What Killed the Skylanders Franchise? 

My strongest memory of Skylanders was owning a legendary trigger happy, I thought of it like a shiny pokemon and was very sensitive when it came to using that figure. Never played after Swap Force and only owned the first one myself. It still honestly looks like a fun game to replay nowadays.

The toys to life market is probably the most unique trend we’ve seen and possibly won’t see something as unique for quite some time!

My childhood was Skylanders! Thanks for giving them a proper video.

I think there were a few major factors that led to the fall of Skylanders. It was no one thing, rather a combination of these factors slowly eroded fan interest and sales. *1. New paywalls for each game.* One of the most gratifying consumer experiences in my entire life has to be the transition from Spyro's Adventure to Giants. The reason for this was everything in Giants was unlockable from the Skylanders I had collected from Spyro's Adventures with the exception of a few Giants exclusive areas but we were already given a Giant in the starter pack. I could literally experience everything in the new game using my old Skylanders and a single new Giant from the starter pack. But none of the following games were this consumer friendly. To unlock all the gates in Swap Force you NEEDED to have a Swap Force Skylander from every element and the same goes for Trap Team. Suddenly the player was forced to shell out 80-100 more dollars for each new installment. That's enough to demotivate lots of players, what's the point in getting the new game if it costs to much to unlock everything? *2. Less focus on story.* One of the interesting things about Skylanders was how the world and lore was slowly developed. Giants is an extremely natural continuation of Spyro's Adventure which focuses off the ancient Arkeyan Empire which was alluded to in Spyro's Adventure. The game also ended with Kaos's mom being teased which carried over to the next game and when Swap Force rolled around it ended with a cliff hanger of Kaos and Glumshanks being split in half and swapped. Unfortunately, this is where the continuous story ended. Skylanders Trap Team completely ignored that Kaos had swapped with Glumshanks. This was more than just a continuity error, it was a blatant disregardal of the canon and it broke player faith in the story of the Skylanders. If such a major story physical transformation was completely ignored, it send the signal that major continuity changes in the game were unimportant and disposal. If the game didn't care about its own story, why should the player? This is where the story also stopped carrying over from game to game and that hurt player engagement. *3. Less interesting level design and gimmicks.* Most Skylander fans would agree that the final 2 games in the series simply were not that good and lacked interesting gimmicks. Swapping you Skylanders and trapping Villains in traps were some of the coolest things I've ever done in a video game, they are miles better than having a random boat you can't scan into the game. I cared about characters, not vehicles and static vehicle was a huge step down from trapping digital villains in my physical traps. The level design and gameplay was also simply lacking. I never played Imaginations but Supercharges was enough to lose my interest and I never bothered to get the next one. *4. Skylanders became too ubiquitous and that made them less cool.* Skylanders in the end suffered from oversatuation. When you have too much of a cool thing it makes those things less cool because they are everywhere and their coolness has been diluted. When the first Skylander game came out, there were only 32 Skylanders each with a cool backstory and unique abilities. There varied enough to be distinct but also few enough to keep track of. But slowly, that number climbed up and up and up. And eventually, you have 100's of Skylanders which is simply too many to keep track of! Each Skylander starts to feel less distinct, less unique, and less essential. They began to feel disposable and the player was overwhelmed with how many Skylanders there were! And the only thing to do when being overwhelmed is to take a step back, which is what many players eventually did. *5. Increased competition.* This last one is not Skylander's fault but increased competition from Disney, Lego, and Nintendo surely hurt Skylander sales. A kid (or their parents) only has so much money to spend of Toys to Life and some kids went with a Skylander competitor instead of Skylanders. You can't blame them too much either Disney, Lego, and Nintendo are trusted brands while Toys For Bob was a company no one had every heard of. It makes sense that the competitors not only diluted the market, but poached many sales from Skylanders. All of these were the factors why Skylanders sold less and less as time went on and eventually ended. No single factor did the franchise if you were to ask a Skylander player why they eventually did not buy the sequels, these are likely the reasons they will give you.

