darkSpyro

I went to gamestop today to pick up a Funko I had pre ordered. There was a line around the entire block. I asked why and they said wave 4 amiibos were available to pre order today. I don't have anything to do with them bc I just am not a fan of nintendo or mario/zelda/etc. I looked online oUT of curiosity and saw that all the big box stores sold out in 6 Minutes of these things and this was just for pre orders. I've beaver seen a line like that for skylanders and I've been collecting them from day one. Is everyone just tired of skylanders after 4 games or are they going to do anything different to compete with this? I was thinking the competition may result in a better product in the future or the death of the series. I don't even know what is so special about an amiibo. I don't like any of the characters, to me skylanders is way more original and the characters are great but is this amiibo thing going to be good or bad for skylands? I'm assuming it's all scalpers bc I don't even know one person that owns a wii u. I was just shocked to see in my small town a line longer than the line was in NYC the day ninjini was released exclusively in my small town so I can only imagine what some of you may be seeing. Just wondering your all's thoughts on this? ??

Yeah, the wave 4 amiibo have offically CRASHED gamestop.com, and the in store system. With TRU having greninja online tomorrow... Ugh.

Nintendo has a ready-made fan base and people really like the figures. Skylanders had to build up from scratch. I feel Skylanders has plateau'd for fan excitement. Plus, there are so many of them now that people have burned out on them, whereas Nintendo is just getting started and it isn't releasing nearly as many characters.

Skylanders proved the toys-to-life concept and other brands are jumping on board to get that money with their own properties.

Umpteenth topic about stores having more/less figures of a certain franchise in the other and spreading panic about skylanders doing badly. Everyone below either agrees or shows a store that has a different distribution. Pass.

Quote: DrillSarge

I went to gamestop today to pick up a Funko I had pre ordered. There was a line around the entire block. I asked why and they said wave 4 amiibos were available to pre order today. I don't have anything to do with them bc I just am not a fan of nintendo or mario/zelda/etc. I looked online oUT of curiosity and saw that all the big box stores sold out in 6 Minutes of these things and this was just for pre orders. I've beaver seen a line like that for skylanders and I've been collecting them from day one. Is everyone just tired of skylanders after 4 games or are they going to do anything different to compete with this? I was thinking the competition may result in a better product in the future or the death of the series. I don't even know what is so special about an amiibo. I don't like any of the characters, to me skylanders is way more original and the characters are great but is this amiibo thing going to be good or bad for skylands? I'm assuming it's all scalpers bc I don't even know one person that owns a wii u. I was just shocked to see in my small town a line longer than the line was in NYC the day ninjini was released exclusively in my small town so I can only imagine what some of you may be seeing. Just wondering your all's thoughts on this? ??

The majority of the people you saw were probably scalpers. Most of the legitimate fanboys/fangirls in the line probably also grabbed a duplicate set (or two) to sell/trade/etc., effectively lumping them in with the first group. It's not so much that the Amiibos are outperforming Skylanders as a franchise, it's that Nintendo is manufacturing artificial scarcity (holding back stock, deliberately producing fewer of certain figures, etc.) to push demand & hype. What you end up with is a relative handful of figures (maybe 2-3 out of a wave of 10-12 figures) that go for 3-10x shelf price and then the rest of that wave as shelf warmers. I've seen more abandoned, overstocked Mario characters in the last 3-4 months than I would have ever believed. The worst part? All of the "impossible to get" characters have been re-released at least once, if not a couple of times, overseas. Japan just got another restock of the first wave of figures including the Villager & Wii Fit Trainer, two figures which go for ridiculous premiums at home. Additionally, all of those retailer exclusive figures for the US? They're not exclusive at all outside of the US. Nintendo knows how to create hype and, honestly, that's all this is. I have yet to talk to anyone who owns any of these things who's even clear what they really do outside of creating a "bot" in Smash Bros--a single Nintendo game. Outside of that setting they seem quite worthless other than for their aesthetic appeal.

-Doug

Quote: Bifrost

Umpteenth topic about stores having more/less figures of a certain franchise in the other and spreading panic about skylanders doing badly. Everyone below either agrees or shows a store that has a different distribution. Pass.

