darkSpyro

When I went to TRU yesterday, I learned that my local store will be moving Skylanders somewhere, to make room for Infinity. I said, "well, didn't Activision pay for that space?" They said, "yeah," but we have to make room for Infinity.

It doesn't help that all of my stores (Walmart, Gamestop, Target, especially Best Buy,) are drying up. It's almost as if Activision doesn't care about keeping Skylanders stocked. They were doing so good for the most part, but these past 2 months, things are so scarce, it begs to question.

It doesn't help that North America hasn't seen Triple Pack 8 or 9, or even Jet-Vac single packs, either. Everything is just... drying up.

I watched two days ago, as my local Best Buy was setting up Infinity right next to its Skylanders section. However, over the past 4 months, I have seen the exact same Skylanders on the exact same pegs, at that store. A couple of Flashwings, one Drill Sergeant, 4 Sprocket and Flashwing triple packs, 4 LC Jet-Vacs, and a couple of LC Eruptors and Drobots.

This store has not once seen wave 4 or 5. Not once.

Something is wrong here, and I don't think it's totally the stores fault, if at all.

I love Skylanders and want it to succeed, but how can something succeed if Activision doesn't care to keep the stores stocked, especially if the competition is coming out in a mere 3 days?

How does Activision tend to compete? The name can't sell itself with empty shelves. The more store shelves stay empty, the more stores will ditch that space for product that will fill that space.

I don't understand why North America hasn't seen triple packs 8 and 9 yet, or single pack Jet-Vac, but now it's gotten worse. I don't know why there are barely any characters on the shelves to begin with. All of these stores told me the same thing. They said -

"We keep trying to order them, but the vendor is out of them." This means Activision is dry. Why? Are they trying to dig their own grave? One of my local Toys R Us stores is so tired of being empty on Skylanders, they chose to put Infinity in a space Activision is paying for. You know you're doing something wrong, when Activision is paying for the space Infinity habits at any given store.

I don't know why the well is drying up, but it goes against the words Toys For Bob spoke, when they said they will meet demand, by keeping stores stocked. I know some people still looking for triple packs 8 and 9, as well as Jet-Vac, because they chose to get a Portal Owners pack.

Those have been available in Australia, plus LC Hex, for about 2 months now. North America still hasn't seen them.

I can't lie and say I'm not worried, but not because Infinity is the better product, but rather that Activision seems to not care about keeping stores stocked in a period that's most crucial, due to incoming competition in just 3 days. If customers who like Skylanders can't find Skylanders, they will move to the next "Toys to Life" game, which at every store in my city, is right next to the Skylanders section.

Although I agree with most of your points, GM, you and I both know that this thread will now turn into another "lets all hate on Infinity" thread.

I went to Walmart, Bestbuy and Futureshop couple of days ago and they have the Disney Infinity portal set up while the Skylanders were beside it almost nothing in stocks.

My assumption is, for the most part, people are done buying skylanders from the Giants set. Those that wanted them, got them, and most other people just aren't interested. We are the 1% of Skylander fans. So when they do the math, it probably doesn't make sense to order another batch of products that will most likely just rot on the shelves anyways.

I think they are very aware of Infinity, which is why the Dark Starter edition was just announced. Also why they did the metallic versions and probably some other things. They want to keep some buzz on Skylanders (and off Infinity), but more towards Swap Force than Spyros or Giants.

I imagine that there will be more news this and/or next week about Skylanders from them.

While I like Skylanders more, I can't help but feel Activision isn't making any effort to compete, which will cost them customers in the long run.

It is bad enough Skylanders games are shorter, even in terms of single player, but it worries me now that I see all stores so empty. It's almost as if Activision is saying, "hahah, we're so awesome, and Skylanders does so well, let's play a game. Let's dry up store shelves so we can show everyone Skylanders still makes money against Infinity, even with empty shelves."

It's what I feel.

It bugged me yesterday, to hear my local TRU is using space bought by Activision, to display Infinity products. I guess the reason is, they're tired of seeing empty shelves, so they're filling it with the competion's product, because they have so much of that product in the back.

Makes me wonder where Swap Force figures will be going?

