Skylanders: Giants, released October 19th 2012, is the sequel to Skylanders: Spyro's adventure released across multi platforms, 14th October last year. Basically the series is built around purchasing and collecting physical toys and using them to unlock unique characters in the skylanders game. The games and toys have become a huge success though as the first game alone is estimated to exceed $500 million by next year. The reason that the first game was such a success was thanks to two things, the unique format and design of the game based around these toys, and the way the game markets the toys. By buying the game and the limited characters that come with it, the player is getting a very restrictive experience as there will be many areas or items in the game that require a unique characters abilities to reach, therefore enticing the player to buy more figurines to unlock more characters. Some, however, would argue that the toys are a waste of money in manufacturing and that the same strategy, of enticing the player to buy more characters, is just as achievable with the use of DLC. But what make Skylanders unique approach to the 'extra content' strategy, utilising physical toys instead of DLC, is that the character figurines are far more marketable to children (this games target market).Not only is the physical format of game content in a toy more appealing to a child, but it also makes the characters seem more like 'collectables' than additional content, which once again is much more marketable to kids, as there does seem to be a considerable market among kids for 'collectable monster' themed games such as pokemon, another game franchise that has made cumulative millions. Skylanders: Giants features new giant size characters that are implied to have completely different abilities from regular size characters. This is clearly a marketing strategy aiming to get kids to buy new figures in bulk, as 40 new figures have been announced with the release of Skylander: Giants. All in all, while the games themselves are average, what makes the Skylander series so successful is the symbiosis strategy using the toys and the games, and the way the game is marketed in general.
Monday, 29 October 2012
Skylanders: Giants
Skylanders: Giants
Skylanders: Giants, released October 19th 2012, is the sequel to Skylanders: Spyro's adventure released across multi platforms, 14th October last year. Basically the series is built around purchasing and collecting physical toys and using them to unlock unique characters in the skylanders game. The games and toys have become a huge success though as the first game alone is estimated to exceed $500 million by next year. The reason that the first game was such a success was thanks to two things, the unique format and design of the game based around these toys, and the way the game markets the toys. By buying the game and the limited characters that come with it, the player is getting a very restrictive experience as there will be many areas or items in the game that require a unique characters abilities to reach, therefore enticing the player to buy more figurines to unlock more characters. Some, however, would argue that the toys are a waste of money in manufacturing and that the same strategy, of enticing the player to buy more characters, is just as achievable with the use of DLC. But what make Skylanders unique approach to the 'extra content' strategy, utilising physical toys instead of DLC, is that the character figurines are far more marketable to children (this games target market).Not only is the physical format of game content in a toy more appealing to a child, but it also makes the characters seem more like 'collectables' than additional content, which once again is much more marketable to kids, as there does seem to be a considerable market among kids for 'collectable monster' themed games such as pokemon, another game franchise that has made cumulative millions. Skylanders: Giants features new giant size characters that are implied to have completely different abilities from regular size characters. This is clearly a marketing strategy aiming to get kids to buy new figures in bulk, as 40 new figures have been announced with the release of Skylander: Giants. All in all, while the games themselves are average, what makes the Skylander series so successful is the symbiosis strategy using the toys and the games, and the way the game is marketed in general.
Skylanders: Giants, released October 19th 2012, is the sequel to Skylanders: Spyro's adventure released across multi platforms, 14th October last year. Basically the series is built around purchasing and collecting physical toys and using them to unlock unique characters in the skylanders game. The games and toys have become a huge success though as the first game alone is estimated to exceed $500 million by next year. The reason that the first game was such a success was thanks to two things, the unique format and design of the game based around these toys, and the way the game markets the toys. By buying the game and the limited characters that come with it, the player is getting a very restrictive experience as there will be many areas or items in the game that require a unique characters abilities to reach, therefore enticing the player to buy more figurines to unlock more characters. Some, however, would argue that the toys are a waste of money in manufacturing and that the same strategy, of enticing the player to buy more characters, is just as achievable with the use of DLC. But what make Skylanders unique approach to the 'extra content' strategy, utilising physical toys instead of DLC, is that the character figurines are far more marketable to children (this games target market).Not only is the physical format of game content in a toy more appealing to a child, but it also makes the characters seem more like 'collectables' than additional content, which once again is much more marketable to kids, as there does seem to be a considerable market among kids for 'collectable monster' themed games such as pokemon, another game franchise that has made cumulative millions. Skylanders: Giants features new giant size characters that are implied to have completely different abilities from regular size characters. This is clearly a marketing strategy aiming to get kids to buy new figures in bulk, as 40 new figures have been announced with the release of Skylander: Giants. All in all, while the games themselves are average, what makes the Skylander series so successful is the symbiosis strategy using the toys and the games, and the way the game is marketed in general.
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