Yes but it's still relevant. Skylander's needs to step up it's game if it's want's to compete. Nintendo has no real gimmick, Infinity has no new gimmick between 1 and 2, it's still discs, figs, build and play. They need to grab people with gameplay and fun-factor not gimmicks.

In regards to Amiibo...Nintendo can shove it. Each fig. only works for one game (unless you reset it), there's no one game where I can play with these figures together beyond Smash Bros. and that's just a fighter. Also I can't get the one's I want (Fire Emblem) due to a market shortage that they always create. I pre-ordered S.T.E.A.M. just so I could play with the F.E. characters which they said would be available at launch. S.T.E.A.M. came out and no F.E. Amiibos so I returned it. I don't get how they have all this demand for figures that only work half-assed in a few games. Would it be so hard to create a sand box adventure/rpg game where Link, Lucina and Samus can all play together....WOULD IT NINTENDO...!?!?!?!?!

Uhm... Skylanders have sold over 240 million figures (about 70 million per year). Amiibo have sold about 6 million figures. I think Skylanders are much more popular.

Skylanders 2015 Infographic:


Amiibo Shipment Numbers from Nintendo:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/e.../150217/04.html

They've also had 4 years to sell figures. Apples and oranges. Comparing day to day sales since the release of Amiibo would be more appropriate, and we don't have those numbers.

Even though I think skylanders needs to do something big to compensate for the intro of amiiibo , they are still doing and will do fine. Amiiibo are incredibly limited still. I actually really like amiibos, but they are getting seriously hyped by a lot of people. They still arnt that amazing.

-you have to own a wiiU or 3ds... This severely limits amiibos purpose to a lot of gamers.

- this wave of amiibo is is basically the last of there current charscters atm, they just released reposes for mario party too. What are they gonna release in 6 month? Just more Pokemon? Coz that'll be there only option apart from reposes. Skylanders doesn't have this problem , and that's why its lasted this long successfully.

- amiiibo has a lot more of an older fan base, it's not really about the kids. That's why they sell out so quickly, coz older fans have money. Also just remember , even though stock is selling out. It doesn't mean they sold a lot of toys, amiibos are just as limited as the light and dark packs and Kaos traps, and online sellers know this .

-also people keep saying amiiibo work across multiple games . But So do skylanders , and skylanders literally can be played on any console. And amiibos only have decent uses in like 2-3 games so far. Giving you a coin each day or giving you a different charscter skin really don't count as functions.

The little blocks to keep them standing looks like a five year old designed the figure. Sorry, given the aesthetics and utility of Amiibo they don't impress me much.

Quote: GhostRoaster

The little blocks to keep them standing looks like a five year old designed the figure. Sorry, given the aesthetics and utility of Amiibo they don't impress me much.

Fundamentally, I HATE Amiibos but will cave if I can get Fire Emblem characters...that hopefully have some functionality in the next game. Right now it's being solely supported by pure fandom and Nintendo's hype machine. It will be interesting if people are happy with Amiibo's limitations a year down the road. In the meantime I'll be rocking Sky 5 and cutting my daughters cheesy Ellsa figure in half with Darth Vader's glorious crimson light saber and laughing at all the Amiibo saps crying over their hard to find, limited availability over priced paper weights....just kidding....or am I???....Yeah I am....maybe...

Amiibos aren't competition for Skylanders; it's not relevant. There's no Amiibo game yet, and their functionality is extremely limited. You can't move from Skylanders to Amiibos because you'd have nothing to do. People buy them because they're Nintendo fans. It's not mutually exclusive. I own some Amiibos because I like Nintendo, but I never thought that because I have a Mario figure meant I was going to quit playing Skylanders.

Doug said it perfectly about Nintendo and the amiibos, and presently only work on super smash brothers on the "new" 3ds and wii u with a device for the older 3ds's to be released, Nintendo stated the figures could be used in future games but did not go into detail of the future functions.