But, Xerxxees, there are still people out there needing figures not seen since wave 1 or 2, like Bash, Zook, Ignitor, Slam Bam, plus newer figures like Drobot (S2).

Some people want triple packs 8 and 9, but they haven't released here despite being available in Australia for 2 months now. Some people got the Portal Owners Pack, so they need Jet-Vac, but he hasn't been released here either.

There is still product to release, but instead of getting those out, the wells are drying. That, coupled with the fact TRU is wanting to use Activision space for the competitions product, while the competition is also doing cool things like holding a Power Disc trading event at Toys R Us, worries me.

I just wish Activision would do something, instead of sit back and do nothing. I want Skylanders to flourish, but it can't when the shelves are empty, and the competition is getting free space to use on store shelves.

If it dries up, it dries up. Just don't lose your mind when it does. Skylanders may last a while. It may die off after the next game. It happened to guitar hero and it was popular for a while. Fads come and go

The problem is multi-fold really:
-Some stores can't get them, others are getting tons people already have. This one's pretty well explained above, but the distribution really does suck on these. We've gotten packs upon packs of the same toys, and nobody buys them because they already got them. Meanwhile, there are some that see almost no distribution and go for outlandish prices online.
-Competing with itself: S2 figures are a mistake, and S3 figs will only make it worse. The problem is that the toys are quite literally competing with their older, cheaper counterparts a lot of times. Lightcores are in a similar boat; if you're a parent trying to buy economically, are you really going to want to spend more just to get a figure with a light-up effect when there's a $2-3 cheaper item on the same shelf? Not really.
-Frustration over the constant "store exclusive" items. The limited exclusives and color variants the first time weren't so bad, as only Toys R Us had 'true' named variants and you could feasibly buy those online. Then they went a little crazy, with them popping up all over the place and some seeming to be store exclusives but weren't...it's a little annoying. And we already know this is coming, with the "Dark" set, so get ready for another round.
-Chase variants. Another thing that went nuts. We're still getting variants left and right, and while the originals could be ignored, these are showing up as "Special". Meaning if you want to "catch em all", you need to start investing heavily. However given the number coming out, the limited distribution, the low chances of reaching consumers hands, and the confusion around them, they've become more a pain than an Oooh-ahhh moment. And when you stop from collecting these, you start to wonder the necessity of those series 2 or LC figs and the whole pyramid slowly starts coming down.
-Package exclusives. Okay seriously these can go straight to kingdom come. There were three of these (Punch Pop Fizz, Gnarly Tree Rex, Royal Double Trouble) and of them only the last has been released separately. But at the time there was no guarantee they were going to get a separate release, and people invested much a pretty penny to secure one especially after how fast some of the store exclusives vanished. Now they're easier to get, meaning that a lot of consumers are going to think twice about slapping down some cash when it comes to the next batch.

I'm on the fence personally how I'll approach this next batch. I want to play it and have fun with it, but I don't want more of the same I had last time, that was stupid. So any investments will be slow and steady, and probably only to grab store exclusives before their price skyrockets as they seem to have the shortest lifespan. Sorry if this was tl;dr for any of you.

That's just wrong.

Activision worked HARD to make all these figures, and when Infinity comes out? They lose EVEN more money. I have a feeling there will be a lawsuit between the two companies, and ToysRUs will be in the middle of it.

They're VERY slow with shipments now. That's gonna bite them in the butt when Infinity is out and there are NO Skylanders on the shelves.

If Skylanders is going to have one advantage, it'll be assortments. See, we recently got Infinity products up at Wal-Mart and...none of them are cross-referenced with one another. While with Skylanders each of a certain kind (LC, regular, giants etc) falls under a certain inventory group, Infinity figs are only in common with themselves. Meaning once they slip out of rotation, they're gone. Once a peg runs out, you can't put a different figure on there: it's reserved for just that item. And couple that with the fact some figures just won't sell...yeah, let the shelfwarming begin.

