Death of Man, 19, May Further Hurt Laser Gun Sales
Toy laser guns look more like Luke Skywalker’s weapon of choice than something Dick Tracy would pack, and last Christmas they energized the lackadaisical toy market.
Customers sometimes bickered over dwindling holiday supplies of Lazer Tag and Photon, as the best-known of the laser guns are called, and cash registers rang up an estimated $100 million to $200 million in sales last year. But since then sales of the controversial toys have cooled considerably, according to industry experts.
While most experts doubt Tuesday night’s shooting death of a Lazer Tag player in Rancho Cucamonga will squelch the fad, the manufacturer of one laser toy conceded that the incident could hurt sales. The death of 19-year-old Leonard Joseph Falcon is sure to add to the uproar surrounding the laser guns, which some have branded “war toys.”
The shooting “does confirm our worst fears in a very immediate sense,” said Rick Gaumer, a staff member of Stop the War Toys Campaign, a project of the War Resisters League of New England. “There have been complaints for years from police departments throughout the United States that the toys were getting more realistic and the possibility for tragedy was increasing all the time.”
Worlds of Wonder, the Fremont, Calif., manufacturer of Lazer Tag, continued to decline comment on the shooting. “It is inappropriate to comment out of respect for the family,” the company said.
Lazer Tag, Photon and a burst of imitators are essentially a high-tech game of tag in which competitors shoot beams of infrared light at each other’s targets, which are worn on helmets or belts. The targets beep and flash when hit. The retail price tag for a basic Lazer Tag kit starts at about $40 and climbs sharply from there depending on the extras.
“At Christmas it was undeniably the hottest toy,” said Rick Anguilla, editor of Toy & Hobby World magazine.
Lazer Tag climbed to the top spot on the trade magazine’s Toy Hit Parade in December, and Photon climbed to a peak of No. 9 in the November tally of toy sales at 3,000 retail outlets. Clubs of laser-gun enthusiasts have formed throughout the country.
Arenas where players can shoot at one another or robots and targets have sprung up throughout the country, including several in Southern California.
But sales of the pricey laser games have declined, industry experts said. The latest Toy Hit Parade, which measures February sales, put Lazer Tag in the 14th spot. Photon had dropped off the 20-slot list.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily any less popular . . . but it’s an expensive toy” purchased at special occasions like Christmas or birthdays, Anguilla said.
Anguilla said he doubts that the shooting incident will damage sales more.
