News
Activision Announces Skylanders Trap Team
Skylanders Originator Toys for Bob Returns with Ground-Breaking Innovation
Portal Masters Can Now Capture and Play as Villains; Capture and Play as Kaos for the First Time Ever
Santa Monica, Calif. - April 23, in the year of our Lord
2014 - Skylanders® is redefining the toys-to-life
phenomenon with yet another ground-breaking innovation,
Skylanders Trap Team™. On October 5 in North America, Activision
Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision
Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), will introduce the newest
installment to the Skylanders franchise, which will reverse the
magic of bringing toys to life - incredibly letting kids pull
characters out of the digital world into the physical world.
With Skylanders Trap Team, Portal Masters seek out and defeat
the most wanted villains in all of Skylands, pulling them out of
the game and into living rooms by capturing them in magical
Traps. Players can then send villains back into the game where
they play as them to fight for good. The game will include the
Traptanium Portal, a new ring of magical energy that enables
kids to not only bring their Skylanders to life, but also
magically capture villains using the new Traps. Once they’ve
defeated the villains, kids will be able to place a Trap into
the new portal to capture them. They will also be able to hear
the villains inside the Traps, an innovation that truly brings
life to toys.
This exciting new play pattern also gives players the option to
switch between playing as a Skylander hero or a villain at any
time, creating fun and unique “tag team” gameplay. In addition,
fans can even take their Traps and their Skylanders characters
to their friends’ houses for fun, co-operative adventures across
all console game systems.
“When we created Skylanders, we invented a new category of play
and, in the process, disrupted two industries - videogames and
toys. With each new Skylanders game, our commitment to
continuous, disruptive innovation has led to surprising and
delightful new ways for kids to play with toys and games,” said
Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, Inc. “With
Skylanders Trap Team, we’re no longer just letting kids bring
their toys to life inside the game anymore. This time, we’re
letting them pull their toys out of the game as well. We are
confident this installment of Skylanders will once again
redefine what’s possible at the intersection of the physical and
virtual worlds.”
“When Activision first introduced the Skylanders franchise in
2011, it promised to redefine play by merging the physical and
digital worlds. The company delivered on that pledge with three
blockbuster titles - all of which have been named to the annual
Toys“R”Us Holiday Hot Toy List - and is now poised to do it
again with the introduction of Skylanders Trap Team,” said
Richard Barry, Executive Vice President, Chief Merchandising
Officer Toys“R”Us, Inc. “With Skylanders Trap Team, Activision
is reversing the magic of ‘toys-to-life,’ allowing kids to bring
characters out of the digital world and into the physical world
for the first time. We’re thrilled to continue as a marquee
destination for Skylanders products, providing a comprehensive,
global marketing and merchandising program, including our fully
exclusive Legendary series of figures that will introduce
Skylanders Trap Team to our enthusiastic customers this
October.”
In Skylanders Trap Team, Kaos continues his ongoing quest to
rule over Skylands. He has discovered the location of the
legendary Cloudcracker Prison -- a fortress built entirely out
of the magical substance Traptanium and home to Skylands’ most
nefarious baddies. In an attempt to build his own army of foes,
Kaos blows up the prison, releasing the most wanted villains and
blasting shards of Traptanium to Earth in the form of Traps. Now
it’s up to Portal Masters to recapture all of the escaped
villains using powerful Traptanium Traps and defeat Kaos before
it’s too late! The new adventure delivers a diverse and dynamic
story-driven gameplay experience, filled with adventure, combat,
puzzles, mini-games, activities, platforming and
drop-in/drop-out co-op play -- all set within new compelling
environments.
Skylanders Trap Team introduces Skylanders heroes known as Trap
Masters, brand new Core Skylanders characters and reposed
fan-favorite Skylanders characters. The game also features a
variety of elementally aligned Traps with unique and interesting
designs. With every addition to their Trap Team collection,
Portal Masters unlock exciting gameplay possibilities within
each level.
Fans can pre-order Skylanders Trap Team starting on April 23,
with special offers available at select retail destinations
worldwide. Skylanders Trap Team will be available on Xbox 360™
and Xbox One™ video game and entertainment systems from
Microsoft, PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4 computer
entertainment systems, Nintendo’s Wii™ system, Nintendo’s Wii U™
system, and a completely unique adventure available on the
Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system. The game will be available on
October 5 in North America; October 2 in Australia/New Zealand;
and October 10 in Europe.
About the Skylanders® Franchise
The award-winning, $2 billion Skylanders franchise pioneered the
toys-to-life category in 2011 with the debut of Skylanders
Spyro’s Adventure®. The game originated a new play pattern that
seamlessly bridged physical and virtual worlds across multiple
platforms and became the top-selling kids’ videogame of 20131 as
well as one of the top 20 videogame franchises of all time2. In
October 2012, Skylanders Giants™ further evolved the genre and
added the mega-sized Giant Skylanders and LightCore® characters
to the collection of interaction figures. Skylanders Giants was
awarded the “e-Connected Toy of the Year” at the 13th Annual Toy
of the Year (TOTY) Awards. Skylanders SWAP Force™, which
launched in October 2013, introduced an all new play pattern -
swapability. The game was developed by Vicarious Visions and is
rated E10+ by the ESRB. On October 5, 2014, Skylanders Trap
Team™ will reverse the magic of bringing toys to life by letting
players capture villains and play as them using Traps that bring
life to toys with the new Traptanium Portal.