darkSpyro

http://mynintendonews.com/2014...es-at-best-buy/

So I read the above article and apparently the Skylanders are not doing so well, at least at best Buy. What does anybody think about this and of the three figurine player groups which one is your favorite and why? I think Amiibos are best with Skylanders in 2nd. Disney Infinity doesn't seem to give too many features for me.

The only store with any real selection of Skylanders would be TRU. So I wouldn't take numbers being down at any other store as a sign, unless they are down at TRU as well. As for Amiibo being number one: they can't even produce enough stock to meet demand. I had just posted elsewhere that I have no interest in Amiibo (despite earlier interest in wanting to buy and use the figures) because it appears Nintendo's new plan is to replace sold out Amiibo characters with some crappy card that you can use.

Nintendo says one thing and does another, i don't think this card thing will really happen. They are seeing the money on this and will prob just make a series 2 figure or something down the road along side releases of games. Like say star fox u comes out, def can see a series 2 of star fox alogn with the rest of his crew. Nintendo just i think under estimated how popular these would be along with the xmas holiday + ppl going crazy buying them up do to possible rarity.

As for skylanders, bestbuy is one store. Sales could be down for other reasons then just they aren't selling well.

Skylanders is losing its steam and it because activision are over saturation the market with figures. There are too many figures to buy and not enough game play to use them all. They need to limit the releases to 1 new gimmick lander and 1 new core per game and no reposes. Reposes are better left for sub series like Eon's Elite or variants.

Best Buy still only has Wave 1 stuff in my city...

Best Buy is out of date and has terrible selection always. Not reliable. Amazon, TRU, Gamestop/EB would be best to judge.

Here Skylanders and Amiibo are doing great and Disney Infinity seems to be the one falling behind. Don't get me wrong, DI still sells well, but the demand is not the same from what I have seen and what Gamestop/EB has told me. Oddly, the DI figures do not seem to hold the same "collectibility" factory the others do.

My .02: Best Buy's selection of skylanders seems to be stagnating in my area, same as Wal Mart. In fact, you can still get wave 1 traps there...the same ones they put out in October. I remember how Best Buy / Activision had machines to show the technology, had games running for kids to try etc...now all of that gone. I fully expect Nintendo and Disney/Marvel to eat Activision's lunch this year because of the brand recognition of the competitors.

What's interesting to me however, is the fact that DI won't be doing Marvel next year, and Amiibo seems to be a one and done (to me). I expect the numbers to sway quite a bit next year, provided Acti stops shoving all of this product down my throat. In my opinion, I think it's a good thing that roughly each one holds 1/3....to me that's a sign of a healthy toy to life market. I prefer choice, and each vendor getting their piece preserves the genre. It's unfortunately bad news for Activision as they've had a couple of years of OWNING the market...so now they have to really innovate to keep this working. In other words, they will be working harder chasing fewer dollars.

Keep in mind that this is also Nintendo magazine...spinning it their way using Best Buy numbers...it's best to look at the market as a whole. When does Activision release quarterly numbers? I agree with previous posters that I consider Wal Mart and Best Buy secondary players...at the same time I personally recognize the lack of movement of skylanders in both establishments. I can also attest that Trap Team seems to be flying off the shelves BIG TIME in TRU, especially the traps.

Look at this. Seems to suggest Activision is doing fine, but again numbers are not yet released:

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-...217-128wo7.html

http://b-ten.com/2014/12/14/ac...s-best-sellers/

Look at this video. There's clues here as to WHY Amiibo is doing well...

You have to understand how Activision the company thinks: it's not thinking about a franchise that will last a decade or more, building a legacy that remains in the popular vernacular. It cares about reporting quarterly and annual earnings, it's come up with a phenomenal idea in Skylanders, and is going about its normal business of making sure the franchise grows this quarter (compared to same quarter last year), until it recognizes that it's in decline.

It's a pity, because Skylanders is a little different than normal franchises; Activision had the opportunity to create that legacy, but it is incredibly difficult--I'd say impossible without luck--for a big company like Activision to do respond and maneuver like it required. In fact, for Skylanders to last a decade and remain as popular as it has been, it would have to do so IN SPITE of Activision's normal way of operating, rather than BECAUSE of it.

