Nintendo confirms selling Animal Crossing: New Horizons villagers for real money is against terms of service

[Gunner]

All they need to do is re-release the amiibo cards worldwide, what's so difficult about that? People would literally pay Nintendo huge amounts for them. Everyone would win.

They were exactly the same with the NES Mini, produced barely any units and let the scalpers scalp. It's like they're allergic to making a profit.

 

[DJStarstryker]

All they need to do is re-release the amiibo cards worldwide, what's so difficult about that? People would literally pay Nintendo huge amounts for them. Everyone would win.

They were exactly the same with the NES Mini, produced barely any units and let the scalpers scalp. It's like they're allergic to making a profit.

At least they reprinted the NES Mini. Mine is one from the 2nd printing because, despite trying repeatedly, I could never get one from the first printing.

I really don't know why they haven't widely re-released the amiibos. It doesn't make any sense to me. Demand for these skyrocketed with NH's release. People would probably buy up amiibos for the new villagers and new NPCs too.

The only things I can think of is 1) maybe the original AC amiibo run didn't sell as well as they expected (Nintendo had bad timing for these IMO - most of them came out during HHD but before the Welcome amiibo update for NL) or 2) Nintendo is just being Nintendo again and doing incomprehensible things.

I'm leaning mostly toward the latter.

 

[mirukushake]

Well, amiibo cards have already been "re-released" (technically pre-orders for shipment in September) in Japan on Nintendo's official shop, and are backordered until October or so. A few other retailers started selling them this week and are already sold out. Since Nintendo is generally quite conservative with stock, I imagine they planned for much less interest, and the re-released cards are being done on demand basically. Maybe NoA and NoE will start them soon.

 

[stitchmaker]

@stitchmaker im not rly sure why u replied this to me ?-? i knew this stuff but i dont see anything in what i originally said that would warrant this type of reply

I should have wrote the amiibo cards were made for Happy Home Designer and not Amiibo Festivale.

 

[Gleo]

I seriously hope Nintendo takes action against this. But I'm also unsure of how they'd go about doing so. People selling NMT and ingame furniture are also a nuisance

Post automatically merged: Jun 14, 2020

Yeah, I think Amiibos are fine even though they're hecking expensive lol

The only thing they do is issue a copyright takedown notice for listings posted on websites that do buying/selling. That's what Nintendo has done for every one of their franchises and what other companies do as well.

Amiibo cards would not be included in this, they are a physical product/trading card that was originally sold by Nintendo and not intellectual property. Reselling a trading card isn't illegal or against copyright.

Edit: Selling custom made amiibo cards (creating amiibo cards from blank NFC cards and selling them) is a different argument though. Nintendo does issue copyright takedowns for "fake cards".

People can easily get away with selling in-game villagers and items through deticated websites and I imagine trying to sting someone for selling on discord would be very difficult (semi private, dms and/or groups require an invite code etc).

 

[DJStarstryker]

Well, amiibo cards have already been "re-released" (technically pre-orders for shipment in September) in Japan on Nintendo's official shop, and are backordered until October or so. A few other retailers started selling them this week and are already sold out. Since Nintendo is generally quite conservative with stock, I imagine they planned for much less interest, and the re-released cards are being done on demand basically. Maybe NoA and NoE will start them soon.

I don't know if they're printing enough for the demand even for Japan though. The Japanese used market prices are still stupid high (not as bad as the US printings) for these.

*looks* OK, looks like ニコバン (Bob) is going for 3920 yen on suruga-ya.jp (my favorite Japanese store, they're very good about charging at or a little below most going rates). About the same rate I saw him going for a few months ago. Yep, doesn't seem like the new print in Japan is helping YET.

Nintendo just needs to release more of these, both in Japan and elsewhere.

Edit: Oh, for the ニコバン pricing, I bought one from suruga-ya last year (I think September?) for 800 yen. Before the February Direct when prices started spiking. I just wanted to bring this up to show that the Japanese Bob amiibo hasn't always been so expensive. You could any of the series 1-4 (so not Welcome amiibo or Sanrio sets) for less than 1000 yen each for even the most expensive characters, maybe with the exception of Marshal. I think he was closer to 2k yen. Most cards though in series 1-4 were going for below 500 yen. The least popular characters were going for 50-80 yen.

 

[radical6]

I hope it's only limited to the villagers... I'm selling fossils on ebay for real money (but super cheap, $2 per fossil but also I include 5 NMT) because I'm desperate for even a couple of dollars for food and water. I'd never sell a villager for real money, though. I couldn't.

wtf people spend money on fossils?

 

[mirukushake]

I don't know if they're printing enough for the demand even for Japan though. The Japanese used market prices are still stupid high (not as bad as the US printings) for these.

*looks* OK, looks like ニコバン (Bob) is going for 3920 yen on suruga-ya.jp (my favorite Japanese store, they're very good about charging at or a little below most going rates). About the same rate I saw him going for a few months ago. Yep, doesn't seem like the new print in Japan is helping YET.

Nintendo just needs to release more of these, both in Japan and elsewhere.

That's because the new print isn't available yet. It's only pre-orders right now; nothing has been shipped out.

edit: Never mind, did some Twitter sleuthing and apparently some people have been able to buy them in stores starting the beginning of June, although it doesn't seem like there's very much stock.

 

[Hobowire]

I don't know if they're printing enough for the demand even for Japan though. The Japanese used market prices are still stupid high (not as bad as the US printings) for these.

