On the heels of the Barbie film’s overwhelming success final 12 months (and Barbie’s reemergence in the hearts of older followers), Mattel got down to discover a approach to deliver Barbie to a brand new era of avid gamers for the first time. Now, Mattel has a brand new Barbie recreation for kids on its means — and a few a lot greater gaming ambitions meant for all ages in tow.
As we speak, Mattel introduced Barbie Project Friendship, an journey recreation that follows Barbie “Brooklyn” Roberts, Barbie “Malibu” Roberts, and associates as they restore a run-down neighborhood heart.
That includes the authentic voice forged of Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures and developed with assist from the present’s head author Ann Austen, Barbie Project Friendship is headed to Nintendo Swap, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X|S, and PC on October 25. It’s going to launch with native minigame co-op, and its colourful reveal trailer reveals off a number of actions like renovating an arcade, customizing scooters, cooking in an Overcooked-esque kitchen, and (after all) taking part in costume up.
Nonetheless, the recreation represents much more than yet one more Barbie recreation to executives at Mattel — it’s considered one of the first massive steps in the toy model’s ongoing transfer to develop its roster of video video games. Barbie Project Friendship is considered one of Mattel’s first video games made in collaboration with family-friendly PC and console writer Outright Video games (identified for video games like Peppa Pig: World Adventures and DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos) as a part of their multi-year partnership announced in May.
Additionally in the works in partnership with Outright are two extra video games meant to introduce new gamers to different Mattel franchises: the not too long ago revealed Matchbox Driving Adventures (a aggressive racing recreation impressed by Mattel’s line of toy vehicles) and Monster Excessive: Skulltimate Secrets and techniques (one other collaboration-focused title impressed by the doll line), with different unannounced video games on their means as properly.
Alongside its initiative to develop extra PC and console video games together with Barbie Project Friendship, Mattel not too long ago introduced its ambitions to start self-publishing cell video games. In accordance with Erika Winterholler, Head of Enterprise Improvement and Digital Gaming at Mattel, the model plans to announce its first self-published title later this 12 months.
With its cell video games, Mattel particularly hopes to to study from its previous errors in accessibility and give attention to making its new video games inclusive. Most recently, Mattel pledged to make 80 % of its video games accessible for colorblind gamers by the finish of 2024 (with plans to succeed in 90 % one 12 months later), with cell video games like Uno! Cellular not too long ago receiving updates so as to add digital equivalents of the bodily playing cards’ new accessibility options.
Barbie video games for all ages
Whereas Barbie Project Friendship and lots of of Mattel’s upcoming video games are being developed with a brand new era of younger gamers in thoughts, seemingly a pillar of Mattel’s gaming ambitions is growing Barbie video games for all ages, partially sparked by the Barbie film’s overwhelming success amongst older followers. In accordance with Winterholler, this emphasised the reality “that Barbie is for everybody” — not simply the youngsters focused by Barbie Project Friendship and lots of of Mattel’s current video video games.
One among these video games is a Barbie cell recreation made in collaboration with Zynga’s studio Rollic. Focused towards informal cell avid gamers (and purportedly gamers of all ages), the unnamed recreation is ready to be launched later this 12 months.
“We purpose to create experiences for all, whether or not it’s for a youthful viewers with Barbie Project Friendship or for informal gamers with our upcoming Barbie cell recreation made in collaboration with Rollic,” Winterholler added by way of e mail.
Mattel additionally hopes to deliver Barbie to wider audiences via partnerships with mass-market video games in the vein of its current collaborations with Stumble Guys and Roblox, the latter of which noticed over 150 million guests since its launch final 12 months.
Trying additional into the future, Mattel has some broader objectives for its increasing video games initiative in retailer. In accordance with Winterholler, the firm’s video games division hopes to develop into fully new horizons via experimentation, whether or not it’s by partnering with extra gaming studios of varied sizes, testing out new platforms and genres, or growing “new inventive takes on our present franchises.”
“Anticipate the surprising,” Winterholler mentioned. “One factor we discovered from the Barbie film is the significance of being daring and taking dangers.”
Amelia Zollner is a contract author at IGN who loves all issues indie and Nintendo. Outdoors of IGN, they’ve contributed to websites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun, and so they’re at the moment growing a recreation known as Garage Sale. Discover them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.