Let's not be innocent and say Acti is as invested in making a strong present franchise like everyone else. Several of their franchises got axed by financial losses that other game companies cut staff at the most. Skylanders doesn't even need to bomb for a year, give them a reason to think the series is weak(say, several popular characters aren't popular anymore but no one else is getting enough sales to replace them) in a year and they'll shove Spyro back in limbo along with the other IPs they sit on and do nothing with.

yes I said the same thing along time ago but as everyone else said its all about the money. Yes we really don't need any new characters and honestly I just wish anymore that they were just put them on a disc. Im just getting tired of getting up and down or just plain having to remove them to change a character. Its getting old having the same game play over and over again. To me all the characters are the same as others with just a tweaked up version of their powers. Just think about it when was the last time when anyone picked up and played SSA, GIANTS, or even swap force? All mine are packed away because I have no use for them because I did everything you could do with them. Then I think man look at all of them and say what a waste of money!

Quote: wickedrunt

yes I said the same thing along time ago but as everyone else said its all about the money. Yes we really don't need any new characters and honestly I just wish anymore that they were just put them on a disc. Im just getting tired of getting up and down or just plain having to remove them to change a character. Its getting old having the same game play over and over again. To me all the characters are the same as others with just a tweaked up version of their powers. Just think about it when was the last time when anyone picked up and played SSA, GIANTS, or even swap force? All mine are packed away because I have no use for them because I did everything you could do with them. Then I think man look at all of them and say what a waste of money!

I just went out and bought ps3 versions of SSA and giants to replay them (I previously had them for wii) so I make your point invalid

Quote: wickedrunt

yes I said the same thing along time ago but as everyone else said its all about the money. Yes we really don't need any new characters and honestly I just wish anymore that they were just put them on a disc. Im just getting tired of getting up and down or just plain having to remove them to change a character. Its getting old having the same game play over and over again. To me all the characters are the same as others with just a tweaked up version of their powers. Just think about it when was the last time when anyone picked up and played SSA, GIANTS, or even swap force? All mine are packed away because I have no use for them because I did everything you could do with them. Then I think man look at all of them and say what a waste of money!

I did. I play the older games a lot but the difference is I go back to the newer ones to play the newer 'landers I like.
Also please don't give Acti ideas about making them digital DLC. You can hate the toys not being as super original as you like but be grateful they're still physical - as in, one new game or update won't whisk the skylanders away from existence.
Oh yeah, and it's always going to be about the money,doesn't matter who makes this. AND some people want new characters thank you very much, don't say "we".

^ WOW what a waste of money even if they were cheap!

Most kids who have played the last 3 games are tired of the same old song and dance and have moved on! My 6 year old doesn't even look twice when my 4 year old is playing trap team! He's too busy playing smash bros to care......

Basically it ultimately comes down to the fact amiibos are the "new" hot thing atm, as with everything they'll die down. DI salws up due to the game being marvel, which is a staple for almost every young boy.

Quote:

Just think about it when was the last time when anyone picked up and played SSA, GIANTS, or even swap force?

I just replayed and finished SSA a couple weeks ago ....again . Now i am thinking of plugging in my 4 new skylanders and playing on SSA 3DS .

Even though i am giving Disney Infinity a good run while waiting for a clearance sale of a TT starter I am still a die hard Skylander fan. I am actually thinking of buying minis for Trap Team at the moment and plugging them into my Lost Islands .

Quote: skylander_drew

^ WOW what a waste of money even if they were cheap!

Most kids who have played the last 3 games are tired of the same old song and dance and have moved on! My 6 year old doesn't even look twice when my 4 year old is playing trap team! He's too busy playing smash bros to care......

Soon they'll be tired of THAT same old song and dance for Smash, and DI,and every other Toys to Life thing that comes out. That's how kids are like. Don't blame Skylanders for not being able to keep a kids' interest forever when nothing does to begin with.

Like some other posters I'm a Dad who plays (and enjoys) Skylanders games with my Son (9). I'll continue buying new games until they stop making them. We started with Giants, then Swap Force, then SSA, and have all of the figures except for Fire Bone Hot Dog, which I never saw on sale and am not prepared to pay wacky ebay prices!
We regularly play all Skylander games, though my son's preference is for Infinity. Amiibos haven't been played yet, though he has them all, and Super Smash, Hyrule and Mario Kart 8

I know that I'm losing steam buying new releases - I have all of the Trap Team releases except for Ka-Boom and Tuff Luck, and am waiting for a more attractive price point to get these and any future releases - that's not unusual for me though - I generally pick up the later waves when they go on sale, or when I go to the US on holiday - where I can generally pick up Skylanders at half the UK price from TRU if they are running a promotion (like BOGO 40% off), as well as get variants I never see in the UK. Those of you in the US are quite lucky being able to get the figures so cheaply.
That said, I would be happy to buy any new Infinity release, because it's my son's favourite, and because their release rate isn't anywhere near as high