Skylanders is on the decline...there's no denying it. There's no end in sight to the number of figures with an ever increasing roster with each game. Nintendo has stumbled onto something with Amiibos, (which I think are downright useless in games), but it's nothing compared to what Activision stumbled across several years ago with Skylanders and the Nintendo success is ONLY with their Smash Bros line which has a finite number of unique figures other than a few they may roll out via DLC. It's the new thing on the block and an absolute hit with adult collectors, but this temporary craze won't last once there's figures out for the entire Smash line. In other words, don't expect longevity for the Nintendo Amiibo line/franchise as there is with Skylanders. Let the adult kids and scalpers have their Amiibo toys as I highly doubt Amiibos will even be a topic of conversation a year from now. Case in point, wander into any store and you'll find much of the unwanted and newly released Super Mario Bros line of Amiibos...not much of a fan base beyond the Smash Bros line. Just count your blessings that Activision does a fairly good job of meeting the initial demand of us hardcore collectors such that we don't have to wait in silly lines wondering when (if ever) we'll get a figure at MSRP.

Quote: mastermc54

Skylanders is on the decline...there's no denying it. There's no end in sight to the number of figures with an ever increasing roster with each game. Nintendo has stumbled onto something with Amiibos, (which I think are downright useless in games), but it's nothing compared to what Activision stumbled across several years ago with Skylanders and the Nintendo success is ONLY with their Smash Bros line which has a finite number of unique figures other than a few they may roll out via DLC. It's the new thing on the block and an absolute hit with adult collectors, but this temporary craze won't last once there's figures out for the entire Smash line. In other words, don't expect longevity for the Nintendo Amiibo line/franchise as there is with Skylanders. Let the adult kids and scalpers have their Amiibo toys as I highly doubt Amiibos will even be a topic of conversation a year from now. Case in point, wander into any store and you'll find much of the unwanted and newly released Super Mario Bros line of Amiibos...not much of a fan base beyond the Smash Bros line. Just count your blessings that Activision does a fairly good job of meeting the initial demand of us hardcore collectors such that we don't have to wait in silly lines wondering when (if ever) we'll get a figure at MSRP.

Is there evidence that Skylanders is on the decline? If so, what is it?

Skylanders > Amiibo

The end.

Quote: Friendzie

Quote: mastermc54

Skylanders is on the decline...there's no denying it. There's no end in sight to the number of figures with an ever increasing roster with each game. Nintendo has stumbled onto something with Amiibos, (which I think are downright useless in games), but it's nothing compared to what Activision stumbled across several years ago with Skylanders and the Nintendo success is ONLY with their Smash Bros line which has a finite number of unique figures other than a few they may roll out via DLC. It's the new thing on the block and an absolute hit with adult collectors, but this temporary craze won't last once there's figures out for the entire Smash line. In other words, don't expect longevity for the Nintendo Amiibo line/franchise as there is with Skylanders. Let the adult kids and scalpers have their Amiibo toys as I highly doubt Amiibos will even be a topic of conversation a year from now. Case in point, wander into any store and you'll find much of the unwanted and newly released Super Mario Bros line of Amiibos...not much of a fan base beyond the Smash Bros line. Just count your blessings that Activision does a fairly good job of meeting the initial demand of us hardcore collectors such that we don't have to wait in silly lines wondering when (if ever) we'll get a figure at MSRP.

Is there evidence that Skylanders is on the decline? If so, what is it?

dont worry , there isn't.
People always confuse platueing with declining. Hardcore fans just say declining coz there annoyed they don't get everything they want.

The last 4 games have all been successful worldwide.
The End.

Well, we may have some early evidence of this.

Sales of Trap Team is currently 3.2 million, every previous entry had 5 million. Granted, this number will continue to move up, but I don't think we'll go greater than 4 million. Figures....well we can still get Wave 1/2 figures for the most part....outside of the light/dark (which is due to external factors)...there's plenty of supply. General feeling is folks are exhausted. I don't expect the guys here to agree, but behind closed doors I've talked to 3-4 portal masters and we're all kinda in the same boat.

Doesn't mean I'm high tailing it out of here...but the yearly release schedule and now over 250+ figures (if you are catching them all)...is wearing some down. So, fatigued is a good word.

