Topic: Skylanders and the Birdmen.

[UncleBob]

I was tempted to post a new reply to this thread, but it's over two years old now, so I'll just start another thread.  Besides, we don't have nearly enough threads for how awesome Skylanders is.

So, if you've avoided anything gaming for the past six months, I'll quickly sum it up for you - Skylanders is awesome and has sold some pretty amazing numbers.  I'm talking crazy numbers.  Basically, Activision hit the big jackpot at all three casinos and won the Powerball.

But, you'll notice, Activision has been rather quiet about their Skylanders success.  Sure, there's an occasional mention of it - but you know how they trumpet their Call of Duty sales every so often?  Skylanders doesn't tend to get that much of a mention, even though the numbers it's giving Activision is beyond what CoD pushes.

Anyway - As we've seen recently in the trailer proof of concept Rayman video - other companies are looking at this.  They've seen the success and they smell the money in the water.

The question, however, is will they be able to replicate the success of Skylanders or will they music gener'd drive the concept into the ground?

I keep seeing talk, here and elsewhere, about Smash Bros. or Pokémon making use of the concept.  Sure.  We know Nintendo isn't going to screw this up too horribly.

But who else is going to try their hand at it?  Do they understand that the games (well, not so much the web games) are actually fun?  or do they think "hey, people like games and toys... we can do this" and plan to release complete crap with $15 crap add-ons?

Should be an interesting E3, no?

[Ceric]

Unclebob, you double posted in you own post.

Besides that.  I don't think most people realize how much attention to detail both the paid Skylanders games have.

I think most games that try to clone Skylanders will fail miserably.  I think games that do there own thing will be fine.

[NWR_insanolord]

Skylanders is awesome, and I'm not just saying that because Activision flew me to San Francisco to preview it. From talking to the guys who worked on it, it was clear that they put a lot of thought into it, and to Activision's credit they gave them all the time they needed to make it work. Some people look at Skylanders like it's just some marketing gimmick, and yes, there's certainly an element of that, but at its core it's a really well-crafted game that a very talented group of people put a lot of effort into. If other companies are going to try their hand at it they need to put the same level of time and work into it if they want anywhere near the level of success Skylanders has had.

[Ceric]

Skylanders is awesome, and I'm not just saying that because Activision flew me to San Francisco to preview it. From talking to the guys who worked on it, it was clear that they put a lot of thought into it, and to Activision's credit they gave them all the time they needed to make it work. Some people look at Skylanders like it's just some marketing gimmick, and yes, there's certainly an element of that, but at its core it's a really well-crafted game that a very talented group of people put a lot of effort into. If other companies are going to try their hand at it they need to put the same level of time and work into it if they want anywhere near the level of success Skylanders has had.

I'm sort of curious if Skylanders may be a Side-effect of Blizzard Merger.  Its very Blizzardess philosophy wise.

[BlackNMild2k1]

What are these amazing (better than CoD) sales numbers?

I haven't kept up with Sales figures since SalesBot unassembled himself and sold off his parts as scrap metal.

[UncleBob]

BNM - I don't have the exact figures - but the games have constantly been in the top 25 - then, factor in the figure sales - At retail, I spent over $400 on Skylanders (though many of those were on sale).

That's about 7 full-priced copies of Call of Duty for one of the HD consoles.

Now, granted, not every Skylanders fan purchased all 37+ figures - but many did.  Even if you just bought one game and fleshed it out with the remaining five elements, you just spent the cost of two copies of CoD.

I'd love for Activision to release full sales figures for Skylanders (in particular, I'd love to see how many copies on each system sold), but I feel they're playing that card really close to their chest.

[UncleBob]

http://games.ign.com/articles/121/1218411p1.html

Okay - so maybe I've overspoke.

The publisher predicts that Skylanders will be the "next billion dollar franchise,"

Implies to me that it's not quite CoD numbers...

[UncleBob]

Wow.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/522721-activision-s-skylanders-franchise-winning-big-for-the-company

If these numbers are to be believed... ouch.

Don't get me wrong - it's still a great seller and a huge success, but I was under the impression that this game was pushing some serious COD-esque numbers.

	North America	Europe	Rest of World	Total
Nintendo Wii	0.65	0.71	0.17	1.53
XBOX 360	0.26	0.22	0.06	0.53
PS3	0.18	0.19	0.08	0.45
Nintendo 3DS	0.15	0.08	0.02	0.25
PC	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.02

(numbers in millions)

[BlackNMild2k1]

well, when you figure in all the figurines... I guess that could mean that the Wii version may have actually sold the equivalent of double what those sales figures show.

The game, plus 2-4 action character packs per game sold (on average) would lead to a very nice profit for Activision.

[Ceric]

...
I haven't kept up with Sales figures since SalesBot unassembled himself and sold off his parts as scrap metal.

I like to think he has been away to star in a new upcoming Videogame.

Back on topic.
Yeah.  This games doesn't have to sell to many raw copies if the figure sell well.  Which they have.

[FZeroBoyo]

Person says that's the sign of a true portal master.





Then there's that... Looking at Google Image results for "Skylanders collections" is a little mind boggling.

[Ceric]

Your collection is weak.  Mine lives on a Cupcake Stand.  Still need the last wave to complete it though.

[UncleBob]

This is missing my Wham Shell.  I had to rearrange them.  Once my Flocked Stump Smash and Packaged Dark Spyro arrive (and whatever the deal is with the Sidekicks), I'll probably have to re-arrange again...

[BlackNMild2k1]

I think you're gonna need a bigger shelf.

[UncleBob]

Actually, there's a fifth shelf on the bottom (and I've nothing on the top!)...

But let's not discuss Giants.

[NWR_Neal]

I'm three short of a set of 32 (missing Wham-Shell, Warnado, and Zook), though I'm not super interested in the Legendaries. I did pick up Legendary Trigger Happy, though.

I'd post a picture of my collection displayed all nicely, but there's not much room in the apartment for a nice display without the wife making fun of me even more for having a sizable collection of toys. They currently reside in a box near the TV that likely resembles something more of a grade-school kid's toy chest than a 24-year-old man's not-so-hidden shame.

[Uncle_Optimus]

Cheers for the sales links, Uncle Bob.
I think it goes without saying that the leaked Rayman trailer gave us a glimpse into Nintendo's strategy to keep (in particular) kids gamin' on their console.
Snarkicism aside however, this would lend a cool extra layer of immersion playing Pokemans and Yugiohs.

[Louieturkey]

This is missing my Wham Shell.  I had to rearrange them.  Once my Flocked Stump Smash and Packaged Dark Spyro arrive (and whatever the deal is with the Sidekicks), I'll probably have to re-arrange again...

Where do you put all this stuff?  I know you're a collector and all but when I see things like this and this, I wonder where you have the space for everything.  It's quite amazing and your wife is only second to mine in understanding (she actually likes  gaming too), but does your wife have any place for any of her stuff with all of this?