Nintendo’s latest results weren’t too much to shout about, but the company seems to have found a new sweet spot in its sale of the companion figurines that let you control your favorite characters via NFC in some of its most popular games.
Although they aren’t necessary for gameplay, sold for around $12.99 each, they’ve clearly found a place in the heart of Nintendo fans. Perhaps even just sitting on the mantlepiece as a bit of memorabilia?
And rather than new characters capturing the public imagination, it’s the old guys who are leading Amiibo figure sales.
In North America, it’s Zelda’s pal Link who tops the list of Amiibo sales, followed by Bowser and then a cartoon version of Link.
In Europe, Classic Mario tops the list, followed again by our old friend Link, who celebrates his 30th birthday this year.
Number three is Squid from the 2015 release Splatoon, a game which took the three top spots in Nintendo’s home nation of Japan. The rest of the top 10 for each region can be found here.
Nintendo is steadily increasing sales of these figures, growing from 6.4 million in Q3 last year to 10 million in Q4, to reach a total 31 million shipments since they launched in November 2014.
Amiibo even outsold Nintendo’s top-selling game for the quarter, the Wii U version of Splatoon, by more than double.
Going right back to its roots, Nintendo, which started out as a card game company way back in 1889, has revealed that more Amiibo cards are slated for release in 2016.
First launched early last year with the Animal Crossing game, the cards work using a separate reader, as well as pairing with NFC-enabled consoles like the latest 3DS.
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