I think one of the big reasons for the high Amiibo sales is because some are out of production - Imagine if it was leaked that all of the Skylanders Traps were on a very limited production run? Every Trap reaching Kaos prices on Ebay? Traps sold out everywhere. Leaked info can greatly influence sales

Yeah maybe it would be invalid to me to if I had to play it on the wii

So, after Christmas gifting Trap Team to my little one and having played now through the Painyatta/Dreamcatcher level, I must say I'm impressed. The game is every bit as enjoyable as any of the previous installments and the villain trapping is really cool. My kid is all jacked to get all the villains and they nailed it with the personalities as well as the music. That said, limiting the amount of figure purchases this year is having little impact on the enjoyment. The gotta catch em all thing is the main cause of burnout, and honestly, my kid doesn't use the vast majority of them. (He's in love with WF Lobstar, Wallop and Krypt King...as well as the minis)...The rest, including the entire swap force and giants just sit collecting dust. The new matters, at least for the person who is important in our household: my son. Either way, I'm in for the next installment after playing this game. Good stuff.

Disney and Mario are kind of an unfair comparison because they are established over decades as a brand. Skylanders are 4 years old and very few of them are truly distinguished as each individual character's impact is minimized by there being so many of them so fast. So of course those characters are selling less percentage-wise.

I have noticed that Walmart has just meh'ed keeping up with Skylanders stock and my local ones will very rarely have anything new on the shelves. BJ's has given up on Skylanders altogether from the looks of it outside of starter packs. Makes sense, they were having a hard time liquidating the massive amounts they had on hand...even for peanuts.

Quote:

Skylanders Toys Losing Their Steam?

Yes, yes they are. Are you going to get any honest responses on the forum? Nope. Most of the people here are insanely defensive when it comes to Skylanders. It's fine to enjoy the franchise and it's fine to enjoy it more than DI or Amiibos but people on here act like you just killed their dog if you have anything but glowing praise for Skylanders. As somebody already said there are just way too many toys and gimmicks, also being a yearly franchise is too much when it costs $1000 to buy everything every year.

Quote: IWHBYD

Yes, yes they are. Are you going to get any honest responses on the forum? Nope. Most of the people here are insanely defensive when it comes to Skylanders.

Quote: IWHBYD

Most of the people here are insanely defensive when it comes to Skylanders.

For the love of Eon, read the thread. It's easier to count who even defends the series,including me, compared to those who will be the first to predict doom and gloom on the franchise every time something wrong happens or a new toy franchise appears.

One thing I've noticed is supermarkets and even local specialty game shops alike have completely gotten rid of SSA and SG stuff, save for the occasional SG starter pack. And especially the supermarkets have drastically reduced the variety of SSF/STT stuff as well, with SSF even having been reduced to starter packs only in places. Now, I don't know if it's due to drastically declining sales or not, but it's happening nonetheless. Too bad I missed out on cheap Swappers save for Free Ranger, as I was slow to notice the outphasing!

I LOVE the Skylanders franchise, BUT... if Disney Infinity would allow cross-over play between characters/adventures instead of limiting cross-over play to the toy box, I'd be all over it. Especially now since Marvel's acquisition and subsequent figures/adventures releases.

Just wait till Star Wars next fall/Christmas. Infinity will not only kill the competition, but bury them as well.

However, with the no cross-over play, I'll still stick with Skylanders if the franchise can survive the a** whuppin' Inifinity is going lay upon them.

As far as the Amiibo's... NOT EVEN AT GUN POINT!!!

I think it's interesting that people are down on Activision being "all about the money" when the two companies that ripped them off, Nintendo and Disney, both have inferior products and are basically cashing in on the toy's to life market because it generates so much money. If you are someone who has been collecting these guys since game 1, then yes, it's crazy how much money it costs to keep up and how many new variants, gimmicks, etc. they come up with to keep you buying, but is the alternative any better? Amiibos are basically DLC and that's it...they are pretty on the shelf but most people will get little to no use out of them past that. Disney Infinity is a horrible game with so many limitations it's disgusting. I found out quickly that without an entire package the interest fades extremely fast, which is why we went from owning the entire DI set to selling it all off within the same year, while Skylanders have kept our attention for years now. If I'm going to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars (per game) on toy's to life figures their had better be a reason past looking pretty on the shelf and right now Skylanders is the only one with that reason. If anyone is thinking about only the money it's Disney and Nintendo, at least the Skylander games are quality products that are actually worth playing. Don't get me wrong, I'd love the next game to introduce just a few characters instead of the 50 or so they usually do, but I'm not going to be all down on Activision for releasing a superior product that has actual staying power, as opposed to their competition.

