After the runaway success of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure it's no surprise Activision is already planning another instalment, revealing Skylanders Giants at the American International Toy Fair.
The next game — fully compatible with previous toys, kids — features figures twice the size of their predecessors that light up. You know what that means: more money.
Interestingly Activision's announced the game for Wii but not 3DS, though it has said it's coming to "handheld and mobile devices" so we wouldn't rule out a 3D appearance.
BIG SHOES FILLED — SKYLANDERS GIANTS™ REVEALED AT THE 2012 AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL TOY FAIR
New Game to Build on the Landmark Success of its Predecessor, Skylanders Spyro's Adventure™
Next Chapter in the Franchise Introduces More Than 20 New Figures Including Super-Sized Giants and Characters Featuring Light Technology
Global Marketing Partnership With Toys"R"Us Grows Alongside The Game
Santa Monica, CA - February 7, 2012 - Bring Your Toys To Life™. This novel premise takes a monster step forward with the worldwide unveiling of Skylanders Giants, the follow-up to the most successful kids' IP launch of the year.¹ Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), will debut the sequel at the North American International Toy Fair in booths 3151 and 3251 at the Javits Center in New York City from February 12-15.
Skylanders Spyro's Adventure uniquely combined collectible real-world toys with an epic virtual game world, creating a new platform for communal play that was embraced by parents and kids everywhere. Skylanders Spyro's Adventure was the #1 best-selling kids' franchise worldwide in 2011, as well as the #1 overall new IP launched in North America, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and GfK.
¹According to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk
According to The NPD Group, Skylanders Spyro's Adventure went on to become a Top-10 seller in North America and generated the greatest overall single-year sales, inclusive of software and accessories, of any new children's IP in North America, since NPD has been tracking the category.
Skylanders Giants builds upon the breakthrough fundamentals of the first game-merging the physical and virtual realms with an innovative line of cross-platform toy figures that have "brains," which players everywhere can magically bring to life in the world of Skylands. This next installment of the franchise features a variety of new characters, new challenges, a thrilling new story-driven adventure, and advanced integration across console, handheld, mobile and online:
Going Big: Skylanders Giants introduces eight new highly collectible figures that are more than twice the size of the main skylanders cast in both physical and virtual form. Their in-game powers and abilities reflect their colossal scale.
Bright Lights: Helping to further the real world magic of bringing toys to life, Skylanders Giants includes a set of characters that feature spectacular new light technology integrated into the toys, allowing the figure to light up when near or on the Portal of Power™. These characters have additional in-game benefits as well. Batteries are not required.
Brand New Skylanders: Eight new regular sized skylanders, each with their own unique powers, abilities, and personality, join the adventure alongside the Giants.
Forward Compatibility: Every beloved character from Skylanders Spyro's Adventure is 100% compatible with Skylanders Giants, leveled-up stats and customizations intact.
Wider Worlds: Portal Masters will see all new arenas and more gameplay options in Battle Mode for exciting head-to-head play, as well as enhanced Elemental Zones, new Hero Challenges, and other features that encourage players to collect and level up every character.
Skylanders Giants also features closer integration with Skylanders Spyro's Universe, the large online world that allows Portal Masters around the world to greatly expand their Skylanders experience.
"Skylanders Spyro's Adventure's success in 2011 validated an exciting idea-that with the right technology, and the creative minds to support it with engaging characters and story, we could define a new model for children's play," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "Skylanders Giants marks the evolution of this core concept. We've got super-sized figures, remarkably cool new characters that light up, as if by magic, and more ways to play and explore Skylands than ever before. We're delighted to announce the title at Toy Fair 2012 and can't wait for fans to go hands-on this fall."
Comments 25
Activision is kicking butt with this. Way to go, make something unique and addictive and print money.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't everything in the figures already on the disc and just unlocked via the portal? The figures surely don't actually contain all the models and new levels, and you don't have to connect to the web to download it, right? Just curious.
So...did they just made them giants so they can make the toys bigger so they can ask more money for them?
Gimme, gimme, gimme! But first, lets get all the plastic needed to finish the original batch.
Im assuming that they will have a Skylanders 2 with or without the portal so that those that have the portal don't have to throw down $70s again? I really hope so.
@warioswoods: All content is on the disc/cartridge. The figures do have some kind of on-board memory to save statistics and such, so that you can carry over your Skylanders to other people's games (or, in this case, a sequel).
Activision took alot of time and hate mail to make make the first one. Glad to see it's a success. But to be honest I hated Spyro. If they somehow put Crash Bandicoot in the game though...
