Toys for Bob Recalls Nintendo's Reluctance to Skylanders Exclusivity

By Jorge Ba-oh 16.04.2014 10

Toys for Bob Recalls Nintendo

Developer Toys for Bob recalled how Nintendo weren't willing to make a full commitment to Skylanders.

In a feature exploring the origins of Activision's popular action/adventure franchise, studio co-founders Fred Ford and Paul Reiche described the initial pitch at Nintendo of America's offices.

Reiche said that "they were just like 'we have never seen anything like this before.' I've always wondered about the full meaning of that comment [laughs]." Despite the initial interest, Nintendo didn't want to make a full commitment to the concept, expect a general co-marketing deal. "Why it is that they didn't rush in here will probably haunt them for the rest of their days."

Consequently, Skylanders ended up venturing onto multiple platforms - including Nintendo's own.

Reiche believes that "if I was running Nintendo I would have jumped on this."

Do you think Nintendo should have signed an exclusivity deal for Skylanders?

Box art for Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
Developer

Vicarious Visions

Publisher

Activision

Genre

3D Platformer

Players

1

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European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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PK Mongoose is offline. PK Mongoose 16.04.2014#1

They didn't want Spyro's blood to be entirely on their hands.

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SirLink is offline. SirLink 16.04.2014#2

I'd rather not have Nintendo behind the murder of one of my favourite childhood characters. R.I.P Spyro.

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Cheesing It Up is offline. Cheesing It Up 17.04.2014#3

For Nintendo's sake it would have been a fantastic asset though.

 
Phoenom is offline. Phoenom 17.04.2014#4

I certainly would've thought twice about going with the company that ran Guitar Hero into the ground. Could've made a fair bit of dosh though.

 
welshwuff is offline. welshwuff 17.04.2014#5

it is neat but i dont really see skylands as a system seller, im sure those who want the game, have it. Not only that but it won't be a long lasting thing, it may be sorta popular now but will fizzle out within this year or next. Nintendo aims for long term investments, not short term fads.

 
Sonic_13 is offline. Sonic_13 17.04.2014#6

I don't know facts or numbers to back this up, but after reading this I feel like Activision regrets not being able to go exclusive with Nintendo and now they're trying to make Nintendo feel the same way they do, especially with quotes like:
"Why it is that they didn't rush in here will probably haunt them for the rest of their days."
"if I was running Nintendo I would have jumped on this."

Would Nintendo have gotten a cut of each Skylander toy sold? I kinda doubt it so I'm not exactly clear what the big loss is here for Nintendo (certainly nothing to be haunted about forever and ever).

( Edited 17.04.2014 23:29 by Sonic_13 )

 
Cheesing It Up is offline. Cheesing It Up 18.04.2014#7

it is neat but i dont really see skylands as a system seller,

I'm not exactly clear what the big loss is here for Nintendo

I think you guys genuinely underestimate how popular Skylanders is. Skylanders Giants sold 500,000 copies in the first 2 weeks on sale. Revenue from the franchise is over $2 billion (including toys), putting it in the top 20 video game franchises ever by revenue after just a couple of years. 
Yes, a lot of the cash comes from the toys, but it would be a system seller, and, let's not beat around the bush, the Wii U is still desperate for anything to drive the console forward. It doesn't really matter if the franchise won't be as popular in 5 years time, the medium-term impact would have been significant for Nintendo. It would also demonstate to 3rd parties that they can be massive successes on Nintendo systems, clearing a hurdle 3rd parties have had with Nintendo since...forever.

 
Marzeee is offline. Marzeee 18.04.2014#8

The thing is, if Nintendo did purchase the rights to it back when it was first shown to them and got that exclusivity deal, would it have even been as big as it was now? Part of the reason it's so successful is because it's on all machines. If it was Nintendo exclusive, I couldn't have seen it being such a success.

It's hard to really say if they made a mistake or not.

( Edited 18.04.2014 15:37 by Marzy )

 
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RudyC3 is offline. RudyC3 18.04.2014#9

Marzy said:
The thing is, if Nintendo did purchase the rights to it back when it was first shown to them and got that exclusivity deal, would it have even been as big as it was now? Part of the reason it's so successful is because it's on all machines. If it was Nintendo exclusive, I couldn't have seen it being such a success.

It's hard to really say if they made a mistake or not.


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Cheesing It Up is offline. Cheesing It Up 21.04.2014#10

Marzy said:
The thing is, if Nintendo did purchase the rights to it back when it was first shown to them and got that exclusivity deal, would it have even been as big as it was now? Part of the reason it's so successful is because it's on all machines. If it was Nintendo exclusive, I couldn't have seen it being such a success.

It's hard to really say if they made a mistake or not.

I don't think that's a major issue. Sure, total sales would be less due to the smaller userbase, but the amount of hugely successful exclusive games demonstrate that it's not a major barrier to overcome. 

 

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