As for "losing their steam" I'm not sure they really are. Best Buy has never been Skylanders central around here, so having them behind the other two doesn't really spell doom to me. If shelf space is still any indication of how well a product is doing, Skylanders are more than fine. My local Toys R Us has like a 12' section as you walk in the door and then another 30' section in the video games isles, while both Amiibos and Disney Infinity have less than a 1/4 of that space each. Wal-Mart has DI and Skylanders about equal with an end cap for Amiibos, and Gamestop and Target seem to be about the same. When these stores start shrinking their Skylanders stock down to Amiibo levels I'll start worrying, but for now places like my local Toys R Us stores give Skylanders more shelf space than virtually anything else in the store, which isn't exactly a sign of a dying franchises. Once the "it's not in stock anywhere so I gotta have it" phase of Amiibos dies down, and the "Oh Disney and Marvel figures!" honeymoon wears off Skylanders will be just fine. Until Disney makes an actual game that you can use any of the figures in any of the levels, or Nintendo makes Amiibos something other than physical DLC I don't know why anyone would be worried about this franchise because there is still nothing like it on the market.

Quote: Rafterman

I think it's interesting that people are down on Activision being "all about the money" when the two companies that ripped them off, Nintendo and Disney, both have inferior products and are basically cashing in on the toy's to life market because it generates so much money. If you are someone who has been collecting these guys since game 1, then yes, it's crazy how much money it costs to keep up and how many new variants, gimmicks, etc. they come up with to keep you buying, but is the alternative any better? Amiibos are basically DLC and that's it...they are pretty on the shelf but most people will get little to no use out of them past that. Disney Infinity is a horrible game with so many limitations it's disgusting. I found out quickly that without an entire package the interest fades extremely fast, which is why we went from owning the entire DI set to selling it all off within the same year, while Skylanders have kept our attention for years now. If I'm going to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars (per game) on toy's to life figures their had better be a reason past looking pretty on the shelf and right now Skylanders is the only one with that reason. If anyone is thinking about only the money it's Disney and Nintendo, at least the Skylander games are quality products that are actually worth playing. Don't get me wrong, I'd love the next game to introduce just a few characters instead of the 50 or so they usually do, but I'm not going to be all down on Activision for releasing a superior product that has actual staying power, as opposed to their competition.

As for "losing their steam" I'm not sure they really are. Best Buy has never been Skylanders central around here, so having them behind the other two doesn't really spell doom to me. If shelf space is still any indication of how well a product is doing, Skylanders are more than fine. My local Toys R Us has like a 12' section as you walk in the door and then another 30' section in the video games isles, while both Amiibos and Disney Infinity have less than a 1/4 of that space each. Wal-Mart has DI and Skylanders about equal with an end cap for Amiibos, and Gamestop and Target seem to be about the same. When these stores start shrinking their Skylanders stock down to Amiibo levels I'll start worrying, but for now places like my local Toys R Us stores give Skylanders more shelf space than virtually anything else in the store, which isn't exactly a sign of a dying franchises. Once the "it's not in stock anywhere so I gotta have it" phase of Amiibos dies down, and the "Oh Disney and Marvel figures!" honeymoon wears off Skylanders will be just fine. Until Disney makes an actual game that you can use any of the figures in any of the levels, or Nintendo makes Amiibos something other than physical DLC I don't know why anyone would be worried about this franchise because there is still nothing like it on the market.

Have you ever played Skylanders? All of it is just DLC, Skylanders, DI and Amiibos. A Skylander is literally a physical statue for an in game character, you pay $10 or whatever for the ability to use that character. You can't use "it's just DLC" as a slight against DI or Amiibo. DI 2.0 added the ability for characters to cross over, not every character in every set but it wouldn't make sense for every character to be in every set. Each play set is designed around a different play style, it wouldn't make sense for a guy with a gun that can fly to be playable in the Monsters University play set. I am willing to bet dimes to dollars that an "Amiibo game" is coming.

At least Skylanders have an in-universe reason to work with the game (which worked to its advantage in SA, when they actually made dialogue/cutscenes referencing it, so it felt very unique). Both Infinity and amiibo figures don't. They feel more tacked on.

And I'm saying this as someone who really likes amiibo. It doesn't instantly make the other two bad, but does make their pay key-ness more blatant.

Quote: INTIMIDAT3R

I LOVE the Skylanders franchise, BUT... if Disney Infinity would allow cross-over play between characters/adventures instead of limiting cross-over play to the toy box, I'd be all over it. Especially now since Marvel's acquisition and subsequent figures/adventures releases.

