Toys-to-life
[1] These toys use a near field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID), or image recognition data protocol to determine the individual figurine's proximity, and save a player's progress data to a storage medium located within that piece.
[2] It was one of the most lucrative branches of the video game industry especially during the late 1990s and 2010s, with the Skylanders franchise alone selling more than $3 billion worth over the course of four years.
[3] Although modern versions use NFC technology, an early example of such a game is Redbeard's Pirate Quest: Interactive Toy created by Zowie in 1999.
Other precursors to these kinds of games include the Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Dennō Bōkenki Webdiver and Daigunder toylines, where children could plug Gladion and Daigunder into their TV screens to use as controls, and the other toys could interact with the game through infrared sensors.
A PC game came with a plastic castle courtyard garden that connects to a USB port, players can interact with the PC game by placing figurines of a girl and several animals on various places, play skip rope, slide figurines from castle to forest to change the in-game environment.
A Fisher-Price brand toy that connects to USB, figurines from Sesame Street and various kids shows can be placed to play games on their accompanying websites.
It focused on the same concept that Toy-to-life products implemented, but instead of using figurines, they opted to use collectible trading cards instead.
Launching in 2014 with figurines, Nintendo has since also deployed Amiibo-compatible playing cards, plush yarn toys, and even promotional cereal boxes.
Lightseekers: Awakening is a multimedia franchise created by PlayFusion, an independent British studio co-founded by Mark Gerhard, the former CEO of RuneScape publisher Jagex.
The Lightseekers RPG video game is free-to-play and does not require accessories to function, but players can purchase a line of interactive figures made in partnership with Tomy to enhance their experience.
It was less like a traditional game and more like an application giving players customization options for their desktop and a safe social network to talk on.
A mobile RPG spin-off, Skylanders: Ring of Heroes, was released worldwide on December 12, 2018, and developed by Com2Us.
Following their acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has expressed interest in continuing the Skylanders series.
The line concluded in 2016, when Disney announced that production of the series had officially ceased, and that there would be no more future titles.
Disney Playmation was a longer range (~10m) networked interactive role-playing game with wearable toys that supported BLE communications with phone apps.
Due to poor sales, there were four themes released: DC Super Heroes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and DreamWorks Dragons.
The game took place in a small town called Sick City, which was under fire by a villain named Omega Overlord.
Players must physically assemble some figurines by unlocking the levels in-game, which showed them the building instructions on-screen.
The game was developed by Ubisoft Toronto and released on October 16, 2018, for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
The Switch version features an exclusive pilot and ship (Nintendo's Fox McCloud and his Arwing) within the game's starter pack.
On April 3, 2019, it was announced that due to sales that fell below expectations, there would be no further releases of physical Starlink toys.
Controller mount packs were also released for each console that enabled co-op play with the physical toys.
