I can safely say I’m a Starlink: Battle for Atlas believer now. 

It took a minute. The game’s E3 2017 announcement left me with one thought: What are you thinking, Ubisoft? Starlink, in case you hadn’t heard, falls under the “toys-to-life” banner, alongside games like Skylanders, Lego Dimensions, and the now-defunct Disney Infinity.

That genre feels like an unsafe bet in 2017. Disney spelled out the risk last year with Infinity‘s cancellation. Bob Iger, CEO, explained that toys-to-life carry “substantially more risk, particularly when it comes to manufacturing and managing the toy inventory.”

In the end, Disney classified its $147 million loss as the “Infinity Charge.” The game didn’t fail, but the toys didn’t sell enough, which meant excess stock was left to eat up valuable warehouse space and in-store shelf space. The fact that Skylanders and Lego have both slowed down their release pace, too, should tell you something: toys-to-life is struggling.

Now, along comes Starlink with its sleek plastic toy space ships and their swappable pilots, wings, and weapons. And there’s that question again: What is Ubisoft thinking?

“For us, we find that space young and very exciting,” said Matthew Rose, a producer at Ubisoft Toronto. “I still think there’s tons of opportunity, there’s tons of room to reach new players.”

Rose pointed to the abundance of still-young players who grew up on games like Skylanders. Toys-to-life took off as a genre initially because it gave little kids a chance to play games that were similar to the ones their parents played, or the ones they saw on TV. But they’re kid-friendly games that make physical toys integral to the experience.

“In many cases, the next thing in line [after early toys-to-life entrants] are AAA, often M-rated games that weren’t necessarily designed for [a younger] audience. We see a huge gap in between, and that’s really where we want to fit in and provide a brand new experience for these players.”

In other words, Ubisoft sees opportunity in an audience of post-Skylanders but pre-Grand Theft Auto gamers. Starlink will even try to address two of the most pressing criticisms toys-to-life has faced: toy purchases were a requirement and toy lines in general were too large for any one person to reasonably collect.

Ubisoft isn’t ready to share specifics just yet, but the desire is to make the Starlink toy line an “achievable” collection. 

“We very intentionally aimed for a very focused product line,” Rose said. “Something where each character, each starship brings something very, very significant to the experience.”

Of the three ships I got to see during my demo, one favored speed and agility, one favored armor and survivability, and one struck a balance between the other two. 

The game itself supports that variety in ways that might surprise you. It wasn’t necessarily clear in the E3 reveal, but Starlink has much more in common with games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Prey than it does with earlier toys-to-life releases.

The story plays out in a freely explorable solar system featuring multiple planets and points of interest in space for you to visit. The whole thing is seamless, so you’re transitioning between surface and outer space locations without any breaks (think No Man’s Sky).

It’s a sandbox that lets you create the same kind of player-authored moments that made 2017’s Prey such a thrill. Your ice-based weapon, for example, can freeze things… but it can also give power to the assorted threats you’d face in a colder environment.

This sandbox vibe applies outside of combat, as well. There are different factions to align yourself with, trading, resource gathering… all manner of bits and pieces that, together, are meant to convey the sense that the Atlas system is alive with activity. 

In fact, it’s that aspect of the game — so overshadowed by the toys at E3 — that made me a believer once I saw it. For the most part, at least. That’s where Starlink‘s other edge on earlier toys-to-life games comes into focus: you don’t actually need the toys.

“If that’s not the way [you] want to play, we don’t want to then block people from enjoying [it],” Rose said. “Absolutely, you can collect all of the parts digitally. You can get the whole game digitally.”

The advantage of having the toys remains to be seen. Yes, there’s something very fast, easy, and even satisfying about physically swapping one weapon on the ship clipped to your controller for another with no pause in the game. 

That said, I feel like a pop-up radial menu could offer the same sense of immediacy — or very close to it — without the need to take either hand off the controller. Whichever sounds more appealing to you, Starlink only stands to benefit from offering both.

“We don’t want people to feel like we’re trying to trick them into buying these. We want people to collect these because they’re amazing, high quality, incredible tech, [and] they bring you this gameplay experience that’s more intuitive than any inventory management system you’ve ever seen,” Rose said.

And if all that fumbling with plastic isn’t for you? No big deal.

“There’s no hard gating,” he continued. “We really want this to be the most player-friendly experience it can be.”

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