The toy-to-life fad hit the games industry like a hurricane and consumed store shelves about a decade ago, but waned as quickly as it came.
In 2011, a new game called Skylanders appeared on the scene, inviting children to purchase a stack of figures, place them on a portal accessory plugged into their game console, and use these toy characters as playable characters in the digital world. The ensuing toy-to-life games fashion claimed a claim in the industry – and a vast expanse of game store space – for most of the decade.
Then, due to various factors such as declining sales of physical games, frustration from retailers and parents who no longer had space for “those damn things”, and just general apathy, the genre basically faded away. (Well, not entirely; your friendly local retro game store probably still has a bin of discarded plastic bits around.)
Ten years after the toy-to-life genre took off, let’s take a look back at five of the most prominent examples of the trend and why they ultimately came crashing down.
5. Starlink: Battle for the Atlas
Despite being one of the most serious gaming experiences of its kind, Ubisoft’s foray into toys for life never quite detached itself from the stratosphere. Starlink: Battle for the Atlas launched at the end of 2018, at the end of fashion and long after stronger competitors had thrown in the towel. Believing they could revive the genre, Ubisoft launched an action-adventure game where players flew through space or through the atmosphere, with the ability to customize their in-game ship by changing the configuration of physical toys.
To make it more accessible, the toy element was basically optional and the game was playable without using them at all, which kind of undermined the need for the toys element to be alive. The Nintendo Switch version comes with a StarFox starter set, trying to use Nintendo’s prestige to move copies. However, the real main characters of Stellar Link were only available by purchasing the PS4 or Xbox One starters, so an exclusive incentive for one system actually created a need to purchase the game on another system, essentially negating most of its own value.
Although it performed well critically, Ubisoft’s sales forecasts were not met and the production of new Stellar Link figures was finally discontinued in April 2019, just six months after its launch.
4. LEGO Dimensions
LEGO sets have been popular for decades, and LEGO games are generally well received by critics and fans alike, so smashing the two together as a toy-to-life platform should have been a slam dunk, right? On paper it was, but in reality LEGO Dimensions didn’t fare so well.
The concept was quite simple: build the physical toys and scan them in-game to use that character/vehicle in a sort of “greatest hits” LEGO games campaign. Warner Bros. Licensing like the DC superheroes, Back to the future, The Lego Movie, Scooby-Doo, The Simpsonsand ghost hunters were present, to name a few, and were available in different forms: story, level, team and fun packs.
As LEGO Dimensions came later in the toys-to-life fashion, Traveller’s Tales was able to learn from the mistakes of some competitors in game design, implementing minifigures to “borrow” characters the player did not own. However, compared to the sprawling lists included in other LEGO sets, Dimensions the impression of hiding characters behind paywalls. Of course, a real toy was also behind this wall, but this affected the durability of the game.
After two years, LEGO Dimensions was smoothly terminated in October 2017, a year ahead of schedule. A year of content, including the story’s grand finale, has not been released. While the game was a relative success, inside sources blamed poor performance from more obscure sets for dragging the set down – a side effect of throwing all the licensing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. Young players loved the more familiar characters, but their parents weren’t as intrigued to grab a niche character from their own youth and join in.
3. Skylanders
The game that truly invented the toys-to-life movement is deservedly one of its biggest hits, becoming another huge bullet in Activision Blizzard’s financial reports for a while. Imagined as a roundabout way to revive the Spyro the Dragon franchise, Skylanders set a precedent for this console gaming movement and was the longest running game series among them – spanning six games from 2011 to 2016; hundreds of figures and parts; a three-season cartoon starring Justin Long, Norm McDonald, and Johnathan Banks; and over $3 billion in revenue.