Just wait till Star Wars next fall/Christmas. Infinity will not only kill the competition, but bury them as well.

However, with the no cross-over play, I'll still stick with Skylanders if the franchise can survive the a** whuppin' Inifinity is going lay upon them.

As far as the Amiibo's... NOT EVEN AT GUN POINT!!!

I can see it now....

Quote: mantez

Skylanders is losing its steam and it because activision are over saturation the market with figures. There are too many figures to buy and not enough game play to use them all. They need to limit the releases to 1 new gimmick lander and 1 new core per game and no reposes. Reposes are better left for sub series like Eon's Elite or variants.

You hit the nail on the head. A lot of the figures are starting to look like other figures but with Suttle changes. I'm thinking this is it for us, as far as collecting all the figures.

I think it's interesting how people tend to think their opinions must be fact. I have no idea if Skylanders is losing steam. However, I would be shocked if it left the market years before DI and Amiibo does. The thought that they are falling significantly behind the competition seems pretty baseless to me.

^ I can't speak for anyone else (and I haven't read many posts here, so I won't judge them), it's just that you shouldn't preface everything with "I think" or "in my opinion". I usually only do that if I'm really unsure on a thought, but of course I know most stuff I say is just opinion. Sometimes that gets to me and I am too forceful about my thoughts, but I prefer to avoid those phrases because they're pretty superfluous.

DI 2.0 added the ability for characters to cross over, not every character in every set but it wouldn't make sense for every character to be in every set. Each play set is designed around a different play style, it wouldn't make sense for a guy with a gun that can fly to be playable in the Monsters University play set.

But it would make sense for a superhero to cross over as that is what happens in the source material all of the time. Nick Fury in the Spiderman campaign but not the Avengers one does not make sense. The few cross-overs possible are merely lip service in my eyes.

Starlord does not fit in at Monster's U but those are two different games so the example is disingenuous and hints at straw-man. Alternatively, Jack Sparrow in the Wild West is not a stretch and it would have been interesting if Mickey went to MU.

In terms of future DI growth: DI's toy box "firewall" with the play sets and characters and the fact that I think Star Wars will NOT do as well as Marvel will limit DI's growth. Skylanders beats the pants off of DI in terms of gameplay but too many figures and not enough changes in the game itself (the gimmick is doing quite well, which I think is helping it a lot) might curb consumption. I'm glad for Nintendo's hit this year (goodness they need it, they've not done too well in the console wars)...I just don't get their long term strategy. I'm frankly a bit shocked with how most of their poses involve some plastic on the figures to keep it "stable"... just tacky. However, who's going to argue with having toy miniatures of characters you've loved and played with for over 30 years--regardless if they actually provide any in game utility?

Of course, this is a game for kids right? So we should be getting a lot more recruitment as the 13 year olds+ leave, right? I'm guessing there's just as many adults enjoying this game as children... I'm guilty as charged.

We're dealing with two things here: competition, which I think Activision is doing a good job in understanding and differentiating itself from competitors. The other thing is simple franchise fatigue...which they will start showing some wear if not this year then next if adjustments aren't made. Just being here I'm hearing more and more of it. The fatigue could be figures...or lack of change in some of the gameplay. Folks can adjust their figure purchases...so not really worried about that...I hope they are brave enough to change some areas of the game and mix it up. Not sure I care about finding soul gems, treasure chests and legendary treasures all the time in a sequential chapter story game...and expand some things to make it more enjoyable to older or more competitive gamers.

My last and humble submission to darkSpyro before 2015 hits.

Quote:

Yes, yes they are. Are you going to get any honest responses on the forum? Nope. Most of the people here are insanely defensive when it comes to Skylanders.

Here is an honest response . Geez stop jumping the gun , we will find out in 2016 . We have 4 console games and 4 , 3ds games and a couple App games to keep us skylander happy for now .

Quick straw poll - who thinks that they are starting to "scrape the barrel" in terms of ideas for new chars?

There was a prior comment how many TT chars are basically a prior char premise, just a bit "different". I tend to concur.

Please remain respectful of other opinions, folks (pre-emptive).

Well, it's not surprising that coming up with unique character types isn't easy when there's already so many existing characters. TT's character portfolio isn't that appealing to me personally at least. Now I have Chopper and Torch that were the ones to originally catch my eye, and possibly Knight Mare who I haven't tested in-game but the figure is decent. Beyond that the ones that hold enough appeal to possibly purchase are Enigma, Deja Vu, Shortcut and maybe Rocky Roll. And well, Dark Wildfire, but since I ended up getting the regular starter it's either a pain or expensive to get him. The regular golden one looks a tad boring.

