles on that is quite long, so we made an immediate decision to make more to get that into retail about a month after the first grouping had sold through.”
There really bad because you can’t even play as them on smash bros there a waste of money.