£45 toys that can trick you into a £300 spend
I read this article in The Sun today about parents being pressured into spending hundreds of pounds by new must-have video games that encourage their users to build up collections of toy figures.
The Sun reports:’The popular trio of “toys-to-life” games — Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions — cost from around £44.99 to get started.
But the games rely on players collecting plastic figures and vehicles. The toys contain electronic sensors which are read when placed on a platform — or “portal” — connected to a games console. The figure then becomes an on-screen character you can play in a game. The toys can also unlock levels and save progress in games.’
Engineer Ian Hall, 46, from Sittingbourne, Kent, has spent £290 on Supercharger toys for his son Leo, seven.
He told The Sun: “Once the kids are hooked they realise they need another part. If you haven’t bought it they say, ‘I need it as I can’t do this bit of the game’.”
Consumer experts are calling for the total price of the complete game to be made clear. So if you have a little one who has ‘Lego Dimensions’ on their Christmas list, you may want to take this information into consideration.