Giants is drying up because the game is old. Really old in video games terms. People have, for the most part, gotten their fill on Giants figures. Infinity will enjoy a nice display for a couple months then also get shoved aside to smaller space for Swap Force. At most stores Giants got huge areas of display, TRU alone had them in 2 large walls and another stand up - but slowly those got reduced. They will always use the most space for the new hotness, which is Infinity right now. Swap Force will be it in October, and honestly they will have much more on Day 1 than Infinity. Space is flexible.

This is nothing to worry about. All it does is stoke the fires of pointless fanboy competition. Infinity will probably do well, but so will Swap Force. There is room for both products. But, I think a lot of people anxious to move on to Infinity are going to discover how different of a game it is and realize that they still want Skylanders. After all, they have a ton of figures for that game that are completely compatible.

Hopefully SSF will steal DI's thunder only around two months in. We should have reviews in very soon, like maybe tomorrow.

Even if DI is super awesome and has better reception than Skylanders, I wouldn't count SL out just yet.
Even though Disney is the scariest competition there could ever be, I'm more worried about how a new developer might not deliver on gameplay.
One thing that is almost guaranteed on some level, when two companies battle for our attention/money, the consumer usually is the winner.

SSF may not have had enough warning to really win this war even if DI is incredible, but I'll bet that Skylanders 4 will really take things up a few notches to compete!
I'm pretty sure that we will get to a Skylanders 4 and probably even an 8th one or more (maybe in the distant future, maybe in just a few years), I just hope that Activision doesn't get scared and kill it off like Guitar Hero type games.

Luckily it's making crazy money, so they'll probably milk it forever. Any franchise that makes that kind of money (Star Wars, , Pokemon, Transformers) will probably exist essentially forever, just have some periods of years where its just on hiatus until the next reboot. I think the entertainment business is funny/smart that way. I remember when I was little (a LONG time ago) and my wise mother said that Star Wars is going to be milked forever and that I'll be able to take my kids to see it in the theaters. When I saw the first new Transformers movie line wrap around the theater in 2007, I said to my friend "Wow, now you're going to see every somewhat popular franchise ever become resurrected" and I joked about a G.I. Joe movie! Hmm... one came out two years later.

In another post people are talking about how super-psyched they are about Swap Force, and I am too (finally pre-ordered Dark Starter Pack, and I never pre-order), but I suggest tempering that excitement with the memory of the thing that I was the most psyched about ever... Star Wars Episode I: The Theatrical Menace. Sorry, I know it wasn't all that bad to some, I just shouldn't have had such high expectations.

Here's hoping SSF is great.
"FOR SKYLAAAAAAAAAANDS!" *rides in on horse, sword held up high*

Quote: GameMaster78

But, Xerxxees, there are still people out there needing figures not seen since wave 1 or 2, like Bash, Zook, Ignitor, Slam Bam, plus newer figures like Drobot (S2).

Yes, there probably are some, I don't doubt that at all. I'd like to get a few more even. However, I don't believe that we are the majority. We are classified under Super Fans. And Super Fans are a small market for them.

And Activision always has Amazon.com and other online options. (I don't mean eBay). So it is possible to get many of them. It's not that they are gone from the planet, they are just not available in stores as well.

And that works well for them, they can ship all products to Amazon for resale. Maybe it's to a few different warehouses, but still pretty easy. Compare that to the thousands of stores in the U.S.

Should they make 10,000 Zooks so they can send 1 or 2 to every store and hope it sells? multiply that by the dozens of figures that are possible. And would all the stores even want those items? Possibly not, they'd have more dead product on the shelves.

That's just not good business for them. At least I don't think it is.

The sentiment in this OP is overly-anxious and light on logic.

Here's a few things to remember, and/or set your mind at ease:

1. OF COURSE Disney Infinity products are going to get primo treatment right now ... the game is about to launch. There will be a (very) predictable and (probably quite) transient shift in the marketplace toward those products, as retailers compete to attract the business of those who have been anticipating release of the Infinity. Please remember, retailers don't have loyalties to anyone other than their wallets and (in some cases) their loyal customers. It would be bad business (and stupid) for retailers to not heavily promote a brand new game that is loaded with pre-release hype. Here's the thing ... SwapForce will get the exact same treatment when it releases in October. Have no doubt about that.