A remastered collection of all the games together with the characters available digitally would be cool too see.

After playing games like the Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash 4, I grew so much respect for Toys For Bob and their work on Skylanders. TFB are INCREDIBLY talented and passionate devs that know their stuff. I never played a Skylanders game, but the game's design was genius, and world/characters were memorable and engaging. While not perfect, the charm made me see these games as more than just prophet margins to Activision

I miss Skylanders and toys to life stuff in general, but their death was inevitable. Still doesn’t stop me from having so many good memories surrounding the first three games. I miss my Jade Flashwing :”)

I'm one of those Skylanders kids who is still waiting for a comeback of the series. Even if it's not Toys to Life, I want to relive the nostalgia of playing the games with my friends.

Money killed it. It was so expensive and kids lost interest as well.

I always wondered what Happened to our Favorite childhood games

I’ve only played Swap Force, but that alone just makes me wonder how the franchise would turn out, if it had continued.

Well, at least it's still good to know that ActiVision still remembers Skylanders, since Eruptor makes a cameo in the "Off Beat" level of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.

I have a feeling that the Skylanders franchise would last longer if there wasn't one game every year. The series is quite enjoyable (although my first and only game was imaginators) and I'm a little annoyed it was milked to death.

This game was literally my childhood.

I really miss skylanders I have so many good memories of this franchise, with swap force and supercharges being my favorite entries

Bro imagine a game where they did not release new toys, and had the characters digital, but if you had the toys it would let you unlock them early or more powerful

I miss Skylanders to death. I’ve fully played each game like 5 times

One of my favorite franchises, damn

Coincidentally this video came out just when I was watching Skylanders videos because I was feeling nostalgic for the series, Trap Team was the last great game imo, despite how money grubbing it was looking back at it, I feel by Superchargers and Imaginators, the magic was kind of lost for me

I remember Disney infinity

As a kid skylanders was my favorite thing to play I seriously wouldn’t eat dinner sometimes because I was playing skylanders so seeing it dead hits me in the heart

Sky landers was so much fun. I have a lot of memories playing it on my ps3 with my brothers and trading characters with my neighbors

Interesting, informative and well edited video, kept me pulled in all the way trough! I had no idea the Skylanders franchise was so big, it came out about the time i got too old for things like this.

I played everything after Giants, and I don't give a crap if Superchargers was poorly received, it was personally my favorite. With how important nostalgia is in our society right now, I think one final Skylanders game seven years later could be that sendoff we need.

As a proper Skylanders fan with a decently sized collection, and probably hundreds of hours in total. I would like to say my take on this. Skylanders Trap Team killed the franchise. I mostly think this because of how the game really cracked into the greedy side of Activision with traps, cores, trap masters, items, levels, and even minis. However I think that this was what led to such lackluster games as SuperChargers with the higher ups realizing that they don’t need to try as hard to make a lot of money. People were also becoming burnt out of the series by this time which is another factor to why the series died off. People grew older and with no new games since 2016 there hasn’t been anything for a new generation to pick up and play. Again this is just my opinion on what happened. I know many other people who think differently, but I do genuinely feel passionate about this series. I would literally kill for another game… as long as it isn’t SuperChargers. Also if anyone is wondering I do actually enjoy Trap Team, and I find the game to be one of my favorites in the franchise. However I do fully understand how many people find it bland, or to some; bad. Edit: After now watching the full video I can see many similarities to what I said in my comment, but after finishing this edit I actually want to try to replay all of the games again. Just remembered about this comment, and how I said I would update on my progress through the games. Blazed through SSA, and Giants. Took about a week for both. However I’m currently taking a little break, and I might continue onto Swap Force tomorrow.

I got a huge pack of skylanders as a gift from my grandma years ago, and Ive NEVER used over 3 quarters of them. Which sucks, because there were quite a few neat ones. Game-unique ones like giants and swap force, and even a rare-production one coated with a layer of paint that made it glow in the dark.

At least they are not making skylander nfts.

