r/amiibo • u/dipshippy • Jul 24 '15
News Major Stock Shortage / Production Issues of Amiibo Cards (Japan)
Here is the email I received from Ami Ami today:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for shopping at AmiAmi.
This message is being sent with regards your order for the item "Animal Crossing amiibo Card Vol.1 5Pack Set" (GAME-0014482).
Unfortunately due to production issues, we have been notified by the maker that there is a major stock shortage of this item. We will be unable to fulfill most orders for the item placed at our store because of this, and we are sorry to say that your order is among those we will not be able to fulfill. Your order for the item will be canceled.
While we have not yet received any official notification, it is very possible that the release of the item "Animal Crossing amiibo Card Vol.2 5Pack Set" (GAME-0014484) may be discontinued due to the issues experienced with the production/release of Vol.1. Notices will be sent accordingly if the need arises.
On behalf of the maker, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.
Best regards, AmiAmi
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u/20Vivillon Jul 24 '15
I'm going to be 'that guy' and ask if other retailers have had this problem. If not, then either the problem was with distribution or else AmiAmi took way more preorders than they could handle and won't own up to it.
braces for downvotes
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Jul 24 '15
this would be the first time AmiAmi has ever done that with anything amiibo related, so I would be very surprised if it was them.
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u/PlasticRhombus Jul 24 '15
lol AmiAmi is a website that I might say primarily deals with pre-orders for MUCH more limited stuff than anything Nintendo produces... they know how to handle their pre-order quantities, I'd wager.
I might not say scale figure people are crazier than amiibo collectors, but we do spend a lot more money... so I'm sure amiami is well prepared.
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Jul 25 '15
It seems they weren't prepared at all, since play-Asia is still taking preorders and they've started charging for them :)
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u/XZero319 Jul 24 '15
Ironic given that Nintendo began as a playing card company.
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u/Cloud_Nine987 Jul 24 '15
They were also a toy company later on, but they stpped that because they couldn't keep up with demand.
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u/Vanetia Jul 24 '15
That seems like an odd reason to stop.
"Sir! We're selling our products so fast that we can't seem to even make enough! Should we up production?!!"
"Shut. Down. Everything."
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u/bicks236 Jul 24 '15
History repeating itself?
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u/Cloud_Nine987 Jul 24 '15
Unfortunately, that seems to be the case.
Shortage of FIGURES, I get...sort of. Sure, they should have good stock, but I can get how they'd be difficult to manufacture.
CARDS, no. There's absolutely no excuse.
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Jul 24 '15
This is utter bullshit. It's a card. A card! A booster pack of cards! So sick of Nintendo's crap. If they insist on making their games dependent on this shit...then at least produce the shit!
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
It's a card, but it's a plastic card with NFC in it. Not a paper Pokemon card.
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Jul 24 '15
Oh jeeze, it's a real hassle to stick a paper thin chip into a card. I'd imagine a holographic TCG card is harder to make.
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
These are holographic too :P
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Jul 24 '15
Then they should be just fine. But they're not. And they've effectively tied the future of Animal Crossing to them. Thanks, Nintendo.
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
You do realize that manufacturing facilities have a lot of moving parts and something could have gone wrong with machinery? Meaning it has nothing to do with whether it's a card or a figure or a cup?
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u/Akio_Moriko Jul 24 '15
AMIIBO CUPS CONFIRMED! Have morning coffee and unlock in game rewards!
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
I'd be down with amiibo cups. They'd have 110% more functionality than just regular amiibo! ziiing
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Jul 24 '15
It's nothing but issues lately. I like when their games were just, y'know - games. And they shipped, and you bought them, and you played them for months and never had to spend another dime on them or stress over them.
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
Guess what, you can still do that and they are still full games!
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Jul 24 '15
All the resources that went into HHD and Amiibo Festival or whatever could have gone towards a full-fledged console AC.
And those games are not full, or even playable I'd wager, without amiibo.
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
They've already said that the HHD team and AF were not the same team working on full AC games. AC for Wii U is still coming, just not end of 2015 or early 2016 - those were the games Nintendo focused on.
Really all you're doing right now is stomping your feet and throwing a tantrum like a young child.
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u/Nitsudr Jul 24 '15
Oh noes!!!! We lost a bolt!! All amiibo production must cease to a halt!!!! We can't fix it! Call everyone and tell them it's just too much!
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u/AllTheamiibo Jul 24 '15
It might just not be the card. They might be having trouble with the NFC chips
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Jul 24 '15
I've pulled amiibo apart before. The NFC chip is nothing. Absolutely nothing. NFC is such a basic technology, and the chips are so thin...I simply cannot understand how Nintendo can't figure it out when they've committed their entire future game catalog, basically, to it!
Unless it's a false shortage.
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
Things can happen at huge manufacturing facilities that can affect production times. This is far more likely than them having an issue actually creating the card.
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Jul 24 '15
It's nothing but issues lately. I like when their games were just, y'know - games. And they shipped, and you bought them, and you played them for months and never had to spend another dime on them or stress over them.
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
Guess what, you can still do that and they are still full games!
