Toys to Life games still a hard sell for parents, says Disney

Disney believes that Toys to Life games are still a hard sell for parents, but it’s brand gives it the upper hand.

There’s definitely more of a market for Toys to Life games this year, with Skylanders Trap Team and Disney Infinity 2.0 going head to head thanks to releases within weeks of each other.

But is the whole premise a tricky concept for parents to grasp, especially when they turn out to be quite the financial investment.

When we asked Disney Infinity Executive Producer John Vignocchi whether he though Toys to Life games like Disney Infinity 2.0 and Skylanders Trap Team are a hard sell to parents, he was quick to answer.

“Yes. It’s something that we worked hard on with the first version of Disney Infinity. There are of course, other toys to life products on the market, but as Disney coming into this particular space, we knew that we had a lot of work to do to educate consumers as to what the overall promise of a toys to life game is,” explained Vignocchi. “We knew at Disney we were going to attract a broader audience than any of the other companies that entered this space could, because we had such a broad range of IP.”

With Disney Infinity 2.0, you’ll need to pay around £42 for either the Marvel Superheroes Starter Pack or the Disney Toy Box Pack. Additional figures will set you back around £10 a pop, but will unlock additional gameplay.

Then there’s also the Power Discs, which are around £3 each and offer access to unique weapons, costumes or vehicles for example.

“We spent a lot of time educating consumers about what the overall promise of Infinity is, not only from the prospect of putting down a figure and it comes to life in the game, but also from a software functionality standpoint. You’ve got the playsets, you’ve got the toy box mode, you’ve got power discs. There was a lot of work that we put inside the first version of the game to make players and parents aware what they were getting into.”

Thanks to the education offered in the first Disney Infinity and a wider knowledge of the Toys to Life systems, parents are better prepared for the latest Disney Infinity and Skylanders games.

“Parents, once they understand the eco-system, appreciate the fact that they can go and pick up just a single additional figure and use that as incentives and rewards, as opposed to a full on new video game at a £50 price point.”

“You’d be surprised as to how much the kids actually know too.”

Read more: Disney Infinity 2.0 vs Skylanders Trap Team