2. We are at the tail end of the 12-months Giants release cycle. It is also "back-to-school" season, when consumers are notorious about shifting their disposable budget towards school supplies and clothes (and therefore not on toys and video games). As much as I love to complain about Target's pathetic displays of Flashwing-only Skylanders recently, I know in my head that it's not a big deal, because this is not the time of year for a large multi-product retailer to be focused on video games, etc. Just wait until October and November, and you'll be swimming in Skylanders at all your favorite stores again.

I could go on with lots more reasons, but ultimately, each individual needs to use his/her brain for something other than anxiety and worry. Worrying doesn't make tomorrow better, it just makes today worse. Also, worrying is like paying a debt that may never come due. Just stop.

Quote: cbunny84

If it dries up, it dries up. Just don't lose your mind when it does. Skylanders may last a while. It may die off after the next game. It happened to guitar hero and it was popular for a while. Fads come and go

It's not that Skylanders is losing popularity, it's that Activision isn't sending out anything. If they do, it isn't current stock. I still sell wave 2 and 3 triple packs, not 4 and 5.

Quote: Kung Fu Man

The problem is multi-fold really:
-Some stores can't get them, others are getting tons people already have. This one's pretty well explained above, but the distribution really does suck on these. We've gotten packs upon packs of the same toys, and nobody buys them because they already got them. Meanwhile, there are some that see almost no distribution and go for outlandish prices online.
-Competing with itself: S2 figures are a mistake, and S3 figs will only make it worse. The problem is that the toys are quite literally competing with their older, cheaper counterparts a lot of times. Lightcores are in a similar boat; if you're a parent trying to buy economically, are you really going to want to spend more just to get a figure with a light-up effect when there's a $2-3 cheaper item on the same shelf? Not really.
-Frustration over the constant "store exclusive" items. The limited exclusives and color variants the first time weren't so bad, as only Toys R Us had 'true' named variants and you could feasibly buy those online. Then they went a little crazy, with them popping up all over the place and some seeming to be store exclusives but weren't...it's a little annoying. And we already know this is coming, with the "Dark" set, so get ready for another round.
-Chase variants. Another thing that went nuts. We're still getting variants left and right, and while the originals could be ignored, these are showing up as "Special". Meaning if you want to "catch em all", you need to start investing heavily. However given the number coming out, the limited distribution, the low chances of reaching consumers hands, and the confusion around them, they've become more a pain than an Oooh-ahhh moment. And when you stop from collecting these, you start to wonder the necessity of those series 2 or LC figs and the whole pyramid slowly starts coming down.
-Package exclusives. Okay seriously these can go straight to kingdom come. There were three of these (Punch Pop Fizz, Gnarly Tree Rex, Royal Double Trouble) and of them only the last has been released separately. But at the time there was no guarantee they were going to get a separate release, and people invested much a pretty penny to secure one especially after how fast some of the store exclusives vanished. Now they're easier to get, meaning that a lot of consumers are going to think twice about slapping down some cash when it comes to the next batch.

I'm on the fence personally how I'll approach this next batch. I want to play it and have fun with it, but I don't want more of the same I had last time, that was stupid. So any investments will be slow and steady, and probably only to grab store exclusives before their price skyrockets as they seem to have the shortest lifespan. Sorry if this was tl;dr for any of you.

I see more Newlanders (ie Flashwing) on the shelves than S2 characters in my city. Stores can't keep Drobot, Slam Bam, or the stray Zook or Ignitor instock, but I'm always seeing Flashwing, Shroomboom, and Sprocket on shelves.

I don't think it's due to the amount of exclusives either. It's the simple fact most of my stores are just bone dry, minus the shelf-warming newlanders.

Quote: Matteomax

That's just wrong.

Activision worked HARD to make all these figures, and when Infinity comes out? They lose EVEN more money. I have a feeling there will be a lawsuit between the two companies, and ToysRUs will be in the middle of it.

They're VERY slow with shipments now. That's gonna bite them in the butt when Infinity is out and there are NO Skylanders on the shelves.

It is sad, but its understandable from a store's standpoint. Stores can't just have gaping holes in their store. It looks unprofessional. It looks like they've fallen on hard times or something.

