Colour me confused. As we all know, the Gamepad controller that forms the main gimmick of Nintendo’s Wii U console, incorporates with it an NFC Reader. Back when this was first announced, many of us assumed this would allow NFC-enabled toys, for example Skylanders figures, to work on the console without the need for a separate device (the Skylanders Portal, for example). Indeed, Nintendo even made numerous references to such functionality in a subsequent Nintendo Direct – but despite this; and even as Skylanders games continue to make a presence on Nintendo’s consoles and the 3DS, this ability simply hasn’t been utilised.
Why not? Surely Skylanders’ child-friendly nature, emphasis on collectivity and vast array of funny characters is a natural fit for Nintendo – so the company should be trying to support them as much as they can right? Well apparently, Nintendo was “confused” about the whole concept of Skylanders when they were first told about it – and that confusion led to them pulling out of a potentially lucrative deal, according to Fred Ford and Paul Reiche, co-founders of Skylanders developer Toys For Bob.
Speaking to the gaming website Polygon as part of a larger Skylanders feature, the two developers revealed that the company approached Nintendo to discuss Skylanders in the hopes of getting the company behind them during early development of their big toy-centric action game. They believed the title fit in with Nintendo’s own family-friendly image and childlike charm; and at one point even discussed combining Nintendo properties into the Skylanders game world – could you imagine Mario, Zelda or Samus standing beside Spyro and the other Skylanders? However, Nintendo appeared confused by the concept.
The company’s lack of understanding over what Skylanders was supposed to be and how they’d work with it, appears to have led to Nintendo deciding not to commit to the IP. To this day, Toys For Bob remain confused as to why Nintendo didn’t give them a chance. Said Reiche: “Clearly, they have got properties well suited to this world. Why it is that they didn’t rush in here will probably haunt them for the rest of their days.”
Indeed, Skylanders has gone on to sell millions of games and hundreds of millions of the individual figures over its relatively short lifespan; and now has three separate series. Whether you’d like to admit it or not, the franchise has become an enormous global success – a fact that must hit Nintendo hard given their recent financial woes. Perhaps this could be behind recent rumours that Nintendo may be looking into turning its own virtual, toy-based series, Pokémon Rumble, into an actual physical toy line? Of course, these are just rumours right now – but you gotta admit, it makes a ton of sense; and Nintendo do have a history of showing people how things should be done…
