Star Controller

While the announcement of a new Skylanders game (Swap Force) is no surprise, the fact that Toys for Bob is not working on this one is:

“Vicarious Visions, which has worked on parts of Skylanders since the beginning, is making the Wii U, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Skylanders: Swap Force. The Beenox studio is making a Wii version, while n-Space is making a 3DS version.

‘Toys for Bob is not developing this one, but they are providing input,’ [Chris] Wilson said.”

-Dean Takahashi, “Skylanders: Swap Force is Activision’s next big bet on hybrid toy-games (preview)”, VentureBeat.com & Chris Wilson, Activision producer

Skylanders: Swap Force introduces players to another twist to the toy collection extravaganza:

• There will be 8 new toys that can be separated into two parts, which can be mixed and matched with other parts.
• A new portal will be required for these toys. They will not be compatible with the older portal.
• Players can jump in Swap Force.

I really thought Paul’s sarcastic comment about emerging patterns and logic was hinting at a Skylanders game. I guess I was wrong. I guess projects have changed quickly since November 2012 and we can go back to the classic “TFB Guessing Game”. However, it is possible that Vicarious Visions, Beenox and n-Space are working on Swap Force while TFB starts on the next iteration of the Skylanders series for next year. The Call of Duty games are developed this way. Dev duties shift between Infinity Ward and Treyarch (including other studios) in order to work on fewer and larger games that can be released on an annual basis.

What do you think about Swap Force and TFB not developing this one?

Links
YouTube: Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice
Skylanders: Swap Force website
Toys For Bob Wins 2012 BAFTA Award
The Guardian - Skylanders Swap Force: ‘We knew we had a magical idea on our hands’
VentureBeat- Skylanders: Swap Force is Activision’s next big bet on hybrid toy-games (preview)

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