Skylanders figure releases to become more evenly distributed

Activision is to reduce the annualised focus of the Skylanders brand.

The revised strategy will apply to the remaining figures in its Swap Force range, Activision’s Glenn Oliver has told Polygon, which will be released in small groups every few months or so”.

There will also be more re-releases of existing figures in new poses.

"This year we’ve expanded to a year-round franchise, meaning we’ve reserved more characters for 2014 than we normally would," Oliver said. "There are a good 20 per cent of them that haven’t come out yet [for Swap Force].

We wanted to take advantage of the fact that we know there are still a lot of opportunities, like birthdays and Easter, for gift-giving, and we want you to be able to go a store and buy new Skylanders."

Activision has also confirmed a fresh Skylanders licencing deal with Crayola and General Mills that will see colouring toys and fruit snacks released later this year. Currently 175 separate companies are licenced to use the brand.