Ninendo Has a Major Amiibo Problem On Its Hands, And a New Move Proves It

Nintendo clearly has a big problem on its hands when it comes to Amiibo, and a recent move from the company almost certainly proves as much. Introduced over a decade ago in 2014, Amiibo has somewhat quietly been an enormous cash cow for the Japanese gaming manufacturer. To date, Nintendo has released numerous lineups of these toys-to-life figures based on its biggest franchises like Super Smash Bros., Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and so many others.

While the toys-to-life craze died off years ago for many others in the space, Amiibo have generally continued going strong. Millions of Nintendo fans have been just as eager to buy Amiibo over the past few years as they were when they first began hitting the scene. However, it looks like this sentiment has started to shift rather quickly, which has prompted a course-correction from Nintendo.

Steep Amiibo Discounts Indicate Nintendo Is Struggling to Move Figures

Earlier this week, some pretty substantial sales for Amiibo figures began appearing at retailers like GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy. Sales for Amiibo aren’t necessarily a new occurrence, but it was the steep nature of these discounts that was eye-catching. Many of the figures, including some that are relatively new and launched in 2025, saw their value cut by 50% or 60%. Sales like this pretty much never happen for Amiibo, especially for ones like the Donkey Kong & Pauline figurine that only just hit store shelves.

While this could be seen as retailers simply trying to lower costs in order to clear out shelf space, sales of this nature typically don’t happen unless the manufacturer approves them first. This means that Nintendo likely signed-off on these discounts and may have even been the driving force behind making them happen in the first place.

The implication here is that Nintendo has seen Amiibo sales sharply declining over the course of 2025 to the point that it felt like cost-cutting measures like this were necessary. For consumers, this is great to see as it allows them to continue to build up their Amiibo collection at a fraction of the price. In Nintendo’s case, though, this could end up being a major problem that could result in less of an emphasis on Amiibo in the months and years to come.

Price Increases Seem to Have Killed Amiibo Interest

The reason that Amiibo likely aren’t selling is for one big reason: tariffs. In the wake of the United States levying tariffs on other countries earlier this year, Nintendo soon after announced that it would have to increase the costs of many of its accessories and products. While much of the focus from fans was on the price increases for the Nintendo Switch family of consoles (with the threat that Switch 2 costs could also go up), Nintendo also jacked up the value of Amiibo figures.

This resulted in newer Amiibo, like those in the Street Fighter 6 collection, retailing for a whopping $40 apiece, which represented a $10 increase compared to their previous $30 amount. It can be argued that Amiibo figures now are nicer in terms of quality than they ever have been, but this price is still one that doesn’t seem to be going over well with consumers. After all, when Amiibo first hit the scene back in 2014, each figure retailed for under $15. And even at the time, that seemed like a premium price.

Read Next

One of the Best Nintendo Switch 2 Games Is a Major Problem for Pro Controller Owners

What’s worse is that this $40 price point for Amiibo isn’t a one-off move from Nintendo. There have already been new Amiibo lineups announced for the future that include games like Super Mario Galaxy, Kirby Air Riders, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. The Metroid and Mario figures will retail between $30 and $40, while those in the Kirby slate are going to cost an absurd $50 a pop.

Even as someone who thinks these upcoming Amiibo look cool, there’s absolutely no chance I would spend this much on single figures. I have an entire shelf full of dozens of different Amiibo, but I’m very content with ending my collection where it’s at if this is how expensive it’s going to become to buy new ones. This sentiment is one that I imagine is shared by countless others, too, which makes the future of Amiibo at Nintendo a bit hazy.

Tariffs or Not, Amiibo Prices Need to Come Down

I can’t say I’m expecting Nintendo to take a loss on Amiibo. These figurines surely aren’t cheap to make, and the added tariffs that have come into play have obviously harmed Nintendo’s profit margins by a sizable amount. Still, the writing seems to be on the wall that Amiibo prices have to come down, or else there simply won’t be an audience for them anymore.

Nintendo has found itself at a crossroads where it risks losing out on an entire lane of recurring revenue that it has relied upon for over a decade. The most hardcore of Nintendo fans will surely continue to buy Amiibo no matter how much they cost, but that audience alone might not be enough to justify the continued creation of new figures over time. Unless it brings down the retail cost of Amiibo, most fans are going to be content to wait for major sales like the ones we’ve seen this week that are simply meant to clear out inventory. That alone might not be enough to keep Amiibo as a brand alive for the long haul.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!