Iwata is back at it again with Nintendo’s investors, this time with a Q&A session to help address any concerns investors may have over Nintendo’s future. One of the first questions asked concerned amiibo and the differing attach rates per region. We know Nintendo sold 5.7 million amiibo worldwide, but apparently these figures are much more popular in North America and Europe than they are Japan. One investor wanted to know why and what Nintendo will do to properly market the product. Here’s the question:
Investor Question: I would like to know a little more about amiibo. Even by taking into consideration the difference in the Wii U hardware installed bases in Japan, Europe and the United States, when I calculate how many amiibo figures have been sold against the number of compatible software titles sold in the same region, I still cannot tell why the amiibo attach rate shows such regional disparity. Also, with Nintendo 3DS compatibility, how do you think the potential of amiibo will grow?
This is something we’ve been asking ourselves in the West, as many consumers don’t seem to know that the difference between amiibo and other toys-to-life products is that amiibo are compatible with multiple games. Since most consumers are familiar with Skylanders and Disney Infinity, they assume amiibo work in a similar fashion and can only be used with Super Smash Bros. Iwata addresses this by saying that Nintendo must do a better job marketing to consumers who may be confused how Nintendo’s approach to the toys-to-life concept is a little bit different.
But first and foremost, we understand that we have to change the current situation where many people are still wondering what they can do with amiibo. We will persist until consumers understand that they just need to tap the amiibo figure and something will happen, and will excitedly try it with a variety of software. If we can achieve this, amiibo will become a precious possession for our consumers, so we definitely want to bring it to fruition, but in doing so we also understand that it will take some time.
Iwata further states that the pricepoint for amiibo is set to guarantee profitability and the evenness of the figures, despite some being more complex than others and costing more to make. He mentions that he doesn’t want consumers thinking the company values certain characters over others, so that’s why the amiibo are being sold at the current MSRP.
What we can take away from this is that the amiibo business is doing well in the United States, Europe, and Australia, while Japanese consumers are still unsure of the uses of the Wii U. Considering the New Nintendo 3DS just got the patch that makes it compatible with amiibo, we could see a higher uptake in sales in Japan, considering the amount of 3DS consoles versus the number of Wii U consoles there.
