darkSpyro

Title says it all. With the supposedly low sales of SSC complaints about figure quality, and more, I'm curious about what you all think of the franchise's future. Do you think this is the sign of bad things to come for the series, or this is just a misstep and everything will be better with Sky 6 and likely Sky 7?

Nah, misstep.

Yeah, some choices might influence future entries but I'm confident most of them are tied to the game and the developers themselves.

I sincerely think SuperChargers went well beyond many's expectations considering its unusually specific focus.
It surely did for me.

Maybe it not sold well, but it's because of the high competition. The critics (and many fans) agree that Skylanders is doing great in the game aspect. What Skylanders needs is new features in future games that make it more attractive than the competitors, but you know that it's not easy to deal with the IPs used by the competition (who can deal with DC Comics or Star Wars?). For now, it's doing good. Just some fixes here and there and it should go great while people continue to like to buy Toys-to-Life games.

Misstep,but of course Acti and some fans will treat it like a real decline. The bad decisions made this game worse,not a rumoured "running out of ideas" or some crisis in the dev team.

Miss step. It has the wrong end of game content. If you don't like racing it can polarize your enjoyment of skylanders. O also I think the small roster let it down too, particularly new characters.

I'd like to see the true sales of each game year/over/year. It's hard for me to judge now, as my previous source for very accurate information is... no longer an accurate source (not that I doubt the veracity of the information previously provided, but significant changes have occurred that deems the information available from this source is simply not representative of the full pie). As such, I am curious. I don't think Skylanders will ever reach the peak of SSA or Giants again - but it should hold pretty close to Trap Team/SWAP Force numbers.

I'm also *really* curious to the Wii version's sales figures. Considering that it was the *only* configuration to get Dark Bowser, it seems like Activision may have potentially locked themself into Sky6 on Wii (in some form or another) based off of potential Sky5 Wii sales.

I'll go for misstep. Sales are really really poor and the vehicles just don't work that well. There'll be a tv show, battlecast and a new game next year which could be the start to more successful times. Lego Dimensions is no longer the new unknown product on the market and as far as I know there won't be a new game - just new level, fun, team packs etc. Infinity is no threat, there's no new catch to the game every year, just the plain old "new franchise, new figures, same gameplay". It's not bad but nothing special.

I guess Activision thought the Nintendo characters and the vehicles would be enough to survive in the crowded toys to life business but as we know by now, they were wrong. The tv show simply took too much time. THis certainly is the first game considered being a flop. But yeah, things can be different next year. Only time will tell.

UncleBob: Game 1-3 has sold about 5 million starters each, Trap Team 3.5 million starters. Swap Force is #1 sales wise, Trap Team the worst. The other problem is that no traps are available to sell now, and I'm not sure how they expect to continue selling that game when there's no product available to purchase for it (trap wise).

This game is a mis-step. And mis-steps can be huge. Not a bad game per se, but it was wrong for the brand. I also think the outrageous figure counts last game and delivery problems factored people's decision to abandon ship on this one....that and dollar for dollar, why play the basic premise over and over when new TTL entries offer a fresh experience. They should seriously do some marketing and find out how people are feeling about their decision to no longer include cards, increase prices, and then offer a card game where you have to buy cards? Not sure about anyone else, and this is a funny statement given the purpose of this game, but I feel fleeced like the sheep in the game.

The franchise needs to get busy on the game itself....they have the toys nailed. Fatigue, repetitiveness, and crowded market are major contributors.

I think the flooded market is whats killing it plain and simple. Infinity, Amiibos, Lego all offer recognizable figures people want to play. So anyone just getting into the Toys to life market are going to go with what they recognize. Not what they know. I'll give you an example i'm 38, my son Oimak Jr is 6 and we love skylanders. However, this year he saw the Star Wars and now is totally into Star Wars so we are doing both Disney Infinity Star Wars only and Skylanders. But i'm not passing up playing as Darth Vader or Yoda. Amiibos has everything Nintendo, we are huge Mario fans, i have 7 Amiibos that aren't the skylander/amiibo combos of Bowser and DK. But we have Mega Man, Link, Bowser, Bowser Jr. Donkey Kong, and a Mario 25th anniversary. he wants the Lego Dimensions but i can't afford all of these lol. But even them, Scooby Doo, LotR, Back to the Future, i'm just saying if i started right now, skylanders would be 4th on my list cause i dont know the characters. So its hard to get new customers, they've tried with the 2 nintedo skylanders this year, but overall people are leaving for the other games or are starting with the other games.

