Tag Archives: games

Wild + Wolf signs major Disney deal for its growing Ridley’s Games brand

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The design-led gifting company, Wild + Wolf has signed a new partnership with Disney to bring a cast of popular Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars properties to its Ridley’s Games portfolio this year.

Marking the first licensed range for the growing games brand, the product collection will consist of games and puzzles featuring gameplay that remains true to and captures the detail of the licensed characters and properties.

Ridley’s’ bestselling games like Think Fast! and Selfish will be adapted into editions, popular formats such as reaction games will be developed with unique themes, and original games will also be launched across the Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars franchises.

The contract will include rights across the UK, France, Iberia, GAS, Benelux, Nordics, Italy, CEE, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The initial collection will be launching in AW20 will include: Think Fast: Disney Edition, Drawsome: Disney Edition, Disney Villains Selfish, Disney Quiz Trivia, Star Wars Force Battle, Star Wars Selfish, Star Wars Jigsaw Puzzle, Star Wars: Mandalorian Game (Name TBC), Star Wars Quiz Trivia, Star Wars: Don’t Upset The Wookie, Marvel Hulk Smash, Marvel Spidey Sense, and Marvel Quiz Trivