Anki targets Skylanders with September launch

Watch out Skylanders, Anki believes it can become a new force in toys-to-life with its upcoming racing game: Anki Overdrive.

Co-founder and president of Anki, Hanns Tappeiner, accused toys-to-life rivals such as Disney Infinity and LEGO Dimensions of ‘just copying Skylanders’, and said that his game will offer retailers something different when it arrives on September 20th – just five days before Skylanders Superchargers.

Overdrive is a combat racer controlled via a smartphone, but the actual racing takes place in real life, utilising robotic cars and a track that gamers build themselves.

The first game, Anki Drive, was a hit in the US, becoming the second most popular toy on Amazon over Christmas (beaten only by Frozen). The firm is now ramping up its European efforts for the sequel, and has recruited former Nintendo marketing boss Shelly Pearce to help the charge.

We are putting a lot of effort in the UK and Germany,” Tappeiner told MCV.

[Toys-to-life] is becoming crowded, but everyone is just copying Skylanders. We’re less interested in doing a game and more interested in bringing what we love about games to the physical space. That sets us apart.”

Overdrive launches with a 150 price tag, which makes it the most expensive toys-to-life product on the market.

That’s how much we charged for Drive, and that worked well,” he said. People have been playing Drive for months, even years. As people get used to the idea you can play it for a long time, then the view on price changes.”