Skylanders: Battlecast - Because amiibo Cards Weren't Enough

[Failinhearts]

Anyone who's a fan of Skylanders knows that the franchise has dabbled with card collecting before: There are cards that come with the toys themselves and Topps also has a trading card line for each game.

Skylanders fans would also know that the franchise created several mobile games and apps as well: Skylanders: Cloud Patrol. Skylanders: Lost Islands, Skylanders: Battlegrounds, Skylanders: Collection Vault and the Tablet version of Skylanders: Trap Team.

So now, Activision decided to combine both with a mobile spin-off game that interacts with a seperate line of Trading Cards: Skylanders: Battlecast! (And before you ask, no, the cards don't have NFC Chips inside them. They won't interact with the main Skylanders games either.)

Here's the press release:

https://blog.activision.com/community/games-blog/skylanders/blog/2015/08/18/introducing-skylanders-battlecast-a-new-free-to-play-card-battle-game-launching-in-2016

The Skylanders universe is home to an ever-expanding roster of heroes and villains, and next year, we’re introducing an all-new way to battle with your favorite characters with Skylanders BattleCast—a free-to-play card battle game for mobile devices.

In Skylanders BattleCast, players can wage epic card battles in an all-new single player adventure or with friends, either online or in the same room. Fans can assemble a team of Skylanders by collecting digital or physical Battle Cards that can be scanned into the game and brought to life by their mobile device’s camera. What’s more, when two Battle Cards are scanned side-by-side, players will also be able to engage in duels and interact with the characters through augmented reality.

Alongside the talented development teams behind the Skylanders franchise, we’ve assembled a team of experts across physical card game design, pro card players, and the top card artists to help create an authentic card battle experience with Skylanders BattleCast. While Skylanders BattleCast won’t arrive until 2016, we’re giving fans a sneak peek with the launch of a preview app on September 20, available via the App Store, Google Play, and Amazon Appstore.