Ever since Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure launched in October 2011, the Skylanders series has set the sales charts on fire in not only video games, but toys as well, thanks to the extra figurines you can buy in stores. As Activision has now announced, the franchise crossed the $1 billion sales mark after just 15 months on the market.
Looking at just the toys offered for Skylanders Giants and Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, the combined sales for 2012 in the US and Europe managed to beat out the Beyblade, Star Wars, and Transformers lines. In fact, through January 2013, there have been over 100 million Skylanders toys sold at retail.
Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, talked about the massive sales:
The Skylanders franchise became the first kids’ videogame IP to cross the $1 billion mark in just 15 months, and I think we are still just starting to realize its potential. We knew that the simple, but magical idea, of bringing your toys to life in a video game could change both the video game and the toy industries, and more importantly, change the way kids play. And this fall, we’re looking forward to delivering to fans our latest break-through innovation, Skylanders: Swap Force, which lets kids customize their own characters, bringing toys to life to a whole new level.
With the release of Skylanders: Swap Force later this year (it adds jumping!), and tons of new characters coming along with it, don’t be surprised if the franchise crosses the $2 Billion mark by the end of 2013.
Have you contributed to that $1 billion? Let us know in the comments below.
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