I'm not going to lie, i love all 5 games, SC is a blast, could it be better sure, but its really really good, and my son and i still enjoy racing online etc. We still go searching and the only 2 we are missing are DK and his Cart, but i got the Wii U version for christmas so we'll be good

Quote: TakeYourLemons

UncleBob: Game 1-3 has sold about 5 million starters each, Trap Team 3.5 million starters. Swap Force is #1 sales wise, Trap Team the worst. The other problem is that no traps are available to sell now, and I'm not sure how they expect to continue selling that game when there's no product available to purchase for it (trap wise).

You're right. I forgot that SWAP Force had done so well, game-wise. Although I think the combined Game+toy sales started to slump with SF.
I don't get the impression that Activision is really that concerned with selling last year's starter packs. Retailers don't want to carry them and consumers seem to not be that interested. GameStop sells some of the starters, new, for under -$5 each. I've not really heard/seen much of starters getting restocked beyond the release of the next game. For Activision, their biggest concern is trying to keep retailers happy by avoding an overstock of unsold starters and providing markdowns to retailers to help clear them out asap.

I'm pretty sure having Nintendo characters in the Starter Packs will have helped sell around the same amount of Trap Team Starter Packs had sold after the holidays. The game is good, so I can't say it is a misstep... going "downhill" is inevitable with all the competition. Even if the next Skylanders game was the best game ever that makes the best compromises to please as many people as possible, the competition games would need to suck a lot for people to get into Skylanders.

At some point, the franchise becomes its own victim. You can argue they are burning both ends of the candle. Mediocrity will set in eventually. My main problem with SC is same with TT -- post game content.

Honestly. As loyal to this franchise, I'll go with Downhill. The series is starting to wipe it's ownself out. I personally believe it's had its time to shine but since other company's use recognizeable characters they can easily sell them to their fans. Even I can admit I'm not feeling the excitement I did a few years ago (I still like SSC though).

I have a feeling this is just a little pothole on a big road trip. It'll all be good soon.

Like OimakKamio said, the market for games like Skylanders is becoming over-saturated, and the series doesn't have any mainstream, popular characters like Disney or Lego does to catch consumer's eyes. I don't think the series is going downhill yet, so I'll wait to see how Sky6 does first before I decide whether or not the series is going downhill.

I think the game itself is an ace. The figures are ... ok. Some quality concerns do keep coming up.

Misstep. The Skylanders games are usually at best, just good. We've got yet to get a truly great game of the series. Hopefully that'll change next installment. But dang if collecting the figures ain't addictive.

Hoping this is just a misstep.
They took the risk of "freshening" up the game by adding a different type of gameplay that felt (IMO) forced and not very refined, and took away from the core gameplay.

Then there's some other factors like less character variety (could be a positive for some?) and increased prices for those characters that surely haven't helped.

misstep. the idea was good, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. For one thing, requiring a Wii version for Dark Bowser was stupid...imo, the Wii U should have been the only Nintendo Dark Edition, with Dark Spitfire & Hot Streak replaced by Dark Bowser & Clown Cruiser ( meaning, Dark Bowser, DK & their vehicles plus the Kaos trophy for the Wii U, while the other Dark editions would retain the Spitfire/Hot Streak combo with Stealth Elf & Sea Shadow ). Second, the racing in the main console versions feels tacked on ( and half the freaking content is locked behind the trophies...smacks of the Street Fighter X Tekken disc-locked content debacle to me )...and there's the aformentioned figure quality ( my Bowser has really derpy eyes ), the Nightfall recall, the issues with the new portal....oh, and the glitches are the worst I've experienced. However, I will say that Superchargers Racing ( at least the 3DS version ) is a lot of fun ( though hard difficulty can feel as cheap and frustrating as any Mario Kart ).

I'd like to understand better what those who say "the market of TtL games is oversaturated" truly mean.
No sarcasm, really but the market only counts 4 games (one of which is more a collection of figures with different purposes rather than a true full fledged title) and none of them would work as a substitute of the others.

- Skylanders takes a more adventure-ish and old school approach and focus on a fantasy like world with a vast collection of never seen before characters which can be used everywhere.
- Infinity focused more on the creation and sharing aspects and has some restrictions when it comes to characters, which are all part of famous and recognizable franchises.
- Amiibos come from different Nintendo series and can be used to unlock various type of content; sometimes characters, sometimes customs or other type of in-game features.
- Dimensions could seem like a true all around competitor of Skylanders but from what I've seen it's just a good LEGO game with playable figures, nothing too different from older chapters.

