For me Playmobil's essence is the recreation of real world things in simplified toy form, including things like fairy tales which do exist in the real world as stories. Completely new licensed worlds with backstories etc just don't feel PM to me - as cool as many of the Novelmore and other theme sets are. 
I don't know about that. In the 70ies this was true. But today in our media-driven world, kids get bombarded with characters and content. On average a kid sees 200+ characters a day that all come with backstories and exciting adventures. they literally do not have to come up with new ones, like we had to when we were young.
Actually it's George Lucas's fault. With Star Wars he unwittingly kicked in a business model where media began driving toy sales, licensing became very profitable for both the toy and entertainment industry and everyone jumped on that band wagon. And whereas a generic PM Pony Farm has a really hard time trying to get shelf space in certain territories, a SPIRIT licensed toy theme opens that door much more easily. So as a toy company you have 2 choices: either become totally dependent on licenses, or start up your own entertainment properties. LEGO has been successful with creating a mix between those two models, and having 1/3rd of classic themes along side it.
So for PLAYMOBIL to remain relevant, it has to adapt.
There is a big "BUT..." though. In doing this you have to stay true to who you are as a brand. In growing towards the sky you must develop your roots equally. You have to keep classic lines too, and develop them with the same love and dedication as in the past. And this is not happening. This is where PM fails atm. Classic lines are neglected and fall to the level of recolored re-issues. The major part of new molds is reserved for licenses. And when new investments are made into classic themes like Rescue, the new firetruck looks almost the same as the old one (but with all new parts and molds).
Similarly, the in-house created IP's need to be developed so they still fit within the system. And this is less and less a point of attention. The new Fairies fit still somewhat with Spirit, but not with core PLAYMOBIL. In terms of building system less and less tends to fit with each other. The flexibility of Steck and the original System-x has been muddled with ready to go constructions with very little overall compatibility. In other words: there is no system anymore.
LEGO once forgot about their brick, and innovated wildly around the turn of the millenium. they almost went bankrupt because of it, and could only bounce back after humbly rediscovering the brick.. Perhaps PM is on the same trajectory.
