UPDATE 1: Activision revealed Skylanders SWAP Force, the next installment in the popular franchise at Toy Fair 2013.
ORIGINAL STORY: Last month, Activision reported that the Skylanders franchise crossed $500 million in retail sales in the U.S.
Now it looks like the company is set to expand the hot franchise, according to a handful of new domain name registrations made through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.
On January 30, 2013, four names were registered: SkylandersKaosAlliance.com (WHOIS), SkylandersNanoForce.com (WHOIS), SkylandersSuperForce.com (WHOIS) and SkylandersSwapForce.com (WHOIS).
The domains were privately registered using MarkMonitor’s WHOIS privacy service DNStination, suggesting Activision wants to keep the projects under wraps for now. There’s little possibility the names belong to anyone else. MarkMonitor is in the business of protecting some of the world’s biggest brands, and Activision’s own Skylanders.com (WHOIS) is managed through the firm.
Right about this time last year, Activision registered the Skylanders Giants domain names through MarkMonitor, which was first reported here. Skylanders Giants was eventually announced a few weeks later and went on to be one the top holiday gifts of 2012.
Given the timing of the latest registrations and last year’s timeline, it’s possible an official announcement may be forthcoming for Skylanders Kao’s Alliance, Skylanders Nano Force, Skylanders Super Force and Skylanders Super Force.
At the time of this story going online, none of the domains resolve to a website.
Talking about this story: Forbes, Joystiq, Geeky Gadgets, TheHDRoom, Games.com, GoNintendo, Nintendo Everything and darkSpyro