Sales slump noted in May of last year:
http://www.develop-online.net/...es-fall/0192544

Reddit Forum / Trap Team...Cost vs Value (Fan Commentary)
http://www.reddit.com/r/skylan..._cost_vs_value/

Lots of the Amiibo characters are from existing franchises from the 80s-00s and people are already attached to them.
Skylanders only has Spyro (and Cynder to an extent), you mostly because it looks cool.

Also Nintendo completely dropped the ball and has no idea which obscure characters people like and think we need more Marios.

...Just like Activision thinking we need a yearly version of Gill Grunt, Eruptor and Trigger Happy.

The May slump is pretty normal for skylander sales . After Easter nothing happens except the last 5 or so figures get released. But then again pretty much all toy and game sales drop around the same time with Xmas long gone and not many company's releasing much till after midyear at least.

Amiibo are probably gonna do well mid year being able to provide game updates and random new waves. skylanders games are the perfect games for updating with new content every couple of months, I really hope they drop the wii to be able to do this in 2015.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Well, we may have some early evidence of this.

Sales of Trap Team is currently 3.2 million, every previous entry had 5 million. Granted, this number will continue to move up, but I don't think we'll go greater than 4 million. Figures....well we can still get Wave 1/2 figures for the most part....outside of the light/dark (which is due to external factors)...there's plenty of supply. General feeling is folks are exhausted. I don't expect the guys here to agree, but behind closed doors I've talked to 3-4 portal masters and we're all kinda in the same boat.

Doesn't mean I'm high tailing it out of here...but the yearly release schedule and now over 250+ figures (if you are catching them all)...is wearing some down. So, fatigued is a good word.

Sales slump noted in May of last year:
http://www.develop-online.net/...es-fall/0192544

Reddit Forum / Trap Team...Cost vs Value (Fan Commentary)
http://www.reddit.com/r/skylan..._cost_vs_value/

Finally...a post with some facts on franchise decline and also the general feeling of portal masters feeling worn out with so many figures 4 games into the franchise. I can relate, but am certainly not ditching the franchise until the youngest one in the family loses interest. The game just seemed more fun with a small roster of characters and feel like the new gimmick characters are being unnecessarily shoved at fans. There was absolutely no need for there to be 2 Trapmasters for each of the original elements especially considering there was money to be made by Activision by selling elites, minis, variants, new elements, and traps this time around. The cash grab will become even more apparent if they keep at this gung-ho pace of throwing figures and trinkets as us with the next game...I for one, would like it if they scaled back a little with the amount of product with Skylanders 5.

There is to much stuff in the stores. And then it's a different, if we can buy something or we must. In the last year we needed only six more SF characters and the two adventure packs. Later I've bought 6 more core Skylanders from the other elements. The availability of all was good. No Amiibos and only some characters from Disney Infinity. In this year we needed seven more Trap Masters, seven more traps, two adventure packs and two elemental packs. And it's almost the same as at the first game. Only with the different, that all is full of packs with figures, but not that, what we are searching. We need much more time to get our favorite characters. A new wave is out, but the most new characters are already sold out.

I think amibos are getting more functions look at Nintendo Direct I guess it gave more people a reason to buy them (I do like how they made a yarn yoshi can we have a yarn Skylander please…please) and I'm mostly talking about that system that allows your amibos to play (demos) of certain games (seem like a cool concept) and I'm also want to know how hype is splatoonon and there amibos I hear they are

Quote: mastermc54

Finally...a post with some facts on franchise decline and also the general feeling of portal masters feeling worn out with so many figures 4 games into the franchise. I can relate, but am certainly not ditching the franchise until the youngest one in the family loses interest. The game just seemed more fun with a small roster of characters and feel like the new gimmick characters are being unnecessarily shoved at fans. There was absolutely no need for there to be 2 Trapmasters for each of the original elements especially considering there was money to be made by Activision by selling elites, minis, variants, new elements, and traps this time around. The cash grab will become even more apparent if they keep at this gung-ho pace of throwing figures and trinkets as us with the next game...I for one, would like it if they scaled back a little with the amount of product with Skylanders 5.

Ignoring competition for a minute...I'm viewing Activision themselves their only bottleneck for success.

