Skylanders iOS games to debut Activision mobile platform

Skylanders: Lost Islands and Skylanders: Battlegrounds will be the first games to utilise Activision's new mobile platform, Activate, when they launch in November.

The two new iOS Skylanders games will leverage codes bundled with existing figurines. Lost Islands is a free-to-play resource management game which has been described as "similar to DragonVale" - whatever that is - by multiple outlets. Players will be able to grow and progress their Skylanders characters in-game by sending them on missions.

Battlegrounds is a more core experience, utilising the scalable Giants engine; it's a turn based strategy RPG hybrid with real-time combat. A starter pack will set you back $50 and includes three figures, $30 of virtual goods, and a Bluetooth-powered Portal, allowing you to import your characters through RFID, just as in the full Skylanders games Spyro's Adventure and Giants.

Both games are due in November and will allow players to purchase upgrades and items via in-game currency or real cash.

As for Activate, InsideMobileApps reports it's a social network mobile platform allowing users to log into games to access various connected features - much like Mobage, GREE or DeNA. Users can log in via Facebook or create an Activate account, and will then be able to access their friends list to leverage in-game as well as features like cloud storage.

Although Activate has not been dated, we can probably expect it in November alongside the new Skylanders games; it will later be rolled out to all Activision Blizzard mobile games, new and existing, including Skylanders: Cloud Patrol.

Thanks, Gamasutra.