Sanrio Co. is jumping into the business of video games in earnest. The holder of Hello Kitty and other popular characters is seeking to create new characters in the realm of the same sort as Nintendo Co.’s Super Mario Bros.
Sanrio is hoping to expand its character lineup to cultivate a new clientele and bolster its intellectual property business, the company said on April 21.
Company officials said they are establishing a new brand called “Sanrio Games” and will release “Sanrio Party Land,” a software product for the Nintendo Switch video game console, in autumn.
Sanrio Party Land will feature at least 145 characters and will allow its players to enjoy minigames and board games.
There are plans to release about 10 game titles under the brand by the end of March 2029, the Sanrio officials said.
Sanrio has so far been involved in the video game business by licensing other companies to use Sanrio characters.
The company is setting out on developing video games on its own and will also work to create new characters.
“We are hoping to make approaches to those who have not been part of Sanrio’s fan base, such as men,” said Sanrio President Tomokuni Tsuji.
Major film company Toei Co. also said on April 21 that it is setting up a video game brand called Toei Games.
The holder of famous characters, including the Kamen Rider superhero, said that, by entering the game business, it will seek to “create new forms of intellectual property that will excite the world.”
AFTER POKEMON’S EXAMPLE
The video game business, which Sanrio and Toei have decided to enter, is a viable means for operating intellectual property businesses globally.
A major hit with characters is expected to bring a massive return, as was typically the case with Pokemon.
The Pokemon franchise has its origins in Pocket Monster, a video game series released in 1996.
Games of the series turned out to be tremendously popular for their features that allowed their users to trade their Pokemon creatures with fellow players.
The Pokemon characters have won global public recognition in step with the spread of the games.
The franchise expanded into other domains, such as a card game, an anime series and the Pokemon Center merchandise shops, and has now grown into one of the world’s leading intellectual property items.
Entry into the video game market, in the meantime, is also fraught with new risks because game development requires a huge initial investment.
“Not surprisingly, initial investment has grown very big,” Kosuke Hamasaki, a Sanrio managing executive officer, told a news conference on April 21.
He added: “It’s not that we would end it all following a single success and a single fiasco. We hope to be reducing risks to the best extent we can by drawing on the portfolio and the earnings we will gain there and using them to venture into a new genre of games.”
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