Have to scale down / simplify toys. It's the simplicity of the toy innovation AND ingenious gameplay that will keep us here long term. Gameplay has been phoned in for about half of these entries (although fun, doesn't innovate in gameplay as they should) and that combined with an extensive roster is going to do this. Simplify number of toys, the innovation and blow us away with new and interesting gameplay mechanics is all I've ever wanted. As I've said before, the innovation itself is fine, the expanding number of types of characters / rosters is where we need to focus...and then making sure the gameplay keeps me coming back and wanting to buy more. As of now I'm buying characters because they are cool, but the game itself doesn't help push that (note I didnt say REQUIRE, I said PUSH). Apparently they are happy enough with sales to deliver mediocre gaming platform for their toys.

As one of the readers said, I feel like I've "been there done that" now. If I feel like that on the next one I would in fact be worried.

I'm not a Nintendo fan, but it is truly exciting to see how popular Amiibo are. The store displays are clean and organized and the demo screen is very well done, most Skylander demo areas don't even work anymore.

Seems like some people here want Slylanders to fail. Just my take.

Someone posted a link to the sales decline of Skylanders from early 2014, but what about their latest report on Skylanders?

http://www.thestreet.com/story...transcript.html

Says they sold more toys than ever before thanks to Trap Team. Rightfully so, seeing as how much stuff released for it (traps).

You can't post one story without posting the other in this case, just to make a case. Skylanders is doing just fine and shows no signs of slowing.

alot people buying Amiibos dont even have Wii Us or 3DS they just Nintendo Fans. Their alot of Non Gamers that collect Amiibos. I buy them too buy honestly i havent touched them they all sealed in the box still sitting their taking up space.

When Skylanders... o.o every figure is being played with everytime i play Skylanders/ or when i have friends over and we do Battle Arena.

Who knows, maybe some of the Amiibos will work in the Wii or Wii u version of Skylanders 5 and I'd like to see some guest stars from MS and Sony (Banjo/Kazooie, Conker, Jak/Dexter, Knack, etc.) for the their systems. It would be no replacement for a own game, but I think it could be a cool feature.

And I was wondering if they would sometimes add Crash Bandicoot to the Skylanders franchise. Because Activison has the rights, but the last game is from 2008.

Quote: GameMaster78

Seems like some people here want Slylanders to fail. Just my take.

Someone posted a link to the sales decline of Skylanders from early 2014, but what about their latest report on Skylanders?

http://www.thestreet.com/story...transcript.html

Says they sold more toys than ever before thanks to Trap Team. Rightfully so, seeing as how much stuff released for it (traps).

You can't post one story without posting the other in this case, just to make a case. Skylanders is doing just fine and shows no signs of slowing.

GM: You couldn't be further from the truth in your assessment. No one here is trolling planning the day they can rejoice that the franchise is gone. I have better things to do and frankly consider my time here as an enthusiast for the genre and the franchise. But I also believe it' s important to look critically at how and where they are innovating, and their marketing approach is creating an air of discomfort with fans of the franchise.

Sure, on paper they can say anything they want in a shareholder meeting. Frankly, the $3billion number was not known by me so thank you. However, they aren't talking about specific unit sales specific to the franchise and comparing year over year...I'm wondering why. Are the numbers going up because of the fire sales of the first two games selling off remaining inventory? Just don't know...I don't have the data to assess. Am I grossly overstating the fact that Trap Team has a 2 million unit gap to address?

http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=Trap+Team
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=Swap+Force
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=Skylanders+Giants
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb...o%27s+Adventure

Because with this number down, there's fewer people buying newer figures...they are simply selling more plastic to fewer people which is increasing the fatigue you are hearing here and on other message boards. (Btw interesting that Swap Force has eclipsed Giants and is now on the heels of actually beating Spyro's Adventure in unit sales).

My intent is for them (if they care), to be mindful of this when planning out the toys line and ensuring the game itself remains not a copy / paste rendition but an area that can be innovated and improved as well. This may strike a nerve with the "everything is puppy dogs and unicorns" crew here, but I want them to be on their toes. Complacency and over marketing is going to be their worst enemy.

Are they failing? No. Is it declining? No data, other than what I've discussed above. Does skylanders have a bright future? Yes. Can that be at risk based on their marketing and toy strategy? Absolutely.

Thank you.

