It seems risky to compete with toys-to-life games like Skylanders, Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions, and Amiibo, but if you have the designer for Japan’s two most popular toy franchises you may stand a chance. Yasuo Takahama, the man who brought us Transformers and Tamagotchi, is designing the toys for Infinite Arms, a toys-to-life mobile game with fighting robots. Infinite Arms is being developed by Jumo, a company found by Keiichi Yano (Gitaroo Man, Elite Beat Agents), Microsoft Studios’ Chris Esaki (Gears of War, Mass Effect), and writer Tom Abernathy (League of Legends, The Division).
Infinite Arms is meant to be a “step up” from other toys-to-life games and focus on a 15-17 teen demographic, although I’m sure younger and older audiences will get a kick out of it. The figures themselves are quite impressive, with many points of articulation, detailed paint jobs, and a hefty size that makes them stand above little Amiibo statues. The toys are meant to be played in and outside of the game. Players will be able to buy new weapons and accessories for their figure, giving each customer tons of gameplay variety. Each toy has a unique 64-bit ID, so even if players buy the same weapon they will have different properties.
Don’t expect to find Infinite Arms toys to come to Target or Toys R Us, because the game has an interesting plan for getting its toys to consumers. Inspired by “fast fashion” stores like H&M and Uniqlo where new designs are made every few weeks, Infinite Arms will have new weapons every two weeks that players can buy from the in-game store. Jumo has partnered with Amazon to get the toys shipped to your house right from the game. The toys will be sold in four-month seasons, meaning that every four months four new figures are released. The figures are also limited edition, so if you didn’t get a figure during its season you may have to pay extra from a scalper. This certainly increases the toys collectability, and makes the figure you buy a little more special.
The gameplay for Infinite Arms seems to be an arena style third-person-shooter, something that bears resemblance to Transformers: War for Cybertron. Players can connect two weapons to each robot’s hand and two additional weapons on their back, weapons like giant swords, hand cannons, shoulder mounted missiles, your standard giant robot arsenal. Players who make it to the top of the leaderboards will also get exclusive weapons and accessories shipped to them.
Infinite Arms will also have a story driven campaign that players can play on the app. The story will focus on the human pilots that control the robots, and weekly “episodes” will be released to move the story along. Aberthany explains that the story “…comes from our own memories of being kids and playing with action figures like this.” Infinite Arms story is similar to the 80s cartoons that the game is inspired by, with each episode expanding upon the world that the toys live in. It’s not only a chance to show new toys, but also give players something to be emotionally invested in.
The team at Jumo have some big plans for Infinite Arms, and they’re offering a different kind of toys-to-life game that will make them stand out against giants like Disney and Lego. With a team of gaming veterans, some bad-ass figures, and a unique selling strategy, Infinite Arms may be the next big market for toys-to-life games.