Amiibo
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| International standard | Near field communication |
|---|---|
| Developed by | Nintendo |
| Introduced | June 10, 2014 |
| Industry | Video game |
| Connector type | Wireless |
| Compatible hardware | |
| Physical range | < 20 cm (7.9 in) |
Amiibo (Japanese: アミーボ Hepburn: Amībo?, officially stylised as amiibo; plural: Amiibo) is Nintendo's wireless communications and storage protocol, for use between compatible toys-to-life figurines, and the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch gaming platforms. It was launched in November 2014 in the form of system software updates and a series of Amiibo-enabled figurines. These figurines are similar in form and functionality to that of the Skylanders and Disney Infinity series. The platform was preannounced to potentially accommodate any form of figurine, specifically including general plans for future card games. These figurines use near field communication (NFC) to interact with supported video game software, potentially allowing data to be transferred in and out of games and across multiple platforms.
Amiibo can be used directly with the Nintendo Switch, Wii U GamePad, New Nintendo 3DS series, and with an adapter for the rest of the Nintendo 3DS series. By September 2016, Nintendo reported that 39 million Amiibo had been sold, along with 30.6 million Amiibo cards.
Toys for Bob and its parent company Activision had offered an opportunity for Nintendo to be a partner in a new video game franchise known as Skylanders, which would use RFID-equipped character figurines and a special reader component to interact with the game itself, and could store data on the figurine itself such as the corresponding character's statistics. While Nintendo passed on the exclusivity deal, the franchise itself quickly became one of Activison's most successful franchises upon its launch as a spin-off of the Spyro the Dragon series, and also resulted in competition from Disney Interactive Studios, who would release a game with a similar concept known as Disney Infinity in 2013.
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