Activision Opens its First Official Skylanders Store

MikeWehner

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Aug 21, 2011
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Activision Opens its First Official Skylanders Store



The new franchise-specific store is the first of its kind, but could more be on the way?

Did you know that the Skylanders franchise is popular enough to warrant its very own retail outlet? Apparently it is, and this coming Saturday, November 17th, Activision will cut the ribbon on the very first Skylanders store in Copenhagen, Denmark. The catch? The store is only open until January 31st of next year.

"The Nordic market, and especially Denmark, has given Skylanders a good reception," explains Ian McClellan, Activision's European Marketing Director. "We want to give the loyal fans something in return and at the same time create some buzz around the new Skylanders Giants."

McClellan's choice of words - regarding the Denmark location as "the first" Skylanders store - leaves the door open for additional franchise-specific stores in the future, though no formal announcements have been made. The first 1,000 customers to visit the Copenhagen outlet will get some free gifts and can get their photo taken with a Skylanders character.

It's clear that the new retailer is targeted primarily at youngsters, as is the franchise itself, though I can't help but wonder whether a "Call of Duty Store" has crossed Activion's mind as well. I imagine camping supplies would sell like hotcakes.

Source: Gameranx [http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/10703/article/denmark-to-get-first-official-skylanders-store/]

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Soviet Heavy

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Jan 22, 2010
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about as subtle as making a guitar hero store after declaring yearly updates to the franchise because "it will never go stale"
 

Reyalsfeihc

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Jun 12, 2010
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It is indeed surprisingly popular, and when I first read about the number of players who invest their time in Skylanders, it was somewhat surprising/appalling. However, when Nintendo first released a similar Pokemon battle system (where you bought figurines, stuck 'em on a pad, and fought them against each other) it was also surprisingly popular.
 

Shinsei-J

Prunus Girl is best girl!
Apr 28, 2011
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I can only see this ending badly and with a loss of cash.
But I'm constantly wrong and I don't know much about it, so my opinion doesn't matter.
 

JdaS

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Oct 16, 2009
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They are really popular in the Nordic countries. Never paid much attention to it, being over the age of 20 myself, but when I go into a local GameStop the peripherals and figurines take up a good chunk of space in store and 3 out of 5 times last month I was behind some happy kid and his (not so happy) parent buying the game/figurines.

Pop-up stores like this one aren't new to the North either. Angry Birds has like 4 in Helsinki alone. They're designed to churn out a nice profit in a short amount of time, while also saving a mint in rent. Perfect for fads like Angry Birds or this stuff.
 

DigitalSushi

a gallardo? fine, I'll take it.
Dec 24, 2008
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Shinsei-J said:
I can only see this ending badly and with a loss of cash.
But I'm constantly wrong and I don't know much about it, so my opinion doesn't matter.
My nephews and his friends absolutely adore Skylanders, its the current generation of childrens pokemon

I saw a punch up last christmas in ealing london about a Skylanders retail box (that means its an empty box for show) because the dad's and the mother's just had to have babyjonny's favourite toy.

You'd be surprised at how much you need to spend to get all the Skylanders too, you pay for the game and its "hub" and you get 3 Skylanders with Spyro the main one, last year this was the character map
a character pack costs 20 pounds, and this year, new characters have been released.
 

Mahorfeus

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Feb 21, 2011
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While I'm still resentful towards this series for using Spyro's name just to jumpstart the damn product with name recognition, I have to admit, the concept has proven to be pretty neat. And it is selling like hotcakes, evidently. Heck, I've heard that some of the rarer limited edition Skylanders have sold for exorbitant amounts of money on the internet.
 

knight4light

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Jun 24, 2011
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i think skylanders might be one of the only ones taht can warrent their own store. Its not just a video game. there are so many accessories.

oh no wait. i know of at least one more... pokemon. line up all pokemon games. all decks. all booster packs. i remember there being miniatures at one point.

anyone else know of any game that could warrent a store?
 

Britisheagle

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May 21, 2009
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I work in Tesco and the rate at which these things sell makes me wonder why Activision needs a store.

We aren't even a store that specialises in either toys or games so Lord knows it will probably be extremely successful but still!

I think it is such a cool idea but executed in a way in which it costs far too much to justify. Activision for ya.
 

Doclector

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Aug 22, 2009
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TizzytheTormentor said:
You know, despite the fact that Spyro was horribly mutilated and the ads for Skylanders are annoying as sin...it is good that kids have a video game to go gaga for...even at the expense of the parent's wallets.
Y'know, I was trying to figure out why I couldn't bring myself to hate this phenomenom as much as I should. I initially thought it was because I've seen gameplay of it, and honestly, it didn't look so bad for such an obvious moneyspinner.

However, I think this could be closer to the truth. When I was a kid, I had plenty of kid friendly franchises to keep me going. Crash, croc, and yes, spyro, were generally my favourite games, even as someone whose parents let me play most "adult" games only after explaining carefully to me the difference between that and reality. The colours, characters, and simple (but not necessarily easy) challenges appealed to me.

Now, kids don't seem to have that so much anymore. Gritty modern shooters rule the market, and even the deviations from that aren't really kid friendly (borderlands 2, dishonoured, assassins creed 3...yep, bloody fun for all the family!) so as much as my cynical core wants to hate skylanders for strangling so much money out of parents and doing it using one of my childhood favourites, I guess I'm kinda glad.
 

theultimateend

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DVS BSTrD said:
There's already a Call of Duty store, it's called Xbox Live.
I get uncomfortable when you post something that isn't a really blunt pun.

Are you feeling alright? Is this code that someone is in your house? Should someone call the police?
 

theultimateend

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Nov 1, 2007
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DVS BSTrD said:
theultimateend said:
DVS BSTrD said:
There's already a Call of Duty store, it's called Xbox Live.
I get uncomfortable when you post something that isn't a really blunt pun.

Are you feeling alright? Is this code that someone is in your house? Should someone call the police?
*Sigh*
I hope they don't intend to let Denmark keep hagen all the swag.
There are you satisfied!?!

Laugh you leach laugh!
I've shopped at Hagen, so you win extra points for making a joke that feels relevant even if it wasn't necessarily so.

I am at ease, all is right with the world.

Setting aside all the wrong, I mean, if you ignore all that.
 

Lt._nefarious

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Apr 11, 2012
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People actually buy that stuff? I was in game today (not for Blops, for XCOM) and they had a corner dedicated to the stuff that looked barely touched... What is it? And why is it popular with the youngins?
 

kunymonster

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Mar 6, 2012
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My English teacher asked me to write him a list of multiplayer children-friendly games to play with his son in order to avoid buying skylanders. He knew his son would get addicted to the toys and cost him a lot more than 60 bucks. Gave him ten games to look at, he bought Rayman Origins and his son loves it. Saving your teacher money is a great way to get on his good side.
 

Nantucket_v1legacy

acting on my best behaviour
Mar 6, 2012
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What is this exactly?
I've seen Skylanders around the shops and all the little toys everywhere thus I am curious. Baring in mind I don't want to spend the £100 asking price to appease my curiosity... I wish my nephew/niece were old enough to have this and let me play lol.

Is it basically Pokémon but with Spyro?