Sphero Cutting Staff & Returning To Educational Toys

2017 saw Sphero release interactive toys based on Disney characters including Lightning McQueen, Spider-Man and Star Wars Droids R2-D2 & BB-8.  However it looks like less of these will be coming out as Sphero have announced that due to sales failing to hit expectations, they are laying off 45 members of staff in Hong Kong, UK and Colorado.

“We restructured our team on Friday to better align with our product needs, As we look to our product development schedule for 2018 and beyond, we weren’t going to go that deep, so we had to make some changes for how the teams were structured.  A spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch.

Sphero previously had help from Disney following it taking part in their accelerator program back in 2014 and released their first big hit, a BB-8 toy from 2015’s Star Wars return, The Force Awakens.

“[Sales weren’t] exactly what we had expected,” the spokesperson said. “We still consider ourselves a young startup. It’s the right time to pivot.”

It looks like Sphero might have overcommitted to producing too many products, with a spokesperson saying  “That might be our sweet spot.  We’re still pretty young, but the one part of our business that continues to shine is what we’re doing in education. This allows our company to focus on that vision.”

With Sphero looking to go back to its roots with more focus on education, it does look like Disney related items will be less prominent, but sometimes less is more.

What do you think of this news?