darkSpyro

Talking to staff in various stores I have been told that Swap Force sales are significantly below the sale of Giants games/characters etc from last year. There seems to be a lot of sales aimed at moving swap force characters and games so I wonder how the franchise is traveling? Quite a few people I have spoken to who purchased the first two games haven't brought Swap Force.

Has Disney Infinity had a significant impact or are people just a little bit over the problems of hundreds of characters and not enough game play?

And if interest is on the slide what will that mean to the price of collectible type variants? What impact would that have on the value of everyone's regular collections?

And on the point of characters, if interest has waned slightly in the franchise, it must be an interesting balancing act for Activision on release of the next waves of SF characters. A fine line between building anticipation and people just losing interest.

What are your thoughts? Yes you, I want to know what YOU think.

The franchise is doing well, lower sales for SWAP Force won't stop it yet (we need official numbers to compare actually).

I know that SWAP Force (the game itself) has better ratings than Giants and Spyro's Adventure. From Metacritic:

SWAP Force: WiiU - 92 | X360 - 83 | PS3 - 84
Giants: WiiU - 80 | X360 - 80 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 78
Spyro: X360 - 78 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 81

About the toys, I think they should try having less characters available at launch, but have more waves. It could be a total of 10 waves, one per month so that people don't lose interest and don't feel like they have to pay that much to get all characters from one wave. There would be 2 months between the last wave and the release of the next game, giving people time to complete Swap Force and be ready for the next game. Also, make the damn wave releases global lol...

I think Giants was the most popular of the three and now it has shriveled down a bit.

Quote: newkill

SWAP Force: WiiU - 92 | X360 - 83 | PS3 - 84
Giants: WiiU - 80 | X360 - 80 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 78
Spyro: X360 - 78 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 81

I'm pretty suprised there alot of these...

Quote: newkill

The franchise is doing well, lower sales for SWAP Force won't stop it yet (we need official numbers to compare actually).

I know that SWAP Force (the game itself) has better ratings than Giants and Spyro's Adventure. From Metacritic:

SWAP Force: WiiU - 92 | X360 - 83 | PS3 - 84
Giants: WiiU - 80 | X360 - 80 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 78
Spyro: X360 - 78 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 81

About the toys, I think they should try having less characters available at launch, but have more waves. It could be a total of 10 waves, one per month so that people don't lose interest and don't feel like they have to pay that much to get all characters from one wave. There would be 2 months between the last wave and the release of the next game, giving people time to complete Swap Force and be ready for the next game. Also, make the damn wave releases global lol...

Why is PS3 lower than the others for the first two games?

Probably slow on sales as new hardware was just recently released, I haven't bought all the swap force figs yet as I just laid out $1000+ for consoles and games.

The sales went down...thats for sure but they still make tons of cash $$

It seems to have spiked in interested now that people have gotten it on Christmas, I would say they have another hit.

I think the game has plateau'd. It is still making money, just not at the rate as previous games. Unfortunately, Activision is thinking more figures (series 2/3, lightcore, etc) of the same character will be more money. Most people arent buying multiples of the same figure. Skylanders 4 should be less figures with most of them being unique. Variants should be significantly reduced. Looking at the thread about buying habits/rules tells me that people arent interested in buying them all. Collectors will do that, but normal buying public wont.

I think GamerDrone has it spot on.

I've seen a few parents who absolutely refuse to buy their children anymore Skylander figures, either because they 'already had that one' (ie. Gill Grunt) or they just flat out don't believe they're worth the money considering their child already has a lot of them (I assume by their wording).

And to a much, much lesser degree - Variants. I've been collecting Skylanders since the UK 'pre-release' event. During that time, I've noticed a fair amount of collectors bail out solely because they can't afford to keep chasing down expensive variants (and are apparently 'OCD' enough to quit collecting full stop).

Myself, I've barely touched SF. I'm still collecting them all, but both Adventure and Giants eventually went down in price, so I'll bide my time.

I went from collecting everything available at retail price to only getting new figures (no legendaries, reposes, or variants).