Quote: chaosworrier

Quick straw poll - who thinks that they are starting to "scrape the barrel" in terms of ideas for new chars?

There was a prior comment how many TT chars are basically a prior char premise, just a bit "different". I tend to concur.

Please remain respectful of other opinions, folks (pre-emptive).

Compared to Giants and SSA? Well, putting folks like Ignitor, Eruptor and Bash against Wildfire,Bushwack or Ka-Boom, it actually feels like they have plenty new things but nothing 'wow' worthy except the triumphant return of Chop Chop Daddy and T-Rex Giant. The archetypes and the character design sillhouettes are still new, but it feels like they played too darn safe for once - sure, you can risk another expy if you try too many impressive characters(Engima and Tuff Luck *cough*) but in the other TFB games there was two or three 'meh' characters compared to many impressive Giants. It's not bad, but they could definately have found more crazy cool things judging from their design process.
Compared to VV? All hail the Toys for Bob. May the army of triangle-chest and U-legs put no smear on the series' creativity ever again.

Quote: tvih

Well, it's not surprising that coming up with unique character types isn't easy when there's already so many existing characters. TT's character portfolio isn't that appealing to me personally at least. Now I have Chopper and Torch that were the ones to originally catch my eye, and possibly Knight Mare who I haven't tested in-game but the figure is decent. Beyond that the ones that hold enough appeal to possibly purchase are Enigma, Deja Vu, Shortcut and maybe Rocky Roll. And well, Dark Wildfire, but since I ended up getting the regular starter it's either a pain or expensive to get him. The regular golden one looks a tad boring.

game stop sells preowned ones on the website cheaper and close to retail price for the dark starters, best to go to them instead of ebay

^ ya gamestop has used dark wildfires, i actually saw one in store the other day.

Quote: Skylanders Dad

So, after Christmas gifting Trap Team to my little one and having played now through the Painyatta/Dreamcatcher level, I must say I'm impressed. The game is every bit as enjoyable as any of the previous installments and the villain trapping is really cool. My kid is all jacked to get all the villains and they nailed it with the personalities as well as the music. That said, limiting the amount of figure purchases this year is having little impact on the enjoyment. The gotta catch em all thing is the main cause of burnout, and honestly, my kid doesn't use the vast majority of them. (He's in love with WF Lobstar, Wallop and Krypt King...as well as the minis)...The rest, including the entire swap force and giants just sit collecting dust. The new matters, at least for the person who is important in our household: my son. Either way, I'm in for the next installment after playing this game. Good stuff.

Disney and Mario are kind of an unfair comparison because they are established over decades as a brand. Skylanders are 4 years old and very few of them are truly distinguished as each individual character's impact is minimized by there being so many of them so fast. So of course those characters are selling less percentage-wise.

I have noticed that Walmart has just meh'ed keeping up with Skylanders stock and my local ones will very rarely have anything new on the shelves. BJ's has given up on Skylanders altogether from the looks of it outside of starter packs. Makes sense, they were having a hard time liquidating the massive amounts they had on hand...even for peanuts.

I had no idea that BJ's even sold Skylanders up until this post, and I shop there a lot...

From a simple armchair standpoint, I think its definitely possible Skylanders is losing steam, especially for this game. Everyone here has no doubt seen the negative reception to a lot of decisions for Trap Team, and there's a new thread every other week of someone "leaving the franchise" or whatever you want to call it.
As a rabbid fan myself, it's just not financially feasible to buy every single figure even though i'd love to do so. In deciding to cut back on what I buy, it also means that I wait until sales or other specials in order to actually pick up any of the figures I want. And I can tell you right now, I haven't bought a single figure at Best Buy because they tend to not have very many or good sales on figures.

In turn, Skylanders is up against still competition this year. Infinity not only dropped incredibly popular Marvel characters (Which not only include Spidey but the Avengers AND Guardians of the Galaxy..I've seen so many people hunting for Groot or buying him and Rocket this year its crazy....usually I never see anyone getting Infinity things!) but they also have Nintendo in on the Toys to Life game..and those figures have been flying off the shelves. This is in part to some figures being "discontinued" which seems like it was an accident on Nintendo's part; this is just a repeat of SSA's first year.

So tl;dr- I think Best Buy is probably on the end of the trend, but its likely something that ALL stores are facing. Skylanders are shelfwarming, most of the Amiibos are flying off the shelves, because consumers and people who normally wouldn't buy the toys to life figures are snapping them up in favor of rarity.

Quote: spyroflame0487

I haven't bought a single figure at Best Buy because they tend to not have very many or good sales on figures.