Interesting info on amiibo releases

http://www.destructoid.com/rev...ng-289958.phtml


Say what you will about skylanders releases, But we get to know pretty much exactly what's released for the year on game release day. And even including the issues with the light and dark packs and Kaos trap we are pretty well off.

With Amiibo randomly releasing limited quantities of figures and making every second figure exclusive to a single store they arnt making any friends. At least with kids and parents.

At least skylanders usually only give exclusive rights to variant figures.

I just hope the amiibo frenzy does light a fire under Acti/VV/TfB and they bring their A game with Sky5. For me and a good number of other Skylanders fans, TT was a slump after SF...the bugs, etc. So I'm hoping Sky5 brings the heat now!

Then there's Infinity...funny they went from the first Skylanders Challenger to Also-Ran. We'll see if they can bring enough of their A game with Star Wars all but confirmed for DI3.

I never try discussing this kind of subject because it boils down to "activsion/other company does everything wrong vs. activision/other company is making more money", but here's one thing that they could take from the Amiibo series - the yarn ones sound like a pretty good idea, if a little hard to transport loose. Maybe a special rerelease of Short Cut made of yarn?

Quote: wild_defender

Interesting info on amiibo releases

http://www.destructoid.com/rev...ng-289958.phtml


Say what you will about skylanders releases, But we get to know pretty much exactly what's released for the year on game release day. And even including the issues with the light and dark packs and Kaos trap we are pretty well off.

With Amiibo randomly releasing limited quantities of figures and making every second figure exclusive to a single store they arnt making any friends. At least with kids and parents.

At least skylanders usually only give exclusive rights to variant figures.

Oh trust me. The scalpers are enjoying this but this will come back to bite them when the true customers stop returning. And although we don't get exact release dates like Infinity does, I feel the community here has done a TREMENDOUS job making my task of getting the toys a trivial event.

Infinity is interesting competition. they have essentially unlimited resources, the marketing juggernaut and the IPs to crush everyone around them, yet they don't. I'm actually ok with this as this sub market is big enough to share varied tastes. I may be misjudging Amiibo, but I think they are a supernova. Everyone is enjoying the radiant bright glow that is their success, but I think it will be very short lived. I just hope they have plan C.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: wild_defender

Interesting info on amiibo releases

http://www.destructoid.com/rev...ng-289958.phtml


Say what you will about skylanders releases, But we get to know pretty much exactly what's released for the year on game release day. And even including the issues with the light and dark packs and Kaos trap we are pretty well off.

With Amiibo randomly releasing limited quantities of figures and making every second figure exclusive to a single store they arnt making any friends. At least with kids and parents.

At least skylanders usually only give exclusive rights to variant figures.

Oh trust me. The scalpers are enjoying this but this will come back to bite them when the true customers stop returning. And although we don't get exact release dates like Infinity does, I feel the community here has done a TREMENDOUS job making my task of getting the toys a trivial event.

Infinity is interesting competition. they have essentially unlimited resources, the marketing juggernaut and the IPs to crush everyone around them, yet they don't. I'm actually ok with this as this sub market is big enough to share varied tastes. I may be misjudging Amiibo, but I think they are a supernova. Everyone is enjoying the radiant bright glow that is their success, but I think it will be very short lived. I just hope they have plan C.

I agree, I think they just treating toys to life as a fad, and jumped on with the minimalist effort, the characters are selling them selves. But unless they make an all inclusive game for all amiibo in the next year.... People other then collectors and online sellers won't have any reason to buy them and that's there main audience, they arnt pushing them to kids at all.

Activision not worried by Lego dimension .

http://www.gamespot.com/articl...t/1100-6426517/


Being in the business, activision have probably know stuff about Lego for a while so "cant wait to reveal what's next " hopefully translates to something decent in sky 5 .

Quote: wild_defender

Activision not worried by Lego dimension .

http://www.gamespot.com/articl...t/1100-6426517/


Being in the business, activision have probably know stuff about Lego for a while so "cant wait to reveal what's next " hopefully translates to something decent in sky 5 .

If they come out and say "we're not worried", then I'd be worried.