My favorite games of all time! I am surprised you made a video about it.

someone finally mentioned this game, NO ONE WILL EVERY BEAT MY COLLECTION OF EVERY CHARACTER BECAUSE OF MY BROTHAS!

5:24 Skystones is actually in regular Trap Team too, not just the 3ds version.

Oh my god i remember when i was younger, buying new skylanders in game mania and trade some with friends in my neighbourhood, i had alot of friends who played it and we would always go to eachothers place to play Skylanders. I had so many figures and i believe i played on the xbox. I was always so jealous of some friends who had figures that i always wanted. I also watched Skylander academy and honestly this video brought so much nostalgia and i miss the time when they were popular!! This was such a big part of my childhood

"What Killed the Skylanders Franchise"? My brother in Christ, it had a "Gotta collect 'em all" formula that was so expensive that you'd never be able to collect them all 😭 I get that it _worked,_ but *yeesh.*

Really, I found Superchargers as the one thing that caused the game to die for me, mainly because that one was what I found as the most focused on its gimmick. In fact, the vehicle in my starter pack broke near immediately when I started playing it, putting me in a permanent softlock because of a level that needed it (Not as an optional thing, I NEEDED it to progress) until I bought a new one just to keep playing (News flash, I didn't)

Real ones never forgot, Skylanders for life 😤💪

you knew I love the "what killed" videos AND Skylanders?! You rock!

My Strongest memory of skylanders was getting the chaos crystal, I was given a tiny scavenger hunt from my parents. I found it on top of a door and started freaking out. If they come out with another skylanders game, which I hope they do. and it still has the portal and a lot more characters, im getting it immediately. when I was younger I gave that game and all my characters to my cousin, just for him to sell it.

Skystones was also one of my favorite parts of Skylanders. I even remember that there was a promotion where you could get a pack of cardboard skystones in certain cereal boxes. I did have some laying around, but I think I got rid if them recently.

This game was an important part of my childhood, but i couldnt beat a level because i didnt have enough characters to play as 😂 This video gave me nostaligia tho, thanks for that

My only memory of Skylanders wasn't playing it (which I never did), but from when I worked at a target from 16-20 years old. The Skylanders craze was real and kids absolutely wanted those little creatures. Sometimes we would get limited exclusive drops and droves of parents would storm in to get them. Even had a scuffle over a particular one between parents getting them for their kids.

I loved playing Skylander Giants on my Nintendo 3DS I used to play on. It was so fun and so different. It’s sad Skylanders isnt around anymore. I think it should comeback with a reboot.

What killed it for me was during swap Force was the increase in prices and the very very small number of figures that where available in my area

Fly high skylanders😭😭🕊️

Haven’t even watched the full video but I can tell it’s gonna be good

I just got intense nostalgia from remembering the Tv show on Netflix.

I loved this and Disney infinity soooo much I’m just sad that both of the series have been discontinued

My favorite series of all! I play it all the time. I hope Microsoft revives it soon, so I can play new games.

Great video!

I've never had my heart sink so fast at the sight of a thumbnail or video title.

I used to watch a bunch of skylanders videos when I was younger but I never got the game since my parents wouldn’t buy the characters for me 😢

I remember playing sky landers imaginatinators and accidentally naming my character FUCK and I got yelled at my mom so much from it

Man I remember I actually had every sky lander (except dark spyro) for the first game, and a ton of others with every game before superchargers because by then me and my brother had gotten into Lego dimensions, man I used to play the hell out of those games as a kid, I even still have the figures in a big bin

dude i have every single skylanders game and almost every single toy, i have not played it for around 3 years now but if they release a new one i would get all those toys back out from the attic because those games were my childhood and i still have a place in my heart for them, i remember being heartbroken when there was no game in 2017

Thats why you dont get too greedy when your the most popular company

I have a bunch of nostalgia for skylanders and always wonder if it could come back somehow

I was literally talking with my siblings about skylanders about like 3 hours ago, and i thought of you, thanks for the video, and the clarification, i started with skylanders swapforce

Nice video

Its referenced in crash bandicoot 4

I remember watching the Netflix series every time a new season came out And watching gameplays of the games :) Fun times

there is 1 plus side to be a Skylanders fan after the franchise ended you can find small easter eggs to the franchise in the modern Crash & Spyro games 1 of the dragons in reignited holds a Trap Team Trap an Eruptor balloon can be found in the background in a Crash 4 level (also a fun reference to the Thanksgiving Parade balloon)

When moving house i kept a few of the original skylanders from spyros adventure. It was my entire childhood man❤

I want Microsoft to revive the franchise!