I am actually going to agree with you by giving a contrasting perspective on this element.

Preface: Aussie skew so companies I mention are all Oz versions, where applicable.

I noticed this time around that the two key players, Big W and Target, generally always have figs on special. Now, Target is normally a place where stuff is RRP and cyclic sales but this time around TT stuff has been $x off more of the time than RRP. Big W not quite as much but still hitting it hard. I perceive this to generate interest.

I have mentioned previously that large Big W stores often have nigh on no shelf space for TT. Also, TRU here have basically given up on the franchise (from the lips of the manager of my local one). Take into account that Legendaries are now a Big W exclusive here, not TRU. Even EB Games (owned by the GameStop mothership but not nearly as nefarious here) are putting less effort in.

My local EB is a bit smaller than many but only got Light and Dark sets for my pre-order with no other stock allocated for shelves - this is partially because the manager did not specifically request any but also due to head office not even bothering to pre-allocate some. Traps at the EBs I have visited (quite a few) are merely bundled in a bin to rummage through rather than given hooks. Even for an avid collector like me, this presents an aspect of non-committal as I can't be bothered to trawl through it.

I see these all as signs of a flagging interest. Amiibo here doesn't get a huge amount of hookspace but it also doesn't need it as there are never that many different figs or stock to hang. DI is getting an incredible amount of display, especially at Big Ws. My local Target moved from a small shopping centre to a very large one and when they opened, it was before TT came out. I was a tad thrilled to see that they have pre-decorated a wall with TT promo but was then somewhat disappointed with the stock when TT came out.

As for Big W, they may hold the Legendaries "deal" but I now have doubts if they will get the special traps in.

when the new star wars are released next fall, and with a fan base back to 1977 and up today. i think that it is pretty much obvious skylanders will be doomed. you can even see the start of the struggle with trap team already now. so the future of the franchise dont look promising. but we will at least get one last game, that is for sure.

Yeah, because the time a fanbase exists surely means how better a franchise is compared to others. Ain't I right, Sonic fandom?

Quote: CountMoneyBone

when the new star wars are released next fall, and with a fan base back to 1977 and up today. i think that it is pretty much obvious skylanders will be doomed. you can even see the start of the struggle with trap team already now. so the future of the franchise dont look promising. but we will at least get one last game, that is for sure.

My son loves his DI - but we play Skylanders together - he has no interest in Marvel or Star Wars. I have been a Star Wars fan since Christmas 77 when I got the paperback novelisation - even worked in Tunisia for 2 years taking holidaymakers to the Star Wars (Life of Brian, etc) locations - but I have no interest in playing Star Wars infinity.
I heard similar predictions that DI Marvel would spell the end for Skylanders - my local stores, and many online retailers are selling heavily discounted DI 2.0 figures while Trap Team figures are holding their value.
Skylanders sales will have to slip a long way before Activision pulls the plug - how much have they made so far? 2 billion? even 10% of that would be a good profit - and I'm sure they have several games in development up their sleeves - they are not going to walk away from a niche they have created and leave it to DI and Amiibo

Dude its all about the money! God their laughing at all of us right to the bank. Its just like apple no matter how they package it people will still be stupid enough to buy it no matter what the cost!

Just like every company ever. Not everybody can be like Lab Zero Games and give out good DLC for *gasp!* free. You can say what you just said for every game franchise, does that mean that they're all doomed?

Corporations are here for profits. When they profit, so do shareholders. As long as they can justify the franchise, it will be here. We don't live in an economic system totally controlled by a government (yet). If consumers buy, they produce. Capitalism works.

To a point yeah. The problem is when consumer satisfaction is thrown out of the window as long as they can make another penny. Activision gets very close to this every now and then, but for every time they rise Skylander prices or remove a good feature, we have Ubisoft making you download a gigantic patch for a game they didn't bother to fix before shipping, or EA's Dungeon Keeper *shudder*. They're not the smartest game company but far from the worst.

Quote: IWHBYD

Quote: Rafterman

I think it's interesting that people are down on Activision being "all about the money" when the two companies that ripped them off, Nintendo and Disney, both have inferior products and are basically cashing in on the toy's to life market because it generates so much money. If you are someone who has been collecting these guys since game 1, then yes, it's crazy how much money it costs to keep up and how many new variants, gimmicks, etc. they come up with to keep you buying, but is the alternative any better? Amiibos are basically DLC and that's it...they are pretty on the shelf but most people will get little to no use out of them past that. Disney Infinity is a horrible game with so many limitations it's disgusting. I found out quickly that without an entire package the interest fades extremely fast, which is why we went from owning the entire DI set to selling it all off within the same year, while Skylanders have kept our attention for years now. If I'm going to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars (per game) on toy's to life figures their had better be a reason past looking pretty on the shelf and right now Skylanders is the only one with that reason. If anyone is thinking about only the money it's Disney and Nintendo, at least the Skylander games are quality products that are actually worth playing. Don't get me wrong, I'd love the next game to introduce just a few characters instead of the 50 or so they usually do, but I'm not going to be all down on Activision for releasing a superior product that has actual staying power, as opposed to their competition.

