Are you struggling hunting down the amiibo you want? Your hunt is about to get unnecessarily harder, unless Nintendo takes strong and immediate action.
Counterfeit amiibo have been spotted in the wild, and are apparently for sale in places like Brazil. Of course, these amii-faux don’t have the NFC chips that give the toys their functionality and slightly higher price point.
If you are a core amiibo fan, it should be easy to tell that these are fakes. They do emulate the toys’ appearance, but small details are clearly off. For example, Pikachu’s arms are fused to his body, and Samus’ blaster lacks the yellow green trim. You can also eyeball the generally poorer quality of the figures compared to the originals. Most telling of all is the completely different packaging.
While most fans will immediately recognize these as fakes, the danger that parents will confuse them for the genuine article and waste their money on it is real. It is also worth considering if these fakes simply meet demand in regions where amiibo just cannot be purchased.
Nintendo has repeatedly apologized and promised to restock high demand amiibo, but the entry of fake amiibo, which may seep most into regions where they are hardest to obtain, may finally compel them to take action and ramp up production. Nintendo won’t make as much money per amiibo sold this way, but they will stem any lost revenue from people buying fake amiibo.
What measures do you think Nintendo should take to stop the march of the amii-faux? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