Quote: wreckingballbob

Quote: newkill

The franchise is doing well, lower sales for SWAP Force won't stop it yet (we need official numbers to compare actually).

I know that SWAP Force (the game itself) has better ratings than Giants and Spyro's Adventure. From Metacritic:

SWAP Force: WiiU - 92 | X360 - 83 | PS3 - 84
Giants: WiiU - 80 | X360 - 80 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 78
Spyro: X360 - 78 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 81

About the toys, I think they should try having less characters available at launch, but have more waves. It could be a total of 10 waves, one per month so that people don't lose interest and don't feel like they have to pay that much to get all characters from one wave. There would be 2 months between the last wave and the release of the next game, giving people time to complete Swap Force and be ready for the next game. Also, make the damn wave releases global lol...

Why is PS3 lower than the others for the first two games?

The Wii was the darling platform for the first two releases....which is why I'm shocked that they pooched the Wii port for Swap Force. That definitely can't be helping them.

Quote: GamerDrone

I think the game has plateau'd. It is still making money, just not at the rate as previous games. Unfortunately, Activision is thinking more figures (series 2/3, lightcore, etc) of the same character will be more money. Most people arent buying multiples of the same figure. Skylanders 4 should be less figures with most of them being unique. Variants should be significantly reduced. Looking at the thread about buying habits/rules tells me that people arent interested in buying them all. Collectors will do that, but normal buying public wont.

Yes, and plateau is a good thing. It tells them what we as consumers will accept and not accept. 75+ figures for a given release when less than half are unique isn't a good thing. They have refused to deal with the lack of value on reposes. Lightcores are a nice effect but not worth more especially on figures beyond series 1 due to no wow pow.

Beyond these nitpicky things...people want legitimate new characters. Retire the previous skylanders from a figure perspective (support them in game) and move on. It's "easy money" for them but common sense families say "enough" and instead of curbing the purchases decide to just end it all.

Content. SSF does add much more content that Giants, but lost "toys to life". If it's all about the stars and portal master rank now...and now the drive to get them all isn't there. Maybe that wasn't intended but it is a byproduct of their design decisions.

Lastly, DI has taken some business away from Swap Force so this release is the "new reality" based on that. That being said...my Skylanders sections are always moving / selling. I'm also guessing Activision is expecting a 45 degree upwards curve for the next twenty years and that isn't going to happen. They need to continue to drive innovation, reduce the gimmicky figure stuff as much and they'll do fine. Continue to drive 70+ figures per release and we might have one or two more before they throw in the towel.

I live in Illinois and the stores in my area always have ransacked Skylanders sections. I don't think Infinity really hurt Skylanders. The Infinity sections are always full and barely touched. I also tend to see more browsers in the Skylander area. I've only seen one person over by the Infinity stuff. These are just my opinions and observations.

While I love character variety, I hope the next game has fewer characters overall. I loved the giants, but I feel the swap mechanic isn't worthwhile and too gimicky. Part of me would love to see a build-a-Skylander type figure. Sell one piece with one skylander and somehow make all the pieces be needed to activate it on the portal.

I humbly disagree that Swappers are gimmicky. There's some nuances involved in selecting which top and bottom half to use...and is the beginnings of "customizing" the skylander you use. I agree that they can take these humble beginnings and do some very cool stuff with the technology in the future---you simply can't get there overnight and this was a nice "intro" use of the technology to see if people would like it.

Think about the fact that Giants offered no customization and was just a larger piece of plastic and compare that to the value of the Swappers at the same price point.

They are gimmicky in that they don't do anything in the game but unlock mini games. Taking apart the figures is great for customization, I agree. The giants at least allowed access into other areas of levels or allowed you to skip bomb pickups for walls.

Quote: Cheshiremonkey

They are gimmicky in that they don't do anything in the game but unlock mini games. Taking apart the figures is great for customization, I agree. The giants at least allowed access into other areas of levels or allowed you to skip bomb pickups for walls.

Re-read your first part of the argument for Giants again...does it not apply to Swappers?