I remember going to my cousin’s house after school and playing “skylanders” and “plants vs zombies” all day. I was a girly girl but my cousin introduced them to me and I became obsessed. My favorite was this one blue elf girl. I forgot her name but she fr was an icon to me. Also I was more into “Disney infinity” bc it was like the only game I had on my Xbox and I still remember girl bossing as Elsa💀

I only played SSA through Swapforce on the wii and im happy thats as far as i got, i recently got hyperfixated on the first game so now i have an almost complete collection that i bought a display shelf for, the nostalgia is real

Back when I was a child, I was the only one out of all of the people I knew who didn't have any of the Skylanders games.

The skystones games were also in imaginators

Such a nostalgic franchise :(.

great video

I was hoping you were gonna make this

Swap Force was the most nostalgic for me

I hadn't played games for about 15 years. I thought skylanders looked cool so I gave it a try and absolutely loved it. I have played through all of the games except Superchargers which I am now on chapter 19.

Ngl trap team was one of my first skylander games that I owned and I loved that game. ngl definitely one of my favorite childhood games.

I hope we get another skylanders game

Let's hope they're waiting for og players to start missing the franchise and then release a new game for them to buy

for me as a kid , it was really magical to get those figures to the point that it would flood my room , placing it on a glowing portal and playing with the figure was really cool as a kid , even it was just a lazy cash-grab

Spyro getting his revenge killed it.

I waited for this video for forever

I gotta say it is sad for the Skylanders franchise to end, but even so I still love it no matter what. I still love enjoying Skylanders even though I'm now 19 (and its 2023), I'll never let Skylanders go EVER! In all personal honesty, I love Skylanders Imaginators, sure it didn't really get executed very well, but I do like the idea of bringing my imagination to life (since I have a big imagination)! However my most favorite Skylanders game is of course Swap Force, because I loved the swapping combinations idea. Anyway, I do have like an idea of resurrecting The Skylanders franchise, which I like to share now. My idea of a Skylanders SPINOFF game!!!! I call it: "Skylanders Yin-Yang" you see... It is a spinoff that solely focuses on the Dark and Light elements. Why? Well, its pretty obvious why: ever since the Light and Dark elements were introduced in Trap Team, then Superchargers and Imaginators, they overall have had the LEAST amount of Skylanders! In other words, the Fire, Water, Life, Undead, Air, Earth, Tech and Magic elements had like 20+ Skylanders (or 30+ if you count the variants, reposes, Bowser, DK, Crash Bandicoot and Cortex), while Dark and Light had like 5-6. So, my spinoff will not only revive Skylanders, but also give more collectional variety to the two elements. The roster size will be 32 (similar to the SSA roster, but also include the gimmicklanders) (you know what I mean). The Dark and Light elements will each have: Eight Core Skylanders One Giant Two Swap Force (the new swappabilites will be "Stomp" and "Gravitate") One Trap Master Two Minis One Supercharger (and vehicle) One Sensei (Light Bazooker and Dark Quickshot) As for the plot it centers around an evil troll scientist named: Professor Dizastor! He is a notorious criminal to all of Skylands and is a HATER for flowers! However, once he was defeated, he was put on house arrest (since Cloudcraker Prison was destroyed). But, he used his house arrest to his advantage in creating a new monstrosity known as: the Root Reaper! Now, with the Root Reaper on the loose, it's sole purpose is to absorb all life essences of every flower grown in Skylands! So, your task is to track down the Root Reaper and stop it in its tracks before all flowers die out or else Skylands will lose it's beauty! I'm also making PVP Battle Mode return, alongside Heroic Challenges, Survival Mode, basically everything from the six installments, but put in a dark and light standpoint.

