The Skylanders video game and toys is an interesting concept as it allows gamers to not only collect physical toys, but they are also able to use these toys in the game. Considering that Skylanders was actually outselling other action figures according to a report from last year, it didn’t come as a surprise when Nintendo announced their Amiibo figurines earlier this year.
That being said, could Nintendo be considering allowing third-party developers access to their Amiibo figures to be used in their games? Considering that Nintendo is rather protective of their IP to the extent that they refuse to create mobile games, it is surprising to learn that third-party dev support for the Amiibo figurines is a possibility.
Speaking to the folks at IGN, Nintendo’s licensing manager Damon Baker told them that discussions were currently ongoing. According to Baker, “We’re excited to see how that pans out but there’s a ton of interest from our third-party partners and we’re looking at what makes sense in terms of business models and levels of integration. There are really creative ideas that are coming through and we are working towards some opportunities for next year.”
This is further supported by Nintendo’s marketing director David Wharton who believes that the Amiibo figurines could be used by third-party devs to their advantage by “opening up new capabilities and new ways of extending the value of games and bringing the functionality into games.” It remains to be seen how all of this will work out, but it’s definitely something that gamers can look forward to.