No way I would buy one of those games over another (if not for a matter of money) because they all provide rather different experiences.

So what I'm asking is: do you think this specific market is oversaturated because of it's particularities, such as the high amount of money required, or just because of the number of games?
Because there is only one true direct competitor of Skylanders as of now and 4 TtL games in total.

Platforms and FPS would be dead at this point.

Quote: Drek95

I'd like to understand better what those who say "the market of TtL games is oversaturated" truly mean.
No sarcasm, really but the market only counts 4 games (one of which is more a collection of figures with different purposes rather than a true full fledged title) and none of them would work as a substitute of the others.

- Skylanders takes a more adventure-ish and old school approach and focus on a fantasy like world with a vast collection of never seen before characters which can be used everywhere.
- Infinity focused more on the creation and sharing aspects and has some restrictions when it comes to characters, which are all part of famous and recognizable franchises.
- Amiibos come from different Nintendo series and can be used to unlock various type of content; sometimes characters, sometimes customs or other type of in-game features.
- Dimensions could seem like a true all around competitor of Skylanders but from what I've seen it's just a good LEGO game with playable figures, nothing too different from older chapters.

No way I would buy one of those games over another (if not for a matter of money) because they all provide rather different experiences.

So what I'm asking is: do you think this specific market is oversaturated because of it's particularities, such as the high amount of money required, or just because of the number of games?
Because there is only one true direct competitor of Skylanders as of now and 4 TtL games in total.

Platforms and FPS would be dead at this point.

First off, I don't think the market is truly oversaturated. That's being lazy. That means there is cannibalization going on, and "I" don't see that as what's actually happening with regards to sales. The problem is the other obvious reason for any dip in sales could be concieved to be worst - people aren't as interested.

First - the over-saturation(OS). If OS was actually happening, then the total sales of Toys to Life (TtL) games would still be roughly the same with only minor overall growth. That's not what's going on. I consider myself an extreme example - I own all the TtL, and have pretty much everything for all of them but Lego Dimensions (LD) - and that's on purpose. Too many times people would get stuff as gifts and due to sales or difficulty of getting it, I've already gotten it for myself or my son...so I decided LD would be the gift game. Outside of that though?


And I have a stand with everything for DI on it except Tinkerbell and Star Wars 'Rebel' characters as I don't follow that show. And that's about 2/3 of my Skylander stuff, all the accessories and magic items are in a drawer, none of the Super Chargers (all of Wave 1-3), and none of my custom painted or figures in the pipeline to get custom painted - are shown. On the extreme end, it is obvious that even with limited funds, I still got everything. On the other end though, the people who AREN'T into this like that?

Everyone that I've talked to simply get what looks interesting to them or their kids. There is no allegiance. There is no plan. Starter packs are for special occasions, figures are typically rewards or item for placating. Due to cost, Lego gets ignored by most, and most folks don't get it either - it looks like every other LEgo game they get for $30-$60 bucks, why do they need to spend $100 now? Disney has people being vultures over the 2.0 stuff, gettign all the Avengers for like $5 each, but adoption rate to 3.0 seems kind of slow - though Star Wars (SW) is a pull, maybe the lack of interesting characters who aren't SW is hurting adoption. Skylanders just seems too big for its britches - there aren't "a lot" of figures this go around, so 'getting them all' isn't difficult, but the floor space is dominated by them, making their section looking more empty of customers than it really is in comparison. But all in all when I talk to other parents its rarely "pick one", the kids will often have "both" and they are just there letting them pick out "a figure". So its not OS...at least based on my word of mouth information.

However, the magic is just gone.

That's being harsh, but its a reality I've slowly come to grips with. There was something magical about the first two games, the first one being ground breaking, and the second feeling like a cleaned up extension of the first game, almost an expansion pack if you will...after that though, with Swap Force, the magic faded. I can't put my finger on why, it isn't paywalls, my collection speaks for itself, I bust through them with no issue. I just don't know what happened. That's when the "one per year" thing started, but the quality feels like it improves each game, so I can't say that's the issue. Voice acting has been mostly constant. Jumping was an issue for a while, my son whom is advanced for his age at video games was having trouble at 2 years old trying to play SF, and at 3 struggled with Trap Team, he's fine now though, he still has some trouble, but can get past jump se4ctions. Character designs have been a bit middling, but few characters were worth writing home about originally anyways. MAybe the reposes dragged things down? I don't know. Either way though, the game doesn't captivate me anymore. I can't play more than a level at a time, and barely can do that., and its been that way since SF. Yes level length was a HUGE issue for me, but I've moved past that.

