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Starlink: Battle for Atlas hands-on preview — on my mission to save toys-to-life

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 6 min

Ubisoft showed off its new entry in the “toys-to-life” market, Starlink: Battle for Atlas. I played it at a preview event, and it brought back memories of how big the toys-to-life market used to be. I think this one has a good chance to succeed because Ubisoft is investing in a brand-new universe.

Activision and Toys for Bob initiated the market with Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure in 2011. By 2014, the toy-game hybrid had generated more than $2 billion in revenues from the sales of video games and more than 175 million action figures. But then, it fell apart. Activision, Disney, and Warner Bros. all entered and exited the market. In 2017, Activision put Skylanders on hiatus, seemingly a victim of the retail inventory excess problem.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.