Not only that, but amiibo are coded rather simply compared to games and systems. I mean, just one line of code determines what character the amiibo will be read as. Just one! It's probably just too expensive to even bother to region lock the amiibo, because it'll probably take around double to triple the memory in an amiibo to do that.
Another thought, it could be a step in making the next wave of consoles, like the NX, region free and amiibo compatible. I believe they were made long after their thoughts on the subject of region locking were aired on twitter or facebook or whatever it was they used. (Something about how it was part of determining the market's needs and if it was determined that region locking isn't needed, they'd abandon it)
Of course, it could well be that region locking simply wasn't thought of because they are accessories, or they were just too lazy to add in the code, or wanted the room that the lock code would take for potential other data to be inserted in the future. (which should be possible to a point, since Smash Bros. and Mario Party 10 both write data to the figure)
My question is why stop people from buying rare amiibo on sites like PlayAsia? If that increases the number of amiibo sold, then it's a good thing for Nintendo. Restricting what customers can buy is usually not a beneficial thing for businesses.
There's reasons for Nintendo to region lock a console though. It helps Nintendo control what regions get what content, and stops people buying games for cheaper in other regions.
I strongly disagree with region locking and I hope it doesn't appear on the NX.
Because amiibo are accessories, and all accessories are region-free (aside from chargers)
Just to be clear the chargers are not "region-free" from the point of if they work on console from any region as per what region locks means. The fact that you are limited to which country you can use a charger is not a region lock but a location lock. Kind of why you need a different charger or a convertor to be able to use the charger somewhere else. Different country, on a plane, in a car.
As for Nintendo region locking Amiibos, as others have said region-locking Amiibo would either take up valuable storage space, a ripped Amiibo data tag is only 540 bytes in size. Also means that Nintendo will need to make at least 3 different versions (US, JAP & EU) of the same figures and that would be a production nightmare considering how many are out even now a year after launch. So it's not economical viable to do it.
On a side note, will Nintendo drop region locks on their next console. I would love for them to as the rest of the industry has. However as we know Nintendo are no afraid of going their own way. So I don't think they will for a couple of reasons.
1) They claim that region lock is needed to protect kids from playing games that might be different ages rated in their country. (cough, cough I call BS)
2) Continuing on from 1, Nintendo is a company that still works on self policing it's games in US and EU. Just look at Devil World not being released in US, changes to Castlevania, Earthbound and even in recent years with Bravely Default, Xenoblade and Project Zero.
3) Nintendo like most companies treats different regions as different balance sheets. So loosing sales one region is not good and it's worse if those sales are going to your other region.
OK I was paraphrasing a bit. But this is a statement made by Iwata to IGN on why they region lock.
"There are many different regions around the world, and each region has its own cultural acceptance and legal restrictions, as well as different age ratings. There are always things that we’re required to do in each different region, which may go counter to the idea that players around the world want the freedom to play whatever they want."
But one of the main reasons is about age rating of games in different regions.
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Topic: Why region lock the 3ds but not the amibo
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