The game just doesn't hold me as a "game" anymore...and I'm not the only one. Talking to parents, kids will "out grow" or "get bored" with the game and simply move onto something else, and maybe that's what's being lost in sales - simply the kids who helped SSA and Giants "spike" the sales, have grown out of the series.
- Unreall

That's literally just getting bored. Any Pokémon fan over 20 can tell you that they "grew up" after the pokémania for various reasons but came back years later once they noticed they truly love it. Kids just do these things, there's no magic formula to hold them forever. Adults are slightly different but with so many games in the market you start having a nagging feeling that you should be playing something else after a while.
You can take a break, or skip a game, and chances are you'll have at least a bit of drive to play it depending on how long you put it away. My hands are just aching to play the older ones after this last year, though I'm holding off for when I get new figures.

Quote: Drek95

So what I'm asking is: do you think this specific market is oversaturated because of it's particularities, such as the high amount of money required, or just because of the number of games?

Space. Both for retailers and consumers. I have a video game collection that spans over 35 years. If you don't count the two arcade machines, my Skylanders and amiibo take up more space than the games combined. And I don't have the figures displayed in any way (whereas all my games are spined, organized by system, and mostly alphabetized).

Retail is struggling with how to deal with this. Toys R Us can deal with the large space needed for these games, but other retailers have struggled. Walmart has virtually given up. Best Buy never really tried. GameStop really does try, which is amazing considering the lack of space they have. But, here's the deal - to really be in the game, you have to dedicate a four-foot counter towards one title/brand. Otherwise, you end up with the sadly pathetic stripes of amibo figures you see at Walmarts., shoved in with the Wii/3DS accessories. Giving an entire 4-foot counter solely to one company for one brand is a lot to ask. You generally see it on feature endcaps (that sell insane quantities and rotate out monthly or weekly).

it has nothing to do with space. It is oversaturated when you dont have the budget for the games, and its so much that you just don't buy, that is oversaturation. if i had unlimited disposable income i'd have them all too, but i do not. I have limited income that finds it hard to just buy Skylanders. That alone Infinity, or even think about Lego. The Amiibo statues are nice cause they work on multiple games. But ultimately if i find one i really like i'll pick it up.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: Drek95

So what I'm asking is: do you think this specific market is oversaturated because of it's particularities, such as the high amount of money required, or just because of the number of games?

Space. Both for retailers and consumers. I have a video game collection that spans over 35 years. If you don't count the two arcade machines, my Skylanders and amiibo take up more space than the games combined. And I don't have the figures displayed in any way (whereas all my games are spined, organized by system, and mostly alphabetized).

Retail is struggling with how to deal with this. Toys R Us can deal with the large space needed for these games, but other retailers have struggled. Walmart has virtually given up. Best Buy never really tried. GameStop really does try, which is amazing considering the lack of space they have. But, here's the deal - to really be in the game, you have to dedicate a four-foot counter towards one title/brand. Otherwise, you end up with the sadly pathetic stripes of amibo figures you see at Walmarts., shoved in with the Wii/3DS accessories. Giving an entire 4-foot counter solely to one company for one brand is a lot to ask. You generally see it on feature endcaps (that sell insane quantities and rotate out monthly or weekly).

I just realized my stuff takes up more space than my 4 player NFL Blitz 99 machine (0_0)' DDDAAAAAANNNNNNNGGGGGG
- Unreall

Quote: Bifrost

That's literally just getting bored. Any Pokémon fan over 20 can tell you that they "grew up" after the pokémania for various reasons but came back years later once they noticed they truly love it. Kids just do these things, there's no magic formula to hold them forever. Adults are slightly different but with so many games in the market you start having a nagging feeling that you should be playing something else after a while.
You can take a break, or skip a game, and chances are you'll have at least a bit of drive to play it depending on how long you put it away. My hands are just aching to play the older ones after this last year, though I'm holding off for when I get new figures.

funny, I'm a 34 year old Pokemon fan and I never left the series....only reasons I haven't caught them all since gen 4 are too many games to play and nobody to trade with ( technically also the bs way Nintendo releases the mythical Pokemon.... ). You do make a good point though, part of the reason I constantly grab new games ( be they bought, borrowed or Gamefly'd ) is I get bored or frustrated and need to change gears.

