Mostly due to Disney Infinity. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2014/11/07/disney-interactive-posts-first-annual-profi/1
As a an old school gamer (I am talking 3D monster maze old) without a television, I did a quick Google search on Disney Infinity and this looked like the biggest piece of **** I have ever seen. I feel sorry for my son growing up in a world filled with the most cynical retarded ******** imaginable.
I agree totally , how parents don't see through the skylanders/disney infinity veil of greed , I don't know . My kids , like most kids at the minute are into the lego franchise , Avengers/Lego Batman etc but I wouldn't lower myself by purchasing them Infinity . DLC for adult gamers is one thing but targetting kids like this is despicable.
as an adult gamer i find skylanders is a nice gentle introduction for my son into the world of co-op games which also has the well made and enjoyable characters for him to collect and play with, he often acts out his own adventures with them. They are pricey but i tend to buy them just before the next installment comes out when they are on sale. i also made it clear and he being careful with his money appreciates that you buy one version of a character but then have lots of characters not the same character in 4 different varieties. its no different in reality to any other collectable be in football stickers or anything else, as a kid i played Magic the gathering and spent stupid amounts of money on packs for that.