No support for Wii. As expected. This might be a good alternative as my younger one really doesn't like skylanders. Infinity too drab for our family tastes.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Quote: wild_defender

Activision not worried by Lego dimension .

http://www.gamespot.com/articl...t/1100-6426517/


Being in the business, activision have probably know stuff about Lego for a while so "cant wait to reveal what's next " hopefully translates to something decent in sky 5 .

If they come out and say "we're not worried", then I'd be worried.

lol I was thinking the same thing. I mean they (Skylanders) aren't in any real trouble now but in a few years when these brands have had time to establish themselves we'll see what shape Skylanders is in.

Well think about it. Being served 4 games of reheated gameplay, I know folks are going to say "if you're not going to give us anything more than just a new story and more figures, maybe that fresh experience can be inside another franchise." I can see it happening. Or, maybe they're thinking that the skyvets aren't important and name brand and figure recognition of both Infinity and Lego franchises won't sway them away from a franchise a newcomer will probably know nothing about? Maybe it IS time for a movie to level the competitive landscape.

From the comments: "But being a Skylanders collector family, my kids have quickly grown tired of Skylanders because of crap they pulled with Trap Team. If they think their own model is sustainable for much longer, they clearly are as tone deaf as Nintendo is about AMiibo problems."

"... Skylanders don't lend themselves to real world play because the character's arms/legs/heads don't move and they are permanently stuck to a base. If the Lego Dimension Toys are more like Legos (and less like Skylanders molded figures), this game can make some huge inroads into the market."

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Well think about it. Being served 4 games of reheated gameplay, I know folks are going to say "if you're not going to give us anything more than just a new story and more figures, maybe that fresh experience can be inside another franchise." I can see it happening. Or, maybe they're thinking that the skyvets aren't important and name brand and figure recognition of both Infinity and Lego franchises won't sway them away from a franchise a newcomer will probably know nothing about? Maybe it IS time for a movie to level the competitive landscape.

Totally. Skyvets seem to be screwed no matter what though. Even if we stay it seems we aren't what Activision wants. My eggs have been tipping over the side of the basket since Infinity 2.0 came out and now it looks like I might need a third basket. I do wonder why Skylanders is waiting so long no to announce the new game. I mean we used to get announcements in February at Toy Fair but now that there's competition it's a waiting game. They are all clearly influenced by what Disney is going to announce. I mean hell with this port strike thing not being resolved until some time this summer they will need to start getting this new generation on the water soon for an October release. My guess date of 5-5-15 for the Sky 5 reveal was two fold. First it would be Sky 5 announced on 5-5-15...that's a lot of 5's. The second reason is that I assumed D.I. 3.0 (Star Wars) would be announced on Star Wars day which is May 4th. They's steal some of Disney's Thunder with an announcement the day after Disney made theirs. Although it is hard to steal the thunder of anything with "Star Wars" attached to it so who knows.

Yeah, that's good thinking on the announcement dates. I too think early May is it. Crazy here it is mid April and there's still a decent amount of Trap Team still to buy...such glut.

Star Wars is definitely going to be a hit to the mid lifers like me who grew up with the stuff...and seeing all of the shoddy LucasArts games over the years I'm not convinced kids will gravitate to it. Dunno...something just feels...off.

So I saw this video from IGN talking about the new Lego Dimensions but listen to what the guy on the left says at the 2:44 mark. He claims that Toys for Bob is working on/thinking about camera recognition for toys and not being limited to just the figure or even the I.P.......how would he know this? has anyone heard this...WTF /mindblown!!!

http://www.ign.com/videos/2015...lego-dimensions

Toys For Life All Stars Battle Royale Smash Bros. confirmed.

Quote: Tigorus

So I saw this video from IGN talking about the new Lego Dimensions but listen to what the guy on the left says at the 2:44 mark. He claims that Toys for Bob is working on/thinking about camera recognition for toys and not being limited to just the figure or even the I.P.......how would he know this? has anyone heard this...WTF /mindblown!!!

http://www.ign.com/videos/2015...lego-dimensions

these types of companys generally know a bit abut what the others are up too. whether it be through collaboration or leaks etc.

they always now more about the market and technology then anyone in the public will. They kind of have to otherwie 2 company's might end up designing exactly the same gimic/game one year lol.