I did take a break from Skylanders for a year though...I regret that.

I had a few years where it was that huge peer pressure to 'grow up' and ditch children's games(more from my father than anything else,to be honest), but I definately still played old ones in secret until I could stand my ground with what I liked. Was waaaay out of the loop until Diamond and Pearl though.

But yeah, that'll happen with so many children,even if their parents still play,it'll eventually become the non-trend and thus ok to mock people that still follow it. If they truly love it though,they'll be back.

A big misstep.
From what I've seen, what SSC does right it does really right.
What it does wrong it does really wrong.

I hope the next game just goes back to basics. No more gimmicks like traps and vehicles. Enough.

We need a good all around game with no new gimmicks to get in the way. I'm hoping the next game will introduce a new evil villain to which the Skylanders and other villains unite to fight against. NOW, figures of the villains will be introduced as the main target "gimmick" a long with some cores, light cores, etc. This would be successful and a smart move for them as collectors have been glamouring for figures of Kaos, Glumshanks, etc since day 1.

Figures of Golden Queen, Painyatta, etc would be awesome and most already have in-game models from trap team.

Gimmicks or not, it just needs to BUILD on previous features, not throw them in the elemental-bullet-trash-can.

Quote: TrapShadowFan

Gimmicks or not, it just needs to BUILD on previous features, not throw them in the elemental-bullet-trash-can.

I get that some folks don't want to do the same things every game. I wished they had the static hidden locations for items AND the random chests for the hats. But for me, they need to retain the combat brawler--anything less will not be good. VV would claim they did that but the breakup of flow with the vehicles ruined the immersion. I enjoyed the SC diversion, but didn't pan out...story, graphics, sound, music etc everything else awesome.

We need to expand the world and make it a bit more challenging within the worlds, or I need a half-dozen damn good events that will take some muster to challenge after the game.

At the end of the day TTL is oversaturated and Skylanders fans themselves are fatigued. To a certain extent I'm sure if VV knocked this out of the park we would be less enthusiastic.

Mandaory racing sections in game are lame but everything else is just as good or better than swap force, this game is a step forward in the series.

Bad sales are probably TT fault, people felt let down and quit the series.

If only mandatory racing sections were the only true problems SuperChargers has...

Too much focus on a gimmick which doesn't improve the classic gameplay, weak toyline, bad marketing decisions, overpriced figures...

I can see why Trap Team could have been a reason to doubt the franchise (even if it's my favorite game of the series it does have some serious problems) but really, SuperChargers sincerely didn't help in those cases.

Badwolfmichael nailed it with just a couple words:
the good aspects are really good, the bad aspect are really bad.
The problem is the proportion.
And that might be way too subjective to be taken as an objective proof.

People quit series after getting a bad game not before. Maybe the bad aspects of superchargers are really bad but TT was a mess on every aspect.

Honestly, I think the whole vehicle gimmick wouldn't be so bad if... Well...

Say you reach a mandatory vehicle section in one of the levels, but it lets you choose between a land, sea, and sky one depending on what vehicle you have on the portal.

Sorry for going off-topic, but yeah, I'm starting to agree that the whole vehicle thing feels more slapped on than anything. I hope they improve their marketing next game.

Quote: Drek95

Badwolfmichael nailed it with just a couple words:
the good aspects are really good, the bad aspect are really bad.
The problem is the proportion.
And that might be way too subjective to be taken as an objective proof.

Yep. Vagueness doesn't make it clear.

But really, I don't blame the game itself, or VV"s decision...it's just a simple fact that the racing genre doesn't mix well with this combat brawler. It is what it is.

I came in expecting this to blow me away. Swap Force and Trap team are still my favs.

