Activision announced today that it is launching a Skylanders Monopoly board game in partnership with USAopoly.
Under license from Hasbro, USAopoly will take the Skylanders video game franchine into stores as a board game based on Monopoly. It raises the question as to whether this is smart merchandising by Activision or a sign that the popular kids franchise is getting overexposed.
You can expect to see more marketing deals like this as big corporations battle each other in the hybrid toy-game transmedia market. Skylanders combines video games such as Skylanders Giants with action toy figures that are sold in stores. Disney is entering that market with its Disney Infinity hybrid toy-game products in August . Fans may react enthusiastically, or they may get sick up it.
Zynga also entered the market through a partnership with Hasbro. Skylanders have generated more than $1 billion on toy and game sales in the past couple of years. In this game, Thumpback’s Thundering Tide Pool and Zap’s Lightning Race Track take the prime property locations typically occupied by Boardwalk and Park Place. The game is available now on Amazon.com and specialty stores including Hastings, Entertainment Earth, and GameStop Canada. It sells for $39.99.