21 million Amiibos shipped so far

Given the difficulty of finding rarer Amiibo characters in shops, it's always been unclear whether the figurines were popular -- or underproduced.

Thanks to a report from Reuters, we know that Nintendo has sold 21 million of the toys -- which can also take the form of cards or plush dolls, as with the recent Animal Crossing and Yoshi versions. That number includes 10.6 million sold since March.

These numbers come alongside Nintendo's latest financial report; the company's sales increased 19.1 year-on-year for its most recent quarter, but profits fell. The company reported software and hardware sales, too.

According to Nintendo's earnings statement, the introduction of card-based Amiibo is a success, and Amiibo figure sales "maintain strong momentum."

Nintendo earlier this year reported that over half of Amiibo shipments head to the U.S. and Canada.

Update: The official translation of Nintendo's investor Q&A notes that the number of Amiibos shipped to retailers, not sold to consumers, is 21.1 million. We've embedded a chart from that presentation below.