Are people swapping often? It seems when I watch my kids play, they rarely swap the figures. Cool concept, but I wonder if players are really doing it? Swapping may have been a better gimmick if there wasn't so many combinations. "Create over 250 swappable combinations!!!!" Yeah, only if a player was determined to do it. Swap Force should have been similar to Giants and released a single swappable figure per element. Over 60 combinations is still a good selling point.

I don't think the market has grown appreciably for this type of toy. Skylanders ruled for 2 years and then DI has eaten into the market share. But, DI has its quantity of figures issues too with the power discs, purchasing figures to open vault, and crystal figures.

With SSA, figures would be harder to find since Activision wasn't sure about the viability of the game. Giants would be hard to find initially, but Activision would replenish them. Now, for Skylanders and DI, figures are everywhere. The initial release of the wave sells quickly, but give it time (not long), and the figures are well-stocked. I know stores have to be irritated by how much stock they still have for both games, thus the frequency of sales to get rid of them.

Slightly off topic, I have all three Skylanders game's. My son got DI off Santa, got to say I cant get into DI at all. He loves it though.
I am Team Skylanders and he is Team DI. Since Xmas its a fight for the PS3. Lol

Quote: GB700

Slightly off topic, I have all three Skylanders game's. My son got DI off Santa, got to say I cant get into DI at all. He loves it though.
I am Team Skylanders and he is Team DI. Since Xmas its a fight for the PS3. Lol

DUDE I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM!!!! We've had it since August and I just can't get into it. I don't think I can get past the "Toy Box Only" crap. My daughter still wants to play it and I struggle through it lol. I'm a Skylanders Fan Boy all the way...but not without good reason. I like one cohesive story with alternative things to do like Arenas, Bonus Missions, Swap Zones, Time Challenges, Grinding out Nightmare, etc. The Toy Box mode and brief Play Sets don't do it for me...at all. They really need to look into doing a "Kingdom Hearts" style character mash up that also doesn't matter which character you use to play.

Quote: GamerDrone

Are people swapping often? It seems when I watch my kids play, they rarely swap the figures. Cool concept, but I wonder if players are really doing it? Swapping may have been a better gimmick if there wasn't so many combinations. "Create over 250 swappable combinations!!!!" Yeah, only if a player was determined to do it. Swap Force should have been similar to Giants and released a single swappable figure per element. Over 60 combinations is still a good selling point.

I don't think the market has grown appreciably for this type of toy. Skylanders ruled for 2 years and then DI has eaten into the market share. But, DI has its quantity of figures issues too with the power discs, purchasing figures to open vault, and crystal figures.

With SSA, figures would be harder to find since Activision wasn't sure about the viability of the game. Giants would be hard to find initially, but Activision would replenish them. Now, for Skylanders and DI, figures are everywhere. The initial release of the wave sells quickly, but give it time (not long), and the figures are well-stocked. I know stores have to be irritated by how much stock they still have for both games, thus the frequency of sales to get rid of them.

I rarely play a Swaplander with original top of bottom. I am always trying out different combinations to see what I like best.

Personally, I am okay with the sales. Haha!

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: Cheshiremonkey

They are gimmicky in that they don't do anything in the game but unlock mini games. Taking apart the figures is great for customization, I agree. The giants at least allowed access into other areas of levels or allowed you to skip bomb pickups for walls.

Re-read your first part of the argument for Giants again...does it not apply to Swappers?

I don't see your point. Giants actually did things in levels that a normal Skylander could not. The only thing a swapper can do is open a mini game. I am also not an active swapper. I prefer that each character be able to hold their own. I swap for the combo chart or the odd double element door.

Quote: Cheshiremonkey

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: Cheshiremonkey

They are gimmicky in that they don't do anything in the game but unlock mini games. Taking apart the figures is great for customization, I agree. The giants at least allowed access into other areas of levels or allowed you to skip bomb pickups for walls.

Re-read your first part of the argument for Giants again...does it not apply to Swappers?

