Genuinely sad news arrives as Sphero announce they will be discontinuing their wonderful range of Star Wars droids due to a lack of consumer interest between movies.
The Verge take a closer look at this regrettable news.
The Disney partnership lasted three years, but ultimately, the licensed toy business required more resources than it was worth, Berberian tells The Verge. These toys sold well when released with a movie, but interest waned over time as the movie became more distant, he says. Still, the company sold “millions” of BB-8s, although company data shows that the toys weren’t used much after initial play time and eventually sat on shelves.
“When you launch a toy, your first year’s your biggest,” he says. “Your second year’s way smaller, and your third year gets really tiny.” The opposite is true of the company’s non-licensed educational robots, he says, which become more popular year after year. None of this means Star Wars fans don’t want a BB-8 to follow them around, but Berberian says all the Star Wars fans already bought their toy. The market has dried up, at least until the next movie in the franchise.
With only 100 employees, Sphero will refocus and aim its sights on getting its products into schools. Best of luck to them, the arrival of Sphero BB-8 was a huge element of the excitement surrounding the release 3 years ago of The Force Awakens, and the 2-3-2 of R2-D2 last year was a genuine engineering feat.