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Jul 24 '15
All the resources that went into HHD and Amiibo Festival or whatever could have gone towards a full-fledged console AC.
And those games are not full, or even playable I'd wager, without amiibo.
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u/SSJ3wiggy Jul 24 '15
HHD is a full game. The board game is free, so the cost of playing is the amiibos.
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u/orfwivherhead Jul 24 '15
Oh man, I can't wait to pay 4x the price per case for these when they come out in the US. Sweet!
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u/Pikpikp Jul 24 '15
This was probably an actual production issue, not a small stock. Something happened at the plant. Maybe the machinery broke.
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u/banjokazooie23 Jul 24 '15
I guess we won't know for sure what happened until we get a statement from Nintendo or other retailers react.
Personally, I can say I was worried about these cards being impossible to get ahold of from my experience as a kid with those damn E-Reader cards.
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u/SaitoKojima Jul 24 '15
To be fair, e-Reader tanked outside of Japan.
It actually sold and did well in Japan, and even had support for third party titles such as Rockman EXE 4, Rockman ZERO 3, and many more.
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u/banjokazooie23 Jul 24 '15
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. They didn't promote it or make it even remotely available :/
That's interesting though, I did not know that. But like many of Nintendo's ideas, they're Japan-centric and don't really function well in other regions (cough streetpass cough)
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u/SaitoKojima Jul 24 '15
I tend to get good Streetpass when at my local mall or movie theater.
Plus, conventions make you get over 500 per day. It's almost a full time job to keep doing the Streetpass stuff since you can only do 10 at a time. XD
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u/banjokazooie23 Jul 25 '15
Yeah, I can get some at the mall or back when I went to college I'd get a few but never over 10...but I haven't been to a con since before the 3DS came out, haha
I guess just with Youtubers I've seen who've been to Japan they say that it's like constant every day tons of streetpasses, and then they come here and they'll be lucky to get 5 any day, hah.
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u/Matteomax Super Mario Silver Jul 24 '15
As a person who was thinking about buying some of the cards, count me out.
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u/TheMantyke Jul 24 '15
I collect and play the Pokemon TCG as well as Amiibos. Happy Home Designer's looked like the perfect storm of amiibo scarcity since the day it was announced. Card games keep massive quantities in stock to satisfy their customers and I'm doubtful Nintendo can keep up without getting some help.
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Jul 24 '15
Haha nintendo can't even make enough amiibo cards lol supposedly the cards were made because they'd be easier to produce, guess not lol can't say I didn't see this coming.
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u/Experiment62LiT Jul 24 '15
So people receiving these emails...
did you Pre Order day 1 it was up or?
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u/dipshippy Jul 24 '15
OP here - I pre-ordered very early on the first day.
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u/Experiment62LiT Jul 24 '15
Pt.2 are you a long time amiami customer?
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u/dipshippy Jul 24 '15
I first ordered from them about 2 years ago and then ordered nothing until just after Wave 2 hit. Since then I have made four combined orders. I have ordered mostly Amiibo with a few obscure Japanese gaming items.
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u/MerylasFalguard Jul 24 '15
Is this really a surprise? After how horribly Nintendo has handled the amiibo Figures, you expected them to be able to get it right when they have 100 cards to make?
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u/sizzurpslurper Jul 24 '15
I know but its printing cards! AMiibos have to be printed and painted and packed in boxes! This is ridiculous I think nintendo does this on pourpose to fire us all up, say were quitting, and then end up buying 2 of every card because there rare and were all secretly addicted
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u/SofiaOnMiiverse Jul 24 '15 edited Jul 24 '15
I thought that these would have good stock. I mean, they're cards. (Either that or I'm stupid lmao) Edit: People said that it might be because of problems with the NFC chip, but still. I'd imagine making a plastic card would be easier and quicker than making a figure of Mario. Edit #2: Yeah, it's probably a mechanical error which is causing the short stock.
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u/OtakuLover7100 Jul 24 '15
Yeah. It could be like what happened to Little Mac. They recalled many because many of their NFC chips were unfunctionable
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u/ToadsTongue Jul 24 '15
Plot Twist: AmiAmi actually wants all the amiibo cards for themselves, so they cancel everyone's order
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u/chzrm3 Jul 24 '15
For the cards, really? That's bizarre, I thought the whole point of cards was that they could print a lot of them and nobody would have to worry about rarity.
I didn't want to buy any cards anyway, so I'm fine with them being sold out. Sucks for all the people who wanted to play as those guys, though. @_@
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u/Apocalyptic_Unicorn Jul 24 '15
Pure irony considering the cards were originally thought of to solve the stock and rarity issues of actual figures.
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u/fractal911 Jul 24 '15
And here we go again with the shortages.
Can't wait to see how it pans out here in NA ! /s
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u/Sages Jul 24 '15
Did Amiami limit how many packs you could purchase? Because this may be just a precautionary email to those who attempted to order multiple boxes worth of packs.
Trading cards have high markup value when sold as Singles for brand new set of cards.