I don't see your point. Giants actually did things in levels that a normal Skylander could not. The only thing a swapper can do is open a mini game. I am also not an active swapper. I prefer that each character be able to hold their own. I swap for the combo chart or the odd double element door.

To each their own.

Quote: Cheshiremonkey

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: Cheshiremonkey

They are gimmicky in that they don't do anything in the game but unlock mini games. Taking apart the figures is great for customization, I agree. The giants at least allowed access into other areas of levels or allowed you to skip bomb pickups for walls.

Re-read your first part of the argument for Giants again...does it not apply to Swappers?

I don't see your point. Giants actually did things in levels that a normal Skylander could not. The only thing a swapper can do is open a mini game. I am also not an active swapper. I prefer that each character be able to hold their own. I swap for the combo chart or the odd double element door.

That being said Swappers serve the same function as Giants did. Those mini games unlock Bonus Missions, Legendary Treasures and Hats. The "Giants only" access that Giants granted was for similar upgrades in Giants. So they ultimately served the same purpose. Except that if you really love a Swap Zone you can replay it for fun or to max out the star rating to increase your rank. So Swap Zones actually do more than the areas Giants allowed access to.

I would have to agree. We have DI and we were disappointed that the Frozen characters, Wreck-it Ralph characters, Rapunzel, and Jack Skellington were toy box only and don't have a campaign. It really takes value away from those characters. Plus the campaigns are way too short. The toy box idea is alright, but gets old and is a but lack luster. My roommate and I both agree that they both have their ups and are fun, but Skylanders is the clear winner. I would assume that girls would be drawn to DI since it's Disney and Skylander has a lack of female characters (no swapable either), but DI has a lack of them too. DI needs to release a real princess pack with a campaign to win girls. I do have to say that Skylander females have been some of the best characters and have some of the coolest abilities (ie- Smolderdash, Whirlwind, Hex, Starstrike, Cynder, Ninjini, ect.). But I don't get excited for DI characters like I do skylanders (I am still waiting on them to release Punk Shock, Trap Shadow, and Scratch). If DI wants to become a strong game. It will need to heighten both its Mindcraft Style toy box and it's campaigns to be more like Kingdom Hearts. You have that spot on. I think more people would get into DI (young and old) if it was more like Kingdom Heart.

Quote: wreckingballbob

Quote: newkill

I know that SWAP Force (the game itself) has better ratings than Giants and Spyro's Adventure. From Metacritic:

SWAP Force: WiiU - 92 | X360 - 83 | PS3 - 84
Giants: WiiU - 80 | X360 - 80 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 78
Spyro: X360 - 78 | PS3 - 77 | Wii - 81

Why is PS3 lower than the others for the first two games?

I think it is only a matter of which console was tested by the reviewers. Maybe the people who gave a higher rating had tested the X360 version and those who gave lower notes had the PS3 version.

Check out www.vgchartz.com has unit sales across the world. Type in skylanders in search and the chart comes up. I am not real computer savvy I hope the link works. First time posting just want to say this community board is great.I have not had a game system since the original xbox and my son told me about Skylanders and I was truly amazed.

Didn't the first game have low sales at first and increased during Christmas?

Quote: Brca72

Check out www.vgchartz.com has unit sales across the world. Type in skylanders in search and the chart comes up. I am not real computer savvy I hope the link works. First time posting just want to say this community board is great.I have not had a game system since the original xbox and my son told me about Skylanders and I was truly amazed.

Awesome resource, thanks for sharing!! Total numbers with Swap Force and two additional platforms are 2.84 as opposed to 4.42 for Giants and 4.25 for Spyro's Adventure...so roughly 35% decrease. Not surprisingly Wii is struggling with 50% of the other game numbers currently. I wonder how much of a hit the figures are doing. I'm not too worried as the game's lifecycle isn't over yet and the other games have had at least a year to achieve those numbers. I'm guessing they were looking at least a 20% hit due to Disney.

Quote: somePerson

Didn't the first game have low sales at first and increased during Christmas?

Yes. It literally took them by surprise, and they had to ramp up inventory after Christmas.