Are toy companies running out of NEW toy ideas?

[Inventoy]

When I was staying at a hotel near to the New York toy fair in 2007 some of the people there I was talking to from major toy companies/retail were saying that toy companies are simply struggling to come up with new toy inventions internally. This I believe has been shown by the lack of new toys at christmas and new 'must have' or fad toys throughout the year. I would be interested to hear others opinion on this subject.

Cheers,

Inventoy

[Mark]

I guess there's only so much you can do, but I will say that almost all new 'ideas' coming out are electronic in some way. Whilst this is good to see, I do think it takes a lot of the imgination out of play, sound effects, movement etc...

I also think the licensing element has a lot to do with this too, the market is awash with toys based on tv or film.

Mark