Activision, Toys For Bob Partner For AR Spyro Reboot

Game publisher Activision is partnering with Toys For Bob to launch an augmented reality reboot of the long-running Spyro the Dragon video game franchise called Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, according to USA Today. Skylanders will ship with an augmented reality “Portal” mat that interacts with a special line of 31 toys created exclusively for the game. When a player drops one of the AR Spyro toys on the Portal mat, the game imports a playable version of the toy character. Each toy character has a unique set of in-game skills and an elemental power that lets the character access in-game areas that are otherwise unreachable.

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is major project for Activision, featuring a score by composer Hans Zimmer and a script written by Toy Story screenwriters Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen. The augmented reality toy line will be the focal point of the project. Each figure has its own internal memory that will save experience, gold, and skill improvements players earn while using the character in the game.  Players can take their toys and place them on a friend’s Portal in order to use their customized character in cooperative or competitive multiplayer game modes.

Activision plans to launch Skylanders this fall in a base set that will retail for around $70, giving players the game itself, a Portal mat, three toys, and a selection of trading cards. It’s not clear yet if the trading cards will have an in-game function. Activision plans to launch Skylanders across multiple platforms including consoles, computers, handhelds, and phones. The game will target audiences aged 6 to 12. Since the original Spyro the Dragon game launched for the PlayStation in 1998, the character’s games have sold over 20 million copies.

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