Activision just needs to start sending out massive waves of figures that haven't been seen for awhile, plus the final two triple packs, so they can compete against Infinity.

Quote: Kung Fu Man

If Skylanders is going to have one advantage, it'll be assortments. See, we recently got Infinity products up at Wal-Mart and...none of them are cross-referenced with one another. While with Skylanders each of a certain kind (LC, regular, giants etc) falls under a certain inventory group, Infinity figs are only in common with themselves. Meaning once they slip out of rotation, they're gone. Once a peg runs out, you can't put a different figure on there: it's reserved for just that item. And couple that with the fact some figures just won't sell...yeah, let the shelfwarming begin.

At the same time, they're already starting to take reserves on wave 2 figures for Infinity. Why Activision can't make it that easy for Skylanders fans is beyond me, but it allows those who want any given figure, to get that figure, without wasting gas, time, and money due to scalpers getting to those figures first.

Do you know how much money stores would get from me, and Activision, if they took reserves on figures? 5 dollars per reserve x4 since I buy 4 of every figure, would be money going to the stores and Activision, because stores will order according to how many reserves they had.

I was at my TRU yesterday and one of the employees came up and told me that close to october (when swap force is released) they will be moving skylanders to another wall in the video game section he showed me the wall and he said it was going to be huge, and infinity will be taking the space that's not even half as big that the skylanders area used to be at.

I guess my TRU isn't a fan of infinity or something <.>

Here's hoping that's the same for all TRU's then.

'Round here, the only store that has gotten stock recently is Walmart. And there is no TRU here at all. The nearest one is 70 minutes away.

Quote: Haseo

I was at my TRU yesterday and one of the employees came up and told me that close to october (when swap force is released) they will be moving skylanders to another wall in the video game section he showed me the wall and he said it was going to be huge, and infinity will be taking the space that's not even half as big that the skylanders area used to be at.

I guess my TRU isn't a fan of infinity or something <.>

I don't think it is because they like them or not, other than one is a known property, one untested by the market.

There simply isn't enough Infinity volume of product to take up that much space. They have about 10 figures, a couple triple packs, and adventure type pack and the power disks. They obviously also have the game itself.

Skylanders has leftover SSA, leftover SG and now a full line of Swap Force to take up space, as well as all three games for multiple consoles. You cannot get Giants for Swap Force, so those won't be vanishing anytime soon.

Quote: Haseo

I was at my TRU yesterday and one of the employees came up and told me that close to october (when swap force is released) they will be moving skylanders to another wall in the video game section he showed me the wall and he said it was going to be huge, and infinity will be taking the space that's not even half as big that the skylanders area used to be at.

This is very consistent with what I've seen and heard at my local Toys R Us, too.

Quote: weebbby

'Round here, the only store that has gotten stock recently is Walmart.

As mentioned in a few other threads, this too is consistent with what I've observed in recent months. During this summer, really only WalMarts and Toys R Us stores have been actively re-stocking Skylanders. Best Buy, GameStop, and Target stores (for the most part) nationwide have cooled their jets on Skylanders for now. Expect that to change in October and November, for certain.

I think they're just trying to clear out stock, last year, they had a lot left over, and when Giants came out, the put it in the back and brought it back out again 2 months later.

One of my local game stops had a mock-up DI display right next to the skylanders display.


I'm worried

Don't sweat it GM, it's just the timing right now. Infinity is being pushed as they are brand new and backed by Disney (megacorp)
Activision has made so much money off the Skylanders machine, they will be pushing SwapForce just as hard as they ever pushed Giants, and will put out alot more toys by Christmas than they did last year.
I understand the worry, but just relax. Even if this is the last mega-successful Skylander game, it will be huge.
Enjoy the hunt, it will be hot and heavy in 2 months.

^ Mine did too. And it was the same size, they shrunk their Skylander display, and moved it to the 3DS section from the Wii section.