Skylanders is going downhill and there's too many factors as to why to even list. Regardless of price hike of figures this time around, you have franchise and cash pit fatigue...the counter-intuitive clown who thought raising the MSRP of the cheapest figure above $9.99 only caused an accelerated abandonment of the franchise...plain and simple. These deep discounts aren't just a simple one game misstep. We've seen $6.50 sales on Superchargers already and $6.67 sales on vehicles...if that's not a clear as day sign of inventory not moving well, I don't know what is. We have not seen sales below the $9-10 range with gimmick figures in past Skylanders games until after the new year rolls around. They milked their $15 gimmick-landers for years and I'm sure somebody at Activision got a pat on the back and a huge bonus for it, but people aren't going for it anymore. And they've created a HUGE problem in their vehicles with Superchargers...people who did pay the $15 price tag for them will feel downright betrayed when they are not supported or severely minimized in utility for future games. This kind of damage can't be undone and swept under the rug...people who leave the franchise aren't coming back for future games...the parents are dumping the kids' collection of 10-50 or however many Skylanders off at GameStop and aren't looking back. For every hundred people leaving the franchise, there might be 5 newcomers on board trying out Skylanders for the first time (and I think that number may be too generous). All this and I didn't even get to mention that the competition in the Toys to Life market is the fiercest it's ever been. Add that to more and more people every year realizing that the cash pit of Toys to Life is not worth it...it's not simply a downhill for Skylanders...it's a downhill to all Toys For Life.

You mean it's downhill for collectors. Tons of your complaints apply to people buying everything, not people who get required stuff and are done with it - which is a greater number, unlike what DS seems to indicate. Don't forget that,dumb as heck decisions aside,you still only needed to buy 2 vehicles if you're coming from a previous game - instants got everything else covered.

Quote: Bifrost

You mean it's downhill for collectors. Tons of your complaints apply to people buying everything, not people who get required stuff and are done with it - which is a greater number, unlike what DS seems to indicate. Don't forget that,dumb as heck decisions aside,you still only needed to buy 2 vehicles if you're coming from a previous game - instants got everything else covered.

No...not downhill for collectors...downhill for Toys to Life. Face it...these starter packs are not drumming sales numbers like your Halo, Fallout, Call of Duty, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, etc. Maybe Skylanders Giants was the one which came close to top 10 selling lists along with those games. Toys to Life survival is predicated on peddling toys...not just the base game (starter packs). The market dies if you don't have people buying the figures and at the super inflated prices. Even the bare minimum players who just get starter packs are dwindling...the only thing which may artificially show higher Superchargers starter pack sales numbers is the fact that tens of thousands of hardcore Amiibo collectors jumped on board to "pad the numbers" with this game.

Secondly, I know you're from Brazil and "in the know" that you need to buy 2 vehicles and a starter pack to cover most of what you need in Superchargers, but the number one thing you see in the US deals forums and in stores with regards to Skylanders/Disney Infinity is parents buying for their kids struggling to grasp what does what in each game and also what's necessary and what's not when it comes to unlocking all the game content. You'd think parents who've been buying this stuff for multiple years for their kids would kind of know what's going on, but many of them are directed on 5-10 year olds on what to purchase blindlessly. Their knowledge is "Little Johnny and the kids across the street seem to love Skylanders" when going to pick up merchandise. You also see on deals forums all the time that parents are getting fed up with buying the "add ons" and "plastic junk" year after year...the fatigue is real. It's expected of every passing fad after the initial hype/novelty.

They'd never do that just because they don't go platinum every time. Every game that's not them in the market doesn't do that,they're not failing either. Amd parents'll say the same thing about those 'dumb kids' videogames' or 'murder simulators'(their words,not mine),but they're still around,aren't they?

Everyone remember what happened to all of the Guitar/Band games of yesteryear? People got tired of the same thing over and over, high prices...and the ENTIRE MARKET tanked. I see a similar downfall in TTL future.

The fact that Activision resurrected those band games this year was a stretch the market didn't need.

And now Guitar Hero is back as soon as Acti thought it was profitable again; so the bombing part doesn't seem to have fazed them at all.
But oversaturation isn't really going to happen THIS soon and as fast as Guitar Hero was, because as I said in previous topics they aren't releasing three games or more per year. Yes, they might have some losses in toy sales,but if they play their cards right,they could find a way of making toys worth it without making them required and overpriced, and not be in that big in quantity(and no,smaller lineup doesn't change the sheer amount of variants around used to compensate that). It really only depends on Activision not screwing up or more AAA devs not jumping in without thinking.

Big misstep. Now I've gotten through the story I find it so hard to go back and play any chapters because I hate driving, flying etc in Skylanders. If I wanted to race I would play a racing game, but because so much of this game is about the gimmick I can't stand to play it anymore. And if I don't play it, I don't buy any additional characters from the new waves that are coming out. It's not like I can use them in the earlier games that I liked.