*looks* OK, looks like ニコバン (Bob) is going for 3920 yen on suruga-ya.jp (my favorite Japanese store, they're very good about charging at or a little below most going rates). About the same rate I saw him going for a few months ago. Yep, doesn't seem like the new print in Japan is helping YET.

Nintendo just needs to release more of these, both in Japan and elsewhere.

yea i don't think nintendo will do that. it's better to release a projected amount and keep demand high than to overly produce an item to a point where it wont sell. If they have to do a second printing it's still better than losing revenues.

 

[John Wick]

Quite different.
Amiibo cards are collectible items as well.
I love collecting them, for one. So it's not the same.
When someone is selling in-game villagers, they're essentially selling you code and keeping all the money for an "item" they don't own the rights to for themselves.
With the hand-made amiibo cards, it's kind of like selling pirated DVD's/CD's. While I know that some people personalize them, add their own unique art, etc., if you were to burn your own DVD copies and then add unique packaging to them and sell them at a profit, do you think that would make it okay?
While I have definitely downloaded movies and songs off of the Internet, I would have never thought of selling them.
I have shared them with friends - sure - but making money?

I mean I don't want to judge too harshly but if you're aware of piracy laws then you probably know the answer.

I know people also make custom plushies/sculptures/paintings, etc. and this is where it gets a bit tricky for me. Because, potentially, Nintendo could also step in and say that this is wrong. I think because they're such a big and prosperous company with some of the most recognizable and iconic video game characters (Mario) the lines get a bit blurred here.
But imagine if people started selling art of some Indie game characters at a profit - I could imagine some of the game devs not being too happy.

I know all that, and I don't agree with the morals of selling AC items or villagers for real money, but I'm looking at the morals, or lack of, that nintendo display.

Pocket Camp, for example, is a vile way to elicit money from people.
It targets those with gambling problems, and attacks psychologically by instilling FOMO in fans.

Utterly despicable ethics.

 

[pawprints]

I know all that, and I don't agree with the morals of selling AC items or villagers for real money, but I'm looking at the morals, or lack of, that nintendo display.

Pocket Camp, for example, is a vile way to elicit money from people.
It targets those with gambling problems, and attacks psychologically by instilling FOMO in fans.

Utterly despicable ethics.

That’s capitalism for you.

 

[Alyx]

wtf people spend money on fossils?

Yeah. If it exists, people will spend money on it. The Nook Miles tickets and gold nuggets are things that sell the most.

 

[fluttershy300]

Yeah this is the exact reason why I stopped following some youtubers. I know there's one that would charge you 200+ dollars just for planting flowers and other plants everywhere. It's crazy.

 

[radical6]

Yeah this is the exact reason why I stopped following some youtubers. I know there's one that would charge you 200+ dollars just for planting flowers and other plants everywhere. It's crazy.

lol you mean the homophobic youtube girl who demands 20 dollars to CATALOGUE items?

 

[Alyx]

Yeah this is the exact reason why I stopped following some youtubers. I know there's one that would charge you 200+ dollars just for planting flowers and other plants everywhere. It's crazy.

what?? wow. yeah that isn't okay but I'm sure somebody paid it. Somebody always does.

 

[radical6]

Also if you have a samsung phone you dont need to buy amiibos anymore. Or even NFC chips. Download a joycon app and use your phone as a pro controller. This way you can use ANY amiibo, if it exists.

All the amiibo files are free on the internet to download.

 

[fluttershy300]

lol you mean the homophobic youtube girl who demands 20 dollars to CATALOGUE items?

Yes that chick. That's another reason why I unsubscribe.

Post automatically merged: Jun 17, 2020

what?? wow. yeah that isn't okay but I'm sure somebody paid it. Somebody always does.

Oh yeah Im positive they did since she makes videos of landscaping them.

 

[cheezu]

I know all that, and I don't agree with the morals of selling AC items or villagers for real money, but I'm looking at the morals, or lack of, that nintendo display.

Pocket Camp, for example, is a vile way to elicit money from people.
It targets those with gambling problems, and attacks psychologically by instilling FOMO in fans.

Utterly despicable ethics.

Many other companies charge you for extra in-game stuff so I don't think that's specific to Nintendo.
And if we are to talk about gambling in the sense that you kind of "don't know what you're gonna get" with the amiibo cards or some Pocket Camp cookie items then gachapon and blind boxes are very popular in Japan. I don't think this topic is really related to what was being discussed though.

 

[wolfie1]

I mean, the worrying thing is that they actually had to say this. Maybe if they'd released old amiibo cards when the game came out, this wouldn't have happened. Not saying it's their fault that people are horrible, but it could've been avoided.

 

[cheezu]

I feel like the homemade amiibos and NFC cards may end up making older amiibo cards obsolete as anything but collectibles as Nintendo updates them in a fashion which people can’t “spoof” them. I hope I’m wrong though. I never bought a fake or tried to dupe one but the two amiibo cards I ever bought were cheap from being unpopular villagers. Would I be more likely to for the more popular villagers? Absolutely. Do I begrudge people who do it? Absolutely not. It’s smart.

I think a lot of people would be EXTREMELY angry if that were the case since lots of real money was spent on these legit amiibo cards.
Especially recently, with the popularity of NH many people have paid big bucks whether it be for sealed packs or specific villagers.
I don't think making them obsolete would be a smart move by Nintendo at all as it would equate to lots of angry fans.
Also, the homemade amiibo cards or tags are pretty much an amiibo version of a pirated DVD or Blu-ray if you think about.
I don't think Nintendo can do much about them other than trying to close down certain shops that sell them.