Quote: wild_defender

Quote: Tigorus

So I saw this video from IGN talking about the new Lego Dimensions but listen to what the guy on the left says at the 2:44 mark. He claims that Toys for Bob is working on/thinking about camera recognition for toys and not being limited to just the figure or even the I.P.......how would he know this? has anyone heard this...WTF /mindblown!!!

http://www.ign.com/videos/2015...lego-dimensions

these types of companys generally know a bit abut what the others are up too. whether it be through collaboration or leaks etc.

they always now more about the market and technology then anyone in the public will. They kind of have to otherwie 2 company's might end up designing exactly the same gimic/game one year lol.

So are we putting this in the leak category? Neither Activision nor T.F.B. has said any of this (to my knowledge). That seems kind of huge if that's the possible gimmick for the next T.F.B. Skylander game.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Well think about it. Being served 4 games of reheated gameplay, I know folks are going to say "if you're not going to give us anything more than just a new story and more figures, maybe that fresh experience can be inside another franchise." I can see it happening. Or, maybe they're thinking that the skyvets aren't important and name brand and figure recognition of both Infinity and Lego franchises won't sway them away from a franchise a newcomer will probably know nothing about? Maybe it IS time for a movie to level the competitive landscape.

From the comments: "But being a Skylanders collector family, my kids have quickly grown tired of Skylanders because of crap they pulled with Trap Team. If they think their own model is sustainable for much longer, they clearly are as tone deaf as Nintendo is about AMiibo problems."

"... Skylanders don't lend themselves to real world play because the character's arms/legs/heads don't move and they are permanently stuck to a base. If the Lego Dimension Toys are more like Legos (and less like Skylanders molded figures), this game can make some huge inroads into the market."

You know what I think, we've talked about this multiple times.

As much as I would like big changes (that still could keep the core gameplay), I will honestly be fine with just some smaller ones, like we had in the 4 games.
I like the playstyle and the features, I like that the figures' limbs don't move (that would partially ruin the concept of reposes, after all), and I love the "reheated" experience.

If it isn't (completely) broken, don't fix it.
Sure, I could easily see the people say that, but I could also see a lot of other customers being happy with what they had, and have.

That being said, LEGO Dimension looks really interesting.
I still didn't understand if the "portal" recognizes how you built a figure, but if it does... Wow.
It might be the first other TTL game I might buy. At least in terms of Starter Pack.

Yeah, that's the point. Limited dollars, interesting entries into the genre are going to pull dollars into the better ideas. I don't want think Skylanders is so perfect that it can't or shouldn't be tweaked. And you already know what I think they are

I don't think articulated figures would be the way forward for Skylanders.

I have said many times, what they need is a more open world. A Linear story is fine but when that is finished if the only replay value is going back and doing the same levels again it gets old real fast.

They need,
1) Background loading. No "loading level" screen. Just walk along a path to get to somewhere and while you are walking it's loading. All "levels" should be walkable from the home site.

2) Random encounters. There should be areas where you don't know what to expect. Some parts should stay cleared of enemies when inside your home site but outside that they should be able to spawn at almost any time.

3) large free explorable areas. Not levels as such but large areas to interact with, find enemies in, find hidden stuff in. walk around in. The areas of the game should interconnect in many ways not just a linear level progression.

4) More rewards for having older figures. I know this doesn't translate well into profit but a lot of the older players are the "collect everything" people that drive the good name and PR of the series. Keep them happy. Stick a couple giants only areas in with a floor drop or something. A swap zone or two. You could even re-use the ones from existing levels in past games which brings me to my last point.

5) Bring back old games/levels for new players. I don't even mind if you have to pay for them as DLC but I get fed up swapping disks. Can we PLEASE have the ability to visit flynn's ship or the light place again? I love some of the older expansion pack levels too, I think they should be translated into the newer games. It's a fair bit of work I know but if they do all this they could blow the other Toys to Life games out of the water.

All that said, I am on this Lego Dimensions like bees on honey.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

That being said, LEGO Dimension looks really interesting.
I still didn't understand if the "portal" recognizes how you built a figure, but if it does... Wow.

It doesn't.