As for "losing their steam" I'm not sure they really are. Best Buy has never been Skylanders central around here, so having them behind the other two doesn't really spell doom to me. If shelf space is still any indication of how well a product is doing, Skylanders are more than fine. My local Toys R Us has like a 12' section as you walk in the door and then another 30' section in the video games isles, while both Amiibos and Disney Infinity have less than a 1/4 of that space each. Wal-Mart has DI and Skylanders about equal with an end cap for Amiibos, and Gamestop and Target seem to be about the same. When these stores start shrinking their Skylanders stock down to Amiibo levels I'll start worrying, but for now places like my local Toys R Us stores give Skylanders more shelf space than virtually anything else in the store, which isn't exactly a sign of a dying franchises. Once the "it's not in stock anywhere so I gotta have it" phase of Amiibos dies down, and the "Oh Disney and Marvel figures!" honeymoon wears off Skylanders will be just fine. Until Disney makes an actual game that you can use any of the figures in any of the levels, or Nintendo makes Amiibos something other than physical DLC I don't know why anyone would be worried about this franchise because there is still nothing like it on the market.

Have you ever played Skylanders? All of it is just DLC, Skylanders, DI and Amiibos. A Skylander is literally a physical statue for an in game character, you pay $10 or whatever for the ability to use that character. You can't use "it's just DLC" as a slight against DI or Amiibo. DI 2.0 added the ability for characters to cross over, not every character in every set but it wouldn't make sense for every character to be in every set. Each play set is designed around a different play style, it wouldn't make sense for a guy with a gun that can fly to be playable in the Monsters University play set. I am willing to bet dimes to dollars that an "Amiibo game" is coming.

Of course I've played Skylanders, as well as DI and mesed with the Amiibo characters. And no, all of it isn't just DLC, at least not in the same way. I can take any Skylander I've ever purchased and play it in Trap Team, can you do that with DI? Amiibos have NO game at all. They are literally pieces of DLC for SSM, they are the equivalent of hats in TF2. Disney Infinity doesn't allow the vast majority of it's characters to be played in the vast majority of it's content and the "wouldn't make sense" argument doesn't hold water because kids wouldn't care, and they could have easily made a game that took advantage of all the worlds in a single game, but they didn't. The question is have YOU played these games because anyone who claims that all three franchises are the same or even work the same doesn't anything about any of them.

Quote: Arc of Archives

^ I can't speak for anyone else (and I haven't read many posts here, so I won't judge them), it's just that you shouldn't preface everything with "I think" or "in my opinion". I usually only do that if I'm really unsure on a thought, but of course I know most stuff I say is just opinion. Sometimes that gets to me and I am too forceful about my thoughts, but I prefer to avoid those phrases because they're pretty superfluous.

I disagree. I get where your coming from, that the reader should be able to tell from the context whether the state is a fact (with logic or something to back it up), or is just an opinion. However, on this site, you see people jump to conclusions and make definitive statements based on a whim all the time, and then see others take there statement as fact and run with it. It may seem superfluous to you, but simple clarification makes things clear, especially on a forum where there are few other ques to point towards what the author is really trying to say.


As for the idea that DI Star Wars is going to be very popular, I'm not 100% convinced. Yes, it has a built in collectors fan base, but I'm not sure adult collectors are going to automatically start picking this up since there are a ton of other star wars merchandise to buy already. I do think that the timing of the movie release is going to work really well for DI as it did for Guardians of the Galaxy, but I'm not convinced is going to be enough to draw Skylander fans to DI. And what characters are they going to chose for DI? I would guess that they won't be able to make all the classics because they're just are too many? Will they even make a Darth Vadar? He isn't a part of the kids star wars shows today and won't be in the new movies. My guess is they will, but guys like Boba Fett will not.

I also think that Disney is not going to expect DI to fill the video game market during the release. I'm sure they will be another video game release around the same time targeted for adults. Not to mention a ton of legos, regular action figures, and everything else under the sun. Disney doesn't have a need to make the best product or beat out the competition for their movie tie in products, from what I've seen. They just want to use their brand recognition to pull in the easy money.