Activision is known for driving their franchises into the ground (Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, etc.), but so far, Skylanders is holding up quite well… and for good reason. The combination of a very kid friendly, light action RPG and the super addicting figure/toy collecting element hits all the right notes. For now at least.
The company this morning revealed that the Skylanders franchise has earned over $1 billion at retail worldwide, between starter sets, games and figures. This isn’t even including the newly announced Skylanders: Swap Force either.
Activision sent over a neat sales infographic for those too lazy to read a press release, so check that out.
Take a look.
Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc., announced that together Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders Giants have generated more than $1 billion in retail sales worldwide, inclusive of toys and accessories — and the franchise reached this milestone in just 15 months.?
In 2012, the combined sales of Skylanders Giants and Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure toys out-sold the top action figure lines in the U.S. and Europe, including Beyblades, Star Wars and Transformers.? Additionally, through January 2013, more than 100 million Skylanders toys have been sold at retail.²
“The Skylanders franchise became the first kids’ videogame IP to cross the $1 billion mark in just 15 months4, and I think we are still just starting to realize its potential,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, Inc. “We knew that the simple, but magical idea, of bringing your toys to life in a video game could change both the video game and the toy industries, and more importantly, change the way kids play. And this fall, we’re looking forward to delivering to fans our latest break-through innovation, Skylanders SWAP Force?, which lets kids customize their own characters, bringing toys to life to a whole new level.”
Skylanders SWAP Force lets Portal Masters reconfigure 16 special SWAP Force characters into more than 250 unique combinations. Kids can mix and match characters’ powers and moves and then bring them to life in the game. In addition to the new SWAP Force characters, the game features 32 core Skylanders characters (16 completely new Skylanders characters and 16 new versions of fan-favorite characters from previous games) and eight new LightCore characters.
Fans of the franchise also can play Skylanders SWAP Force with their entire collection of toys from both Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders Giants, now with the added capability of jumping. The new game also delivers high-resolution graphics that bring detailed characters and rich environments to life, immersing players in the gameplay like never before.
The recently revealed Skylanders SWAP Force will be featured at Toy Fair 2013, February 10-13 at the Javits Center in New York City in booth 3061.
?1Inclusive of toys and accessory packs, according to The NPD Group, GfK Chart-track and Activision Internal estimates
²Inclusive of toys and accessory packs, according to The NPD Group, GfK Chart-track and Activision Internal Estimates
?According to Activision Internal Estimates
4Inclusive of toys and accessory packs, according to The NPD Group, GfK Chart-track and Activision Internal Estimates