The first game, Spyro’s Adventure, was a mixed success with critics but planted a flag quite firmly. Its sequel, giants, was a more stable experience and garnered better response, and the franchise made $1 billion in a year and a half. Developer Toys For Bob tweaked the formula with each iteration, but diminishing returns set in over time; Complaints from parents about the cost of minifigures started early and never went away over time, and as competitors rose and fell in its shadow, so did the demand for the ancestor franchise. Ironically, the last main game Imaginators came out on Switch and didn’t require the bulky portal, but that innovation came too late.
Skylanders essentially fizzled out, much like the toy-to-life genre itself. However Activision Blizzard never declared the series dead, unlike Ubisoft. Stellar Link or our next example, and Microsoft would be interested in exploring a post-merger revival. (Microsoft certainly has the financial backing to sustain the production and distribution of these figures again, but I have a bad feeling that a new toy franchise to life in today’s industry would involve a somehow NFTs.)
2. disney infinity
disney infinity took flashy license acknowledgment from LEGO Dimensions and an ability to produce toys that Skylanders couldn’t compete, added an element of little big planet-style creation, and almost dominated the whole toy trend to life. However, he also served as a canary in the coal mine.
Launched in August 2013 with a handful of Disney-Pixar sandboxes, disney infinity offered arguably one of the best experiences of its kind. The playsets featured two figures and a themed campaign mode, with other characters available individually; themed characters could be used in their associated campaign, while many other characters were only available in non-themed or user-created content. Minifigures weren’t playable outside of the game, unlike LEGO’s offering, but it was also a more streamlined business model…for a genre that encouraged heavy extra spending, at least.
The second game added Marvel sets to the mix, and the third added star wars. The whole enterprise was bolstered by Disney’s box office successes – figures of Anna, Elsa and Olaf appeared while the whole world was still singing “Let It Go” and Disney Infinite 3.0 coincided well with the release of the force awakens. However, the whole venture ended prematurely when Disney decided to stop self-publishing console games in 2016. Although the declining sales trend in the toys-to-life business played a role, it was a decision made for the larger company, not the quality of the game itself.
A fourth game and several sets and figurines in development never saw the light of day, including Moana, and Beauty and the Beast in live-action remake designs. Given Disney’s box office dominance, it’s likely disney infinity could have gone beyond it much longer than it did, or maybe even remain in business today. Instead, it was thrown out with the bathwater and ultimately shook the industry’s faith in the toy-to-life genre.
1. Amiibo
As the only line on this list that is still releasing new numbers at the time of this writing, the Super Smash Bros. Steve and Alex’s numbers dropped next Splaton 3 and new Inkling figures last week – Nintendo’s Amiibo is the winner of the arms race between toys and life.
It’s odd in many ways, considering that Nintendo barely made any software that was fundamentally about numbers. Same Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival didn’t need it, despite its name. Instead, these figures served as bonuses for Nintendo loyalists, usually unlocking unique cosmetics or additional items depending on which game supports them.
One thing that keeps the line alive is Nintendo’s promise to release a figurine for every playable character in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. (smash coincidentally uses Amiibo in the most interesting way, allowing players to form AI fighters of their favorite characters, so it’s fitting that smash is the thing that keeps them alive.) Around this time next year, the last fighter should have received his figure, and then the future of the latest toy franchise to life seems uncertain.
Since the first figures released in November 2014, Nintendo has kept Amiibo alive by following the ideal toys-to-life strategy: it offered engaging toys that performed appealing but non-essential functions across various games, without flooding the market or consumers. stores with a large inventory. – and in the process, maintaining an aura of rarity and mystique that has preserved the toys’ value over time. (Okay, maybe animal crossing line was overproduced, but on the whole Nintendo avoided this problem.)
Now that my own kids are getting into video games, the parent in me is happy that the temptation to collect so many expensive pieces of plastic has worn off, but the gamer in me is disappointed that the toy phase of life has ended. basically passed out. For a while, the genre has bridged the gap between traditional gaming and digital gaming in innovative ways. Instead, maybe I can compromise and just feel relief for the game store employees who don’t have to cram so many bulky products on the shelves anymore.
