SUBOTRON pro games: Toys to Life: when virtual worlds become physical reality

Location: Room D / Q21
Admission free


Volker Hirsch

Creative Director, Munich

Board Games used as Mobile Games can be solid revenue supporters. The much more stronger connection between videogames and physical toys nevertheless works in another way: hybridgames, Toys 3.0 or “Toys to Life” are in line with the trend. “Skylanders”, “Disney Infinity”, “Lego Dimensions”, “Pokémon GO” are videogames which are extended with a physical element. Alone “Skylanders” led to a revenue of 3 Mrd. US$ and the market for this genre just begins to open.

Wherein is the feature of the Game Design of these games? Which challenges are lying in the production? Is it a segment in which an Indie-Developer can step in and which requirements must be fullfilled?


Short biography

After Volker was murdered by an giant ant in the age of 12 years the fascination of innovative gameworlds has not released him anymore.
Equipped with a seldom certificate for "Spiel- & Bildungsmittelberatung" he took the road developing board- and videogames. He worked among others with Amigo Spiel + Freizeit, Games Workshop, Wizards of the Coast, Bioware, Blizzard, Activision und Travian. Thereby he took responsibility for popular brands like “Magic: The Gathering”, “Dungeons&Dragons”, “Warhammer 40k”, “Pokémon CCG” and “Der Herr der Ringe”. Recently he developed with Ravensburger new hyrid games for combining videogames and toys.

<link http: subotron.com veranstaltung toys-to-life _blank>subotron.com/veranstaltung/toys-to-life/