Investor meeting: Nintendo talks about amiibo sales

During the usual meeting with investors, which always follows the presentation of the latest financial results, Nintendo talked about the sales of amiibo. The company revealed that approximately 21.10 million figures have been shipped so far, which is an increase of 10.6 million compared to the end of the previous fiscal year (March 31st, 2015). In other words: the number of amiibo shipped basically doubled in six months!

The second quarter of the current fiscal year saw record shipments of amiibo, with a total of 6.40 million units shipped. Nintendo notes that the Super Smash Bros. series and the 30th Anniversary Mario figures performed particularly well in the United States.

Sales have increased even outside the holiday period, and it’s actually a trend with amiibo (which are bought regardless of seasonality). In the past few months, Nintendo made lots of efforts to increase production of figures, and it clearly shows: more amiibo made = more amiibo shipped = more amiibo sales.

Nintendo also gave sales data for the new types of amiibo:

• Yarn Yoshi: approximately 400 000 units shipped (recently launched in North America, with strong sales)
• amiibo cards: approximately 8.60 million units shipped. Nintendo reminded investors that the cards were extremely popular at launch in Japan, and production fell behind: this resulted in a delay for the launch of the second series (launched today in Japan).

The second graph shows the ratio of shipments by region (only for figure amiibo). It shows that amiibo were still extremely popular in the Americas (where the Toys to Life category is well recognised and familiar to consumers), but sales also grew in Japan, Europe, and Other regions (mostly Australia). Also, starting this financial period, Nintendo is now shipping amiibo to Asia.

Next, we have a slide showing the cumulative sales ranking of amiibo figures in the Americas, Japan and Europe (from launch to September 30th). Nintendo notes that in some region, certain figures were sold out or didn’t come out at the same time, so the slide does not accurately represent demand or popularity.

In Japan, the Mario and Splatoon figures have been pretty popular, but in Europe and the Americas, it’s The Legend of Zelda (with Link) which was the most successful. Each region has its own trends, with certain character being more popular in one, but not so much in another for example.

Nintendo also showed a second slide, which is the same as the one above but with fiscal year 2015-16 releases highlighted.

It shows that newly-released amiibo sold pretty well, especially in Japan where they have good momentum (thanks to the increase in both the number of games compatible and product recognition). Meanwhile, in the Americas and Europe, “old” figures just keep on selling, which is why the ranking hasn’t been too impacted by newly released amiibo.

Finally, Nintendo talked about its upcoming line-up, which includes:

• first series of Animal Crossing figures, coming out in November
• second series of Animal Crossing figures, out in December in Japan
• Mega Yarn Yoshi , out in November in Europe/North America, and December in Japan.

Source: Nintendo