It seems that it is already something confirmed and Sphero Company CEO Paul Berberian, confirmed that his company left aside the production and manufacture of these fun toys that can be controlled from an iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The firm announces the end of production officially and in addition to this they expect put an end to the stock they have spread all over the world, so lovers of this type of device and BB-8 and R2-D2 lovers pay attention, as it is possible that you will begin to see interesting offers for these products.
Paying the license is more expensive than the profit obtained in sales
The truth is that these types of licenses cost manufacturers a fortune and when sales do not accompany it, it is difficult to recover the investment. This is something that is happening with these Spheroes, so Berberian himself explains that after the "fashion" of the film, it is no longer profitable to sell this type of custom robots. And it is that the license entails a series of products that will cease to be produced immediately, among which we find Lightning McQueen from Cars, Spiderman and many more that are under the Disney license. If they are not profitable it is better to leave it.
The courses that Apple takes in the "Today at Apple" on the code the robots that are used are these Sphero (without Star Wars decoration or similar) and the company will not lose too many customers since they are well introduced in the school world. It is certainly a well thought out decision by the company.