Quote: kaosmumishot

Big misstep. Now I've gotten through the story I find it so hard to go back and play any chapters because I hate driving, flying etc in Skylanders. If I wanted to race I would play a racing game, but because so much of this game is about the gimmick I can't stand to play it anymore. And if I don't play it, I don't buy any additional characters from the new waves that are coming out. It's not like I can use them in the earlier games that I liked.

Well, as much as many people agree with you, you can't say that the game was a big misstep because you hate the vehicle gimmick. As much as I agree with some points, it was wrong to choose the word "I/me".

Quote: Crash10

Quote: kaosmumishot

Big misstep. Now I've gotten through the story I find it so hard to go back and play any chapters because I hate driving, flying etc in Skylanders. If I wanted to race I would play a racing game, but because so much of this game is about the gimmick I can't stand to play it anymore. And if I don't play it, I don't buy any additional characters from the new waves that are coming out. It's not like I can use them in the earlier games that I liked.

Well, as much as many people agree with you, you can't say that the game was a big misstep because you hate the vehicle gimmick. As much as I agree with some points, it was wrong to choose the word "I/me".

Actually I can and did say it was a big misstep because of the vehicle gimmick. The question asked for people's opinions and I gave mine - in my opinion the gimmick was a massive mistake and it's backfired. And because it was my opinion I used the word 'I'. I'm not sure what part of that is hard to follow?

Danger: Thought and control police ahead.

Btw, if enough people voted yuck (as measured by sales) on the gimmick it will be a misstep. Make no mistake, sales will be the success gauge, not what your feelings are. It's the aggregate feelings as measured by sales that will rue the day.

Though now we don't really have cores for comparison this time, only variant vs. gimmick. Iirc cores sold really well in TT but Trap Masters only left the shelves more because they were understocked? Could be wrong with that.

Acti could simply twist the truth and say vehicles sold less than skylanders because there isn't enough enforcement or something equally ridiculous, since you're either buying that, a new skylander,or a gimmick-repose. No Cores, no Adventure/Battle Packs, not much of an extra that doesn't unlock *something* when combined properly not counting variants.

Quote: kaosmumishot

Quote: Crash10

Quote: kaosmumishot

Big misstep. Now I've gotten through the story I find it so hard to go back and play any chapters because I hate driving, flying etc in Skylanders. If I wanted to race I would play a racing game, but because so much of this game is about the gimmick I can't stand to play it anymore. And if I don't play it, I don't buy any additional characters from the new waves that are coming out. It's not like I can use them in the earlier games that I liked.

Well, as much as many people agree with you, you can't say that the game was a big misstep because you hate the vehicle gimmick. As much as I agree with some points, it was wrong to choose the word "I/me".

Actually I can and did say it was a big misstep because of the vehicle gimmick. The question asked for people's opinions and I gave mine - in my opinion the gimmick was a massive mistake and it's backfired. And because it was my opinion I used the word 'I'. I'm not sure what part of that is hard to follow?

i agree with you on this one, the vehicle gimmick was a huge misstep. after i tried the game at friends house. i decided i didnt want anything to do with this game. and i here i thought trap team was bad, but trap team shine compared to ssc. i am not gonna use a dime on ssc ever its full boycott. and i am a guy that usually buy everything, so activision lost a lot of money. also ssc is the most bug fix patched game in the series so far, and that is another huge let down.. when you need a patch to get the figurines to work they have gone to far in my opinion.

Well, I prefer a game with patch support to fix problems and add content instead of a buggy and glitchy game which will remain the same.

Of course a mostly bug-free game with or without patch support would be the best but I hardly see them nowadays.
Even games developed with true passion and dedication have to follow the rules of the market, and sometimes devs have to release a game on a very specific date thus being unable to fix everything (Bloodborne, for example).

I prefer to see patches as a way to keep improving the game not only by solving problems but also by adding new features from time to time to keep the game alive.
I think there is nothing bad with that.

Quote: CountMoneyBone

...also ssc is the most bug fix patched game in the series so far, and that is another huge let down.. when you need a patch to get the figurines to work they have gone to far in my opinion.

I personally see this as a good thing. IN my opinion the last patch or two were minor tweaks...the GOTTA patch item was Nightfall. I played the entire game through with just the first patch with no problems. Also, keep in mind they had to deliver this a month ahead of time.

Can't nail them for not patching and then nail them if they do.