Gamers are spending less on Nintendo’s Amiibo and more on Lego DimensionsThe interactive gaming toy market is contracting, and Nintendo and Activision are feeling it.
Spending on gaming-related accessories, which includes interactive toys (those plastic action figures like Skylanders, Amiibo, and Lego Dimensions that connect wirelessly to compatible video games), was down 5 percent year-over-year to $117.1 million in July, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. And while Disney shook up the industry by exiting this space when it canceled its Infinity product, consumers are shaking it up by spending less on these toys-to-life figures from Nintendo and Activision and more on Warner Bros./Lego and … Disney.
“July saw a 34 percentage point shift in dollar share away from Skylanders accessories and Amiibo to Disney Infinity accessories and Lego Dimension accessories,” NPD analyst Sam Naji explained. “Although total spend for interactive gaming toys declined by 3 percent compared to last year, consumers spent an additional 55 percent on Disney Infinity accessories and $3 million on Lego Dimensions, which launched in September 2015.”
The success of Lego Dimension is largely due to the wide variety of properties built into the experience. As movies like Ghostbusters and the DC Comics film Suicide Squad hit theaters, fans can turn to Lego Dimension to find toys and a game that are at least tangentially related to something their excited about.
When it comes to Disney, however, this surge in spending comes well after the cancellation of Infinity. That may seem odd, but the likely answer here is that retailers are discounting and selling through their existing stock and that led to a run on the product — especially among collectors.
As for Skylanders and Amiibo, we’ll likely see a resurgence for those products soon. Activision is planning Skylanders: Imaginators for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Wii U, and more in October. Nintendo, meanwhile, isn’t planning to launch any new Amiibo until November when it will release new toys from Super Mario Bros.