As a young individual who aspires to own a game company of my own someday, I actually wanna revive the Toys to Life trend & make it bigger & better, that also includes reviving the Skylanders franchise.

I think the switch from Trap Team to SuperChargers is what put me off. I got all characters of the first 3 games (Spyros Adv, Giants, and Swap Force) but Trap Team was a game where I only got 1 of each element (plus a few extras), but I did get one of each trap type too. The main issue I had was when I learned that the switch to Superchargers changed how villains worked, where you no longer played the villains. I never got superchargers after getting attached to the villain mechanic, so for me that was when I stopped playing.

I grew up with Skylanders and it really was a huge part of my childhood I own almost every single Skylander and I’m sad that it’s downfall was so critical.

Oversaturation, same thing that kills most games, but on steroids due to the cost of entry thanks to figures

We just need a Skylanders smash rep to bring the series back to life lol

when i discovered my wii was still working after all those years we thought it was broken cause some of the races on mario kart didnt work i played skylanders giants again, that game was one of my favorites from wii and i still have all of my skylanders in a box, i was able to get one of each element and i remember chop chop being favorite for me and a robot dragon i forgot his name was the favorite of my brother, sadly i think i have lost one being like a tree with maces for hands and i also dont know where eruptor is, it makes me happy people still talk about this game

It is worth mentioning that, after Skylanders Giants, the games would rotate different developers. When Toys for Bob was working on one, Vicarious Visions would be working on the other. Example: Toys for Bob would do Spyro's Adventure, Giants, and after that, Vicarious Visions would do Swap Force, and after that, Toys for Bob would work on Trap team, and so on.

What was yalls favorite skylander? Ill go first, mine was hot head

I STILL COLLECT THOSE GOOFY THINGSSSS

the community is still fairly active, and me and my friend play battle mode still all the time!

I was a little older than the target audience at the time but I have great memories of bonding over this game with my little brother during my parents nasty divorce, sky landers has a special place in my heart

Ok (second comment)

I just don't like Spyro design in Skylanders

I miss this franchise so much. I loved all the games, had nearly almost every skylander and i knew every single boss. It may have been my favorite franchise of my childhood.

Toys for bob was also working on the crash and spyro trilogies around the same time so more than likely a lot of their time was allocated to that instead of a dying franchise

Man, skylanders truly was my childhood. I still have almost every figure and play some of the games every now and then.

I have such fond memories of playing skylanders giants with my dad as a kid. I wasn't good at it but I'd run around as flashwing while my dad went through doing all the hard things. I remember how excited I was to watch him beat khaos :) I still have some of the figures in my room (flashwing being one of them she's my baby)

my only happiness came from those puzzles and those tiny little friendly monsters that would destroy evil. it really did hurt to say there are no more skylander games to come but here i am with a new game coming soon! (i like skylanders so much i have collected almost all regular skylanders, half of the legendary and one Eons elite also tons of supercharger)

I loved the Skylanders for just how goofy and fun the games were, they almost felt like Saturday morning cartoons that never took themselves too seriously. As far as bridging them back now I'm not sure how I feel cause on the one hand yes, I'd love a new Skylanders game on the recent consoles but with the time that's passed what about my old collection? Maybe they could test the waters with something like a remake of the first 2 games with a figure of at least 1 of each character, I know with the last game I definitely stopped getting as much and would just grab, 1 fire guy, 1 water guy or whatever.

great video Skylanders was a great franchise and i miss the series i was my childhood wish we would get a new installment and it doesn't have to be toys to life

I am going to a contest and I found this. Now Im finally calm. Thanks Bro! ❤

I still have the first 3 games. I like going back and replaying them from time to time.

Thanks to this video I finally know why joustus from Shovel Knight: King Of Cards gave me a sense of déjà vu, thank you