任天堂有望恢復元氣 馬里奧手辦成爲大救星

Nintendo has reported operating losses for three consecutive fiscal years, and the Wii U is considered the least successful Nintendo console ever, going all the way back to the original NES. But Nintendo’s toys-to-life amiibo figures could be the key to revitalizing the company.

任天堂公司已經連續三個財務年度宣告虧損，它的Wii U也被喻爲自NES以來最失敗的一款遊戲機。但任天堂的Amiibo遊戲手辦，有望爲該公司扭轉頹勢發揮關鍵作用。

The toy figurines, which contain near field communication (NFC) technology that unlocks special characters and abilities across multiple Wii U and new Nintendo 3DS XL games, have been selling out since launching in November 2014. Nintendo sold over 5.7 million amiibo worldwide in just two months last year. And the company has sold over 3.5 million of the video game figurines in the U.S. Alone.

這些遊戲手辦內置近場通訊技術，能夠解鎖多款Wii U和3DS XL遊戲的特殊遊戲角色和技能，2014年11月一經上市就被搶購一空。僅在去年最後的兩個月，任天堂就在全球範圍內售出570多萬個手辦，單單是美國的銷售量就達到350萬個。

Nintendo has sold just over 9.2 million Wii Us globally since its launch in 2012 through January 2015, and the console still lags a distant third to Sony’s 21 million PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s 13 million Xbox One sales. Nintendo’s previous console, the Wii, sold over 101 million units between 2006 and 2014, which earned the company first place during that console cycle.

從2012年發佈至2015年1月，任天堂共售出920萬臺Wii U遊戲機。不過相比索尼PlayStation 4（2100萬）和微軟Xbox One（1300萬）的銷量，Wii U這個季軍顯然差了不是一點半點。要知道，任天堂的上一款遊戲機Wii在2006至2014年間創下了1.01億臺的銷售數據，是上一代遊戲機當之無愧的機皇。

But since releasing the amiibo figures last November, Nintendo has seen an uptick in Wii U console sales in the U.S., including a 10 percent rise in Wii U hardware sales last November and a 29 percent increase for 2014 as a whole, compared to 2013. That trend has continued into 2015 with a 20 percent increase through the first quarter, according to the NPD Group.

不過，根據NPD集團提供的數據，自從去年11月Amiibo手辦發佈以來，任天堂Wii U遊戲機在美國的銷量已經開始上漲，去年11月增加10個百分點，全年銷量較2013年增加29%。這一勢頭在2015年得以持續，Wii U的銷量在今年第一季度增長20%。

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes sales of amiibo toys could add $200 to $300 million in annual revenue to Nintendo’s bottom line. Right now, the toys are more collectible than a hardware driver. But Pachter says that as more games incorporate the technology, the appeal will grow, especially with the younger gamers who have driven sales of the similar toys toys-to-life franchises of Disney’s Disney Infinity and Activision’s Skylanders.

韋德布什證券公司分析師邁克爾o帕徹認爲，Amiibo手辦的熱賣每年可能會爲任天堂帶來2到3億美元的收入。目前這些手辦要比硬件本身更有收藏價值。不過帕徹也表示，隨着越來越多的遊戲開始包含近場通訊技術，這些手辦的吸引力還會進一步上升。特別是很多年輕玩家原本就是迪士尼的“迪士尼無限”（Disney Infinity）和美國動視的Skylander等手辦的愛好者。

“People already have an affinity for our characters, and they love seeing them come to life in different ways in different Nintendo games,” Scott Moffitt, EVP of Sales and Marketing for Nintendo of America, says. “And parents like that amiibo can be used in different ways across multiple games, so they get strong enduring value for their investment.”

任天堂的北美銷售與營銷執行副總裁斯科特o莫菲特表示：“大家已經非常喜歡我們的角色了，他們也喜歡看到這些角色以不同的方式活靈活現地出現在不同的任天堂遊戲中。父母們非常欣賞的一點是，Amiibo手辦可以以不同的方式應用到多款遊戲中，有很強的持續價值。”

Nintendo has rolled out three waves of amiibo figures so far, a total of 29 characters from Mario to Donkey Kong to Sonic the Hedgehog. A shortage of amiibo figures has resulted in some fans paying hundreds of dollars for the hard-to-find collectibles, which retail for $13.

目前，任天堂已經推出了三批Amiibo手辦，其中包括《超級瑪麗》、《大金剛》和《刺蝟索尼克》等遊戲中的29個經典遊戲角色。它們的零售價爲13美元。由於Amiibo手辦供不應求，有些玩家甚至願意花數百美元購入這些手辦進行收藏。

Nintendo has also opened up this technology to developers. Moffitt sees amiibo figures as another creative option in the development toolbox, just like motion controls, off-TV play, or 3D visuals.

任天堂也向開發者開放了這項技術。莫菲特認爲，和動作控制、Off-TV play和3D視效一樣，Amiibo手辦也是另一個非常有創新性的開發工具。

Nintendo has already announced its next console, the Nintendo NX device, which EEDAR video game analyst Kyle Lemmon believes is a tacit admission that the Wii U continues to underperform and won’t have the long shelf life that the Wii had last generation. But Nintendo does have new waves of amiibo figures coming out throughout this year, and for now, that’s enough to keep fans excited about the company once again.

任天堂已經宣佈下一代遊戲機NX即將發佈，EEDAR公司的視頻遊戲分析師凱爾o雷蒙認爲，這相當於任天堂已經默認了Wii U持續表現疲軟的事實，因此Wii U將無法享受像前任Wii一樣長的銷售壽命。不過今年年內，任天堂還將繼續推出幾批Amiibo手辦，就目前來說，這個消息足以讓玩家們興奮一陣子了。