MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Forget video games, Activision is well on its way to establishing a foothold in the toy sector.
The firm is talking to retailers and media it has never spoken to before in a bid to ensure Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is a hit.
The game is almost a reboot for the former Vivendi franchise, and its unique twist is that consumers can buy figurines that can be scanned into the game as characters.
Activision Europe’s marketing manager Imke Heinrich told MCV:We’ve been talking to retailers and teams we have not engaged with before, which means that Skylanders will be present across toy and game retailers. You’ll be seeing a lot more of Skylanders on TV, in magazines, online and in some unexpected places.”
The game is due out on October 14th for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC and 3DS. The Starter Pack will retail at 59.99 and contains a copy of the title, the toy-scanning Portal of Power and three figures.
Heinrich added: These characters are at pocket-money prices to make sure kids can collect them all.”
ACTIVISION’S OTHER MONSTER KIDS HIT
Skylanders isn’t Activision’s only jaunt into the kids market this Q4.
The company will be co-publishing Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Zoo on DS this November.
The title will be based on Mind Candy’s massively popular online virtual world for children which is played by 50m worldwide.
Over half of all UK children aged six to 12 own a Moshi Monster.
