Who exactly is the target market for Nintendo’s Amiibo figures? Is it the same children and parents that have flocked to Skylanders and Disney Infinity? The answer is as obvious as it is distinct according to early pre-order data from one online retailer.
Earlier this morning Nintendo broke their silence and announced the Amiibo prices, the 12 launch figures that will work with Super Smash Bros. on Wii U with their packaging, and took the chain off retailers so they could begin accepting pre-orders. Now that several hours have passed, those pre-orders have begun to gain sales traction at Amazon.com in a way neither Skylanders or Disney Infinity ever has.
At the time of this post, or approximately 10 hours after Amiibo pre-orders began, 11 of the 12 Amiibo Wave 1 figures have landed on Amazon’s top 20 video games bestsellers chart. The lone missing Amiibo is to no one’s surprise Wii Fit Trainer, and she’s isn’t too far off in the 22nd position. You have to figure that almost everyone who pre-ordered Wii Fit Trainer also pre-ordered a complete set.
Leading the charge is Link in the second position, followed by Samus (5), Mario (7), Pikachu (8), Fox (9) and Marth (10).
I’ve been paying close attention to the Amazon’s video games bestsellers chart for years and not once has Skylanders or Disney Infinity figures made such an impact. Even when big sales come around during Black Friday, only a couple figures might pop into the top 10 and then quickly disappear. These figures have held in place for several hours now.
We don’t know sales numbers and there’s no real competition to challenge the Amiibos for sales at this time. However, the volume required to crack the top 20 is not light and those locking in their pre-orders so quickly aren’t kids or parents looking for Christmas gifts. It’s Nintendo fans, collectors, and avid gamers, the market Toys to Life has yet to really penetrate but could be on the cusp of succeeding.
You can pre-order any of the Nintendo Amiibo figures here at Amazon if this avalanche of pre-orders has you thinking the likes of Link, Mario and Samus will be harder to find by the time these roll out in stores, most likely just before 2014 calls it a wrap. Hopefully, anyway.
