Ubisoft has canceled plans to release more Starlink toys following the game not meeting sales expectations. The game released in October 2018 alongside a range of physical toys that could also unlock items in the game.
The publisher announced the changes in a new blog post released on April 3. The toys-to-life aspect of Starlink: Battle for Atlas was continuously pushed, and became a small part of the game’s marketing push. Ubisoft released a statement on the matter.
“Despite the immense and continuous support from our players, the sales for Starlink: Battle for Atlas fell below expectations. Consequently, we recently made the decision to not release any additional physical toys for the Spring update and in the future. As part of our effort to do right by our passionate and dedicated community we are currently hard at work on our biggest update to the game so far.”
Starlink still has a range of new content coming in the spring update, slated for later this April. That update will bring new missions, challenges, activities, new ships, pilots and weapons. It’s unclear whether more updates will come to the game following the spring update.
Starlink released in October 2018 for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. The Nintendo Switch version included a crossover with Star Fox, which some saw as the best of part of the game. The April update will bring Star Wolf to the Nintendo Switch version of the game.
Starlink toys were a cool, but expensive, way to modify your spaceship in the game. Collecting all the physical toys for the game could cost nearly $300, while the digital deluxe version cost just $80. That digital deluxe version included instant access to every ship, pilot, and weapon in the game at launch.
The loss of Starlink toys looks to be another blow to toys-to-life games. Activision hasn’t put out a Skylanders since 2017, and series like Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions are no more. Ubisoft’s attempt to get in the market undermined itself with easy access to digital goods and maybe came to market too late. At least we got the best Star Fox game since the Nintendo 64 out of it.
