Another one of Nintendo’s popular interactive toys is sold out.
Nintendo and Walmart started selling preorders for a gold-colored Mario Amiibo online today, and the exclusive item sold out in about 15 minutes. Don’t worry, though, speculators have already posted some of the ones they bought to eBay for the low, low price of $200. That’s only about $185 more than what Walmart sold it for. The Gold Mario Amiibo releases March 20, and if you didn’t get one online, maybe you can pick one up in the store. Good luck.
This is the latest in a string of Amiibos to sell out as fans swarm retailers and online stores to ensure they are one of the lucky few to actually get one. Previously, other rare, sold-out Amiibos include the Villager character from Animal Crossing, Marth from Fire Emblem, and the Wii Fit Trainer. Nintendo has said that it doesn’t plan to ship more figures for certain characters, but it also plans to always keep its most popular Amiibos — like Link, Mario, and Pikachu — always in stock.
Nintendo has recently gained a reputation for letting all kinds of its hottest products sell out. The New 3DS XL is still difficult to find in the United States — and that doesn’t even include the Majora’s Mask-themed and Monster Hunter-themed New 3DS XLs, which are essentially impossible to find at stores or online.
We recently examined some of the reasons Nintendo lets its Amiibos and 3DSes run out so often in an in-depth story. The big reason? The publisher doesn’t want any slack in its supply chain. That saves it money, and it even creates a sense of urgency in its fans. Although, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has also blamed the West Coast port strike, which was preventing the unloading of hundreds of shipping containers at important Pacific ports. That has been resolved, but the ports are still dealing with a significant backlog that had built up.
Still, it’s unlikely that we’ll magically see every Amiibo restocked. In the Gold Mario Amiibo’s case, Nintendo and Walmart are working together — and they know how many they’ll have by March. So if Walmart does get more in, it’s probably because Nintendo made and shipped more.
While this is frustrating for fans and Amiibo collectors, it’s kind of a good thing for Nintendo. The company revealed that it has already sold more than 5.7 million Amiibos as of earlier this month. And the potential that any new Amiibo could sell out has definitely created a frenzy where people do not wait to these toys up. And that’s exactly what the company wants as it seeks to report a profit for its fiscal year, which ends next month.