The sequel to one of the biggest rip-offs in gaming.
I have actually thoroughly enjoyed Skylanders (PS3) although I got a good deal on it so the money issue wasn't as big an issue. Unless you're a "trophy w---e" or a completionist, you can just have the base game and beat it just fine. But if you fall into those other camps, it might be annoying to try and find figures of all 8 types. (I did it just fine, though.)
I hope the new game comes in a minimalistic form for those of us who bought the first one, although maybe that's why they're giant, so that new stuff (portal and figure) is required. Either way, if the gameplay is as solid, I'll be considering it in the Fall.
Biggest rip offs? I've poured more hours into playing Skylanders than any game I've ever had. Sure I played Zelda Skyward Sword for 60 hours but now I am done and have no desire to play it any more (at least not for a few years). I've been through Skylanders multiple times, it has more replayability than any game made. Each character is like a new experience, if you aren't playing it then you have missed out on one the the best Wii games ever.
koops3 - you hate spyro? well there are over 30 other completely different characters you can play instead, you never have to use spyro, surely you will like some of them, many are better than Crash Bandicot.
That's a matter of pricing Mariofan. Also this will include more levels to make the giants more comfortable. Plus your old Skylanders have more use to them.
@Steve I meant the game series.
Yeah, being able to use the characters on the Wii, 3DS (totally different game), web (totally different game) and now Skylanders Giants definitely make them worth the price to me
"............FLAAAAAAAARBEDAGH!!!!" :F
NP flips out, drools, and then promptly faints
Moving back to the realm of logic and reason, it seems that each of the Giants combines two of the elemental types. If that's the case, then it opens up a whole new world of possibilities, with immensely-powerful Skylanders who can cover their own weaknesses (or render them moot)!
The idea of figures with fibre-optics had me a little worried at first as I thought that you'd need to chew through an infinite supply of batteries, but if batteries aren't required then it's all good.
Just as long as they aren't powered by radioactive isotopes, that is...
Cool trailer. But I probably won't buy it!
im not scared to say i love this game i have it for xbox 360 and love it
The portal will need to be WAAAAAY bigger, and I'd like it to be wired so I don't have to use so many batteries.
"Whoa..." Lifts red headband revealing a yellow one
I lol'd.
@Bloodysaber: So did I! xD
Judging by the Go big or go home photo the new giant toys will still fit on the old portal. And while it's great all the old characters will be playable in the new game, b/c they are already "in" the game, new characters won't be playable in the current game (well unless the PS3 and Xbox versions have DLC, which is 1 reason I didn't buy this on my Wii). So, any parents shopping for kids who only have the first game will have to make sure they don't buy new characters. Hopefully they will sell just the game separately and keep the old portal, I'm not buying a new portal.
TRU has the current figures for $9.99 so I'm afraid what the new ones will cost, $20?
And finally - HEY MAKE MORE OF THE CURRENT FIGURES NOBODY CAN FIND NOW AND STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE NEXT GAME, NOBODY IS GOING TO BE STUPID ENOUGH TO GET SUCKERED INTO THIS MESS AGAIN IF YOU DON'T GET THE FIGURES ON THE SHELF PRONTO!!
SkywardLink98 - ugh... no wires please! just buy better batteries, I can complete the entire game on one set of Duracells...
Screw light up figures. We all want articulated figures, not glowing ones. They're cool, but actually movable figures would extend the "beyond the game" idea even further. Surely it couldn't be that hard? As a bonus, don't know if this would be possible, but it would be even better if they put the codes inside the figures and you can take them off the stand and just put them on the portal like that.
Also, finish bringing out current figures please. And finally make it so something is put into the disk that actually allows it to put new data on itself with new figures. That way, we will be bombarded with less unneeded sequels.
Of course, this is all wishful thinking, and will never happen, it's Activision. On the upside, I like how they are making some figures bigger, the current ones are too small to make a really good display.
My son and his friends love the game and play with the figures like action figures. His friends has bought 5 figures and he doesnt even have the game.
Greenspleen - FYI for the kid w/ 5 figures - the free website is a good diversion for awhile. With only 1 figure my kid spent a few hours on it. Timed treasure hunt, obligatory Angry Birds rip-off, and social interaction with others. I don't let my kid socially interact w/ strangers online so I'm not sure how that part plays out. A smart parent could probably convince a young child that the free website IS the game.
Sigh...whatever. Well, you can use the old stuff. That's good at least. I'm still just gonna play games that, you know, give me the whole game for one (compared to this, at least) low price.
EDIT: Hey, Spyro doesn't even get in the name now!
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