NFC toys transforming the gaming industry: Activision Skylanders
Electronic advancements have proven their impact on every industry and the gaming industry is not an exception to its effects. The gaming industry is booming with a range of toys that provide interactive or real-life engagement to the players. Activision, an American video game publisher has leveraged NFC as a real-life component to its video game Skylanders and made a billion-dollar game that is popular among kids as well as youth. These toys were commercially successful to the point where they were outselling their action figures.
How NFC based toys lead to a billion-dollar game?
Skylanders is a video game available on different platforms with the right software. The main ingredient that contributed to the game’s growth is Near Field Communication. Activision took the real-world component of Skylanders to the next level with NFC based action figures. These action figures provide seamless engagement to its users with their ability to communicate with different NFC consoles so that kids can play with each other on different platforms. It was an innovative concept that no other video games offered and as such Activision’s success with NFC toys inspired many manufacturers. This game surpassed any competition that cost far more and couldn’t offer any similar real-world aspect.
How do Skylanders work?
Skylanders offers action figures that carry an NFC tag, which would wirelessly connect to any gaming console that supports NFC and the console is connected to the gaming platform. As the NFC tag connects with the console it sends a unique identification to the platform and the video game will be able to identify the character that the user has chosen to play with. These action figures will collect the data and achievements of the game so that they can resume the game from the same point when paired with another console. This interaction is so easy that even an eight-year-old kid can easily connect and play the game.
How did NFC make Skylanders so special?
The concept of collecting a different set of action figures that can wirelessly communicate to various consoles and resume the gaming from a previous point in time with the help of stored data encourages the users to amplify their gaming experience with the help of more action figures. The more action figures one carries, the more fun this video game is for them. This brilliant concept spread widely as the users can carry these wireless smart action figures and play with each other without any hassle.
Activision brought their action figures to life with the help of NFC based action figures. It was a great strategy for the publishers to come up with new characters and new concepts such as character combinations. Skylanders’ success inspired many giants like Disney & Nintendo to evolve and adapt to NFC/RFID based toys. These toys cost far less than other costly standalone video games while providing an unparalleled user experience. Based on the growth of Skylanders, it is evident that electronics-based interactive toys are coming and they are here to stay.