I don't have a TRU near me, but I've seen almost the exact same thing happen at my local Target and Walmart. My Target does well at keeping stock– but only of the common characters like Flashwing, Cynder, and Eruptor. It was like that for months. But now, with Infinity on the way, I've notice the Skylanders start to disappear, and never restock. Like a plague, almost. However, my Walmart has on average only about 10-12 figures on the shelves TOTAL. But, they are the newer harder to find figures. But the racks in Walmart have been cleared. Completely, of all Skylanders, and decorations advertising the product. Rumor is that they are going to tear down the Skylanders section in my Walmart and replace it with Infinity, and relocate the Skylanders to a much smaller location in the very back of the store. I AM a fan of Infinity, but I don't think that they should have the right to take over the shelves of the other games. It just not right. They arent high and supreme. Couldn't they just get their own shelves, without having to take over Activision's PAID space?

I don't think Skyalnders will ever have anything to worry about, so long as they keep shelves stocked, so old and new customers can find product.

i found triple pack 8 lol.
but never triple pack 9 or jet-vac.

i'm getting infinity and swap force.
this sucks butts

where i live, infinety does not even compare with how many skylanders we have, nobody here cares about infinety at all, besides, the infinety section is like 3 meter away from the skylanders section

Think Darklight Crypt

I believe Skylanders is successful because of a very clever marketing strategy, make some items rare and people will want them even more.

If me and my son had got Ghostroaster at the beginning, and all characters were freely available, we would not have bought every character.

Rarity is a big part of their marketing, it's very insightful, and I think this is their ploy. I think the last two 3 packs would allow many people to finish their collections which would allow them to move on to Infinity, as it stands they can't.

Is it nice? No, but I bet it will work, and I'd say that's what you're seeing GM.

here , they say every game infinety makes fails
so nobody is interested, also, , most kids here have skylanders, and dont want to give more mony away

Here is what I heard at gamestop from an employee
"We arent ordering more skylanders so we can prepare for swap force"

Key word: prepare
The stores are preparing for the upcoming games
Would you rather have them order to much and have less swapforce gen characters? OR have tons on release.

Also my gamestop isnt going to "nuke" the skylander section. DI is just going to be right next to them >.<

What activision should have done is start releasing some swapforce figures and adventure/battle packs at the same time infinity is coming out. People will buy the swapforce figures and adventure/battle packs now even though the game does not come out till October.

Quote: wgeorge111

What activision should have done is start releasing some swapforce figures and adventure/battle packs at the same time infinity is coming out. People will buy the swapforce figures and adventure/battle packs now even though the game does not come out till October.

Did they do that with giants?
I dont see any reason to sell swap force figures before the actual game

the op makes great points but there's also the facts that as already stated, giants is about 10 months in and old. it's successor comes out in 2 months now, has just been announced of yet another edition for it. This does beg the question that I would be worried too that they're going out with a bang for the series.

Giants figures will most likely rerelease from old shipments to walmarts worldwide like happened to spyro's adventure figures, but acti has had to switch gears now to be ready for swap force and get those into production so they'll be on store shelves exactly on release. The remaining packs are a mystery to their us release and quite frankly maybe that could be why they are waiting on them if they do come out by next week or as late as september so there is something to tide over until the release of swap force.

We know LC Hex is a pre order so maybe they are going to fill in the blanks of that time with how they release the ones now. It's still trouble and overall from lessons learned with ssa and sg that ssf will be easier to hunt for.

I preordered 3 dark editions as two are gifts. that saves me the time of hunting for spyro and slobbertooth. Most of the figures are just not desirable and I think I'm only going to order a handful of them which I'll either get from amazon or during some of the store sales that'll be happening. Characters I haven't even played s2 of or their s1s I don't really need an s3 of except maybe for phantom cynder to compliment the dark mega ram spyro. Activision may or may not in the end release all of the swap force figures. Time will tell from games and infinity in how much money will be shifted away from them.

Quote: wgeorge111

What activision should have done is start releasing some swapforce figures and adventure/battle packs at the same time infinity is coming out. People will buy the swapforce figures and adventure/battle packs now even though the game does not come out till October.

This is a horrible idea, in every way.

^ No they did not do that with Giants. Infinity was not coming out when Giants were coming out. Having figures now would occupy Activisions space at retail stores. Not to mention Activision has stated numerous times that part of the swapping was to make the figures more of a toy for people to play with when not playing the game.