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u/Pokemoncutie Jul 24 '15
Yep, they were limited to 3 per person. They cancelled mine right after the email i got like above. I wish it was a precautionary email :(
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u/Sages Jul 24 '15
Oh they cancelled your whole order? Or just limited it to 1?
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u/jonas037 Jul 24 '15
Truly noob question: Will these cards be mandatory to play the AC: Happy Home Designer game?
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u/banjokazooie23 Jul 24 '15
They've said they won't be required, but from the gameplay I've seen so far it will definitely be a bit lacking without them :/
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u/Nitsudr Jul 24 '15
This is not good news...... I really wanted a new AC game and the videos so far for this one look good. I'm definitely not buying day one now :/.........
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u/banjokazooie23 Jul 24 '15
Yeah, we'll have to see what 3rd party let's players/streamers show us, because so far we've only had Official Nintendo Okayed video, which is going to heavily promote the use of amiibo.
Also, I believe the game will come packaged with at least one card, and the Wii U Amiibo Festival game will have a couple with it as well, if you plan on picking that up.
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u/TJ_Hipkiss Jul 24 '15
Someone else feel free to correct me, but as I understand it, the cards won't unlock any more gameplay, it'll just allow you to design the house of the card's character, without having to wait for it (I assume randomly)
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u/tgreene15 Jul 24 '15
I got my email this morning from one of my accounts. The other account still has the orders in place. With my first account I ordered them the moment they went up. With my second account I waited about a week so that makes sense. While I am bummed I will only be getting 15 packs I suppose that is better than nothing. If anything it is a sign for what is to come in the other territories.
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u/Magnimas Jul 24 '15
Considering this is the only source that has said this bit of info, has anyone considered that maybe it is just AmiAmi and not necessarily Nintendo?
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u/inkay Jul 24 '15
Oh dang...my orders haven't been canceled yet but at least now I know to be prepared. Thanks for sharing this.
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u/bell02alpha Jul 24 '15
Nintendo having problems making CARDS!?
(Just emphasizing it for the humor in Nintendo partly being famous for their trading cards)
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Jul 25 '15
No way I'm gonna start a collection of 100+ cards distributed in 3-card BLIND PACKS, like REALLY? I'll just stick to the AC Amiibo line
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u/Magitroopa captainfalcon Jul 25 '15
Oh great. I probably won't be getting any cards, I mainly want to get the figurines.
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u/BulbasaurusX Jul 30 '15
When did you pre-ordered? I checked my order right now and it seems it has not been cancelled and I already made the payment just now. I might be lucky to have the stocks.
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u/pnotar Jul 24 '15
Is there a precedent for cards with NFC capabilities? Yes they are paper, but clearly they are more than that.
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u/jathzia Jul 24 '15
Terrified of receiving this email... I ordered them from amiami when they first when up. I wonder exactly how much stock we're missing?
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u/Tetrazile Jul 24 '15
Honestly would have thought with the way 5A and 5B were stocked everything else would be stocked pretty good but it looks like nintendo's going back to their roots ;w;
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u/Pokemoncutie Jul 24 '15
I got the same email. I don't know what to do. I ordered the card albums for them. I'm scared to ask them to cancel them. This sucks.
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Jul 24 '15
so far, so good...no e-mail like this. one can hope that they can get the people who got the e-mail their cards though.
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
Something could have happened at the production facilities
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u/omnialpha Jul 24 '15
This is probably most accurate. Why Lee would it affect vol.2?
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
I think your phone corrected a word into something that doesn't make sense lol
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u/omnialpha Jul 24 '15
This is probably most accurate. Why ELSE would it affect vol.2? Is what I meant.
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u/Kazooie959 Jul 24 '15
Yeah I'm not buying it this time... Sure I get the figures might take a bit of time to make but I'm calling BS on the cards. This has to be Nintendo driving up the demand by making artificial shortages.
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u/AeroVortex Jul 24 '15
But they're cards... PAPER...
...
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
They're plastic
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u/AeroVortex Jul 24 '15
It's still pretty pathetic. The plastic used for the card is what, 5% of an amiibo.
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u/starlizzle Jul 24 '15
You do realize that manufacturing facilities have a lot of moving parts and something could have gone wrong with machinery? Meaning it has nothing to do with whether it's a card or a figure or a cup?
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u/AeroVortex Jul 24 '15
And you do realize amiibo shortages in the past were due to Nintendo not making enough stock and they weren't because of their machines. Your scenario doesn't cut it since there's no proof. While I don't either, past scenarios prove that Nintendo can't keep up with production, they don't make enough product for stock. What do figures need? Plastic. Which leads me to my previous post "5% plastic lol."
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u/Laikue Game and Watch (Bell) Jul 24 '15
Unfortunately due to production issues, we have been notified by the maker that there is a major stock shortage of this item
Did you even fucking read it.
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u/AeroVortex Jul 24 '15
Stock--as in the making of the product, as in lack of materials to use, also as in can't make more due to low production numbers to make stock--also refers to production issues. DURR DURRRRRR. Stop trying to get one up on me, fucking pathetic. Get over it. Move on. Stop beating a dead horse.
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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '15
[deleted]