Skylanders franchise eclipses $2 billion in worldwide sales

The Skylanders franchise has generated, life-to-date, more than $2 billion in worldwide sales (as of Dec. 31, 2013), Activision Blizzard announced today. That's about $500,000 more than what the publisher previously announced back in August 2013.

Skylanders was first released in 2011 and sparked an entire genre of games that bring toy action figures to life in a virtual world. Activision also revealed that, at the end of the year, approximately 175 million Skylanders toys had been sold worldwide.

For the calendar year, Skylanders Giants, including toys and accessories, was the fourth best-selling handheld and console game in "dollars overall" in North America and Europe combined. Skylanders SWAP Force was the sixth best-selling game.