30 SECTOR SPECIAL VIDEO GAMES
“Translates well into demand for licensed toys,” for both children and adults, according to Henno. Although there are indeed other properties with multi-generational appeal – cartoons like ThunderCats and My Little Pony certainly hold a nostalgic grip on their grown-up fans – video games brands seem to have a more long-lasting power. Despite the characters’ cute appearance, Sonic and Mario games are built on gameplay which is not age-specific. Old fans will re-unite with their favourite characters in new games, keeping that demand for licensed product going in a way that kids entertainment licences can only hope to emulate.
RATED MATURE
Of course when gamers get older they progress to mature tiles like Microsoft’s Halo and Gears of War, franchises, which often outpace the games industry’s evergreens in terms of sales. The Halo brand, in particular, has been realised into a range of successful construction toys from Mega Brands.
“I would argue that the vast majority of Halo product isn’t going to kids. It is in fact going to an older collector,” explains The Entertainer’s Grant.
Invizimals is an augmented reality title for the Sony Playstation Portable. A range of licensed stickers from Panini, which unlock augmented reality features in the game, have been a success throughout Southern Europe
to value, so price point becomes less of an issue.”
Off the top of his head, Grant can only name two toy properties which attract this enthusiastic type of adult collector: Star Wars and Lego. “I think Mega Brands has managed to tap into this market as well.” Mega is looking to repeat the trick
with its World of Warcraft construction range – the massively multiplayer role-play game has over ten million paying subscribers.
I would argue that the majority of Halo product
isn’t going to kids. It is in fact
going to an adult collector. Stuart Grant, Buying Director, The Entertainer
Although the buying director says kids do buy Halo product, it is 11 year-olds at the very lowest. The real custom comes from those older collectors. Despite this distinction, mature brands can command the same, if not greater, revenue figures at retail because of one key factor. Grant explains: “The great thing for us, and for Mega Bloks, is that adults have got a lot more money than kids. They actually look at the product in a similar way to how I would shop within a fashion retailer: value for money becomes secondary to whether you want it or not whereas traditionally in the toy market people usually shop according
MARCH 2012
Lego – known for only working with triple-A licences like Star Wars – is also looking to capture this market, unveiling its first video game licence, Lego Minecraft, last month. Minecraft, a humble, independently developed open world game with retro graphics, also enjoys a huge and crucially, passionate fanbase, with over 20 million users registered on its website.
These players are all potential customers wishing to own a physical representation of a loved digital product, even it’s destined to sit on the mantlepiece rather than be played with. By stocking these mature video games brands, do
A launch title for Microsoft's Xbox 360 Kinect in 2010, Kinectimals was joined by a plush range from Jakks, which incorporated Microsoft tag technology. The toys can be scanned by the Kinect sensor to unlock new game characters and content in the game
retailers stand to attract teenagers and adults who would otherwise be unlikely to enter a toy store? “I think it does open up the toy world into a higher age group,” Grant says.
BRIDGING THE GAP 2011 was the year when we saw the introduction of the hugely successful toy/video game cross breed, Skylanders. The Activision-developed game features a fully-fledged title on all consoles and a toy which taps into the evergreen trend for collectables. Children buy new toys and place them on the Portal of Power peripheral to play with the characters in the game. Activision, also the owner of Call
of Duty – the biggest selling boxed game of all time – believed that Skylanders will be its next billion dollar property.
Although it seems obvious – who
didn’t dream of their toys coming to life as a kid? – because there was no precedent, some retailers were initially sceptical. “Looking at Skylanders last year, everyone thought it was going to be hit or miss and needless to say it is a big hit,” explains Robert Guckian, spokesperson for multiple retailer, Smyths Toys. “The concept has surprised us all and it seems to have taken everyone by surprise at how successful it was. All the children have gone mad
Skylander toys retail at £7.99. The toys act as memory cards, remembering health and stats from the game. To drive collectability, Skylanders come with cards and have different powers allowing players to access otherwise unreachable areas in the game.
about it – they can’t get enough of Skylanders and are waiting for the next batch of figures.” Ian McClellan, European
marketing director for Activision, describes the challenges the publisher faced in educating both consumers and retail: “Our product breaks down the barriers between video games and toys for the first time, so this presents many challenges – and opportunities – in terms of merchandising and communication. “The key with Skylanders is to demonstrate the BOOM moment to consumers. This is the moment when you place a Skylander [figure] on the Portal of Power. “This is therefore what we focused on from the above-the-line creative through to the in-store environments. For example, we built a special portal of power for retailers that activated a demonstration of the BOOM moment and each Skylander’s powers.”
The results speak for themselves. McClellan explains: “Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure was the number one best-selling children’s franchise worldwide in 2011 according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and GfK, which puts us in great company with established success stories like Call of Duty. “To do that in your first year of launch is an incredible result and a testimony to the passion and enthusiasm of our developers, our teams, and all of our partners.”
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