@ BBreaker
Would you buy swapforce figures if they were out now

Quote: wgeorge111

^ No they did not do that with Giants. Infinity was not coming out when Giants were coming out. Having figures now would occupy Activisions space at retail stores. Not to mention Activision has stated numerous times that part of the swapping was to make the figures more of a toy for people to play with when not playing the game.

you got stealthed badly

Also they arent doing that this time
All store websites with swapforce figures show the release of it being on 10/13/2013 aka release date of the main game.

I guess you did not see the should have done part

What they really need to do is allow preordering of figures like the triple and adventure packs. There's no excuse anymore if the competition is allowing it. That's a big reason why I just don't want to keep hunting them anymore and the staggering cost of figures. I really do think they know this is their final push so the milk machine is on overload

Quote: BahamutBreaker

Quote: wgeorge111

What activision should have done is start releasing some swapforce figures and adventure/battle packs at the same time infinity is coming out. People will buy the swapforce figures and adventure/battle packs now even though the game does not come out till October.

This is a horrible idea, in every way.

Quote: Forum Rules

Be constructive with you criticism.

I think it's a great idea.

Quote: wgeorge111

@ BBreaker
Would you buy swapforce figures if they were out now

I would, but only a couple

Look, I think if there are some stores like TRU that get paid for Skylander Space, and they are gonna put DI figs in that space, at least tell Acti "Oh sorry, DI will get us more money so we are putting DI figures in the Skylanders Display, just telling you"

This seems so silly to.me. I just can't possibly believe that Activision doesnt know exactly what is going on (in general) regarding stock in retail stores. They have a plan for rolling out a new game, how they want to handle giants stock, and for competing with other games overall. This isnt consistently happening all over and in all retail stores randomly. Its naive to think they do not have a plan and dont know whats going on. Activision is a large sophisticated company that has departments dedicated to all aspects of the business. Can things go wrong and\or nad decisions be made? Yes. But this is all just coming out. Strategies, developed likely more than a year ago are being used. Its premature for anybody to determine whether they are working or not. But you can rest assured thay Activision is monitoring all aspects of their producys and their comoetition. If they find something isnt going as planned they will adjust.

With regards to the whole "activision paying for space" thing, believe me when I tell you that they sold the space to Disney and have bought a much bigger space now

See --exactly what I said--fateofear confirms that activision clearly has a plan and sold some space only to buy much more. No need to worry

Well, that helps fears a bit.

Disney Infinity - good or bad - won't have much impact on Skylanders.

Skylanders will suceed or fail, based only on how good the games are. If the games are great, people wonkt care about figure distribution, chase variants, shelf space at retail, etc., etc. People just want to play a great game.

So, Let's hope SWAPForce is a Grade A title. Or that Activision has something up their sleeve in case it's bad.

Quote: wgeorge111

@ BBreaker
Would you buy swapforce figures if they were out now

No. Not unless the SwapForce game had also already been released.
Activision has a plan in place, and it doesn't take a genius to know that an October release for a video game is MUCH more desirable than an August release. There's no comparison, really.

Quote: tigerdr

What they really need to do is allow preordering of figures like the triple and adventure packs. There's no excuse anymore if the competition is allowing it. That's a big reason why I just don't want to keep hunting them anymore and the staggering cost of figures. I really do think they know this is their final push so the milk machine is on overload

An excellent point, Tiger.
To be fair, pre-ordering for the Tower of Time adventure pack and the Fiery Forge battle pack IS available currently, at least in GameStop stores and via Amazon.com.

Quote: UncleBob

Disney Infinity - good or bad - won't have much impact on Skylanders.

Skylanders will suceed or fail, based only on how good the games are. If the games are great, people wonkt care about figure distribution, chase variants, shelf space at retail, etc., etc. People just want to play a great game.

So, Let's hope SWAPForce is a Grade A title. Or that Activision has something up their sleeve in case it's bad.

I fully concur.

We're gonna have a toy war between the two games. If DI doesn't sell well then they would have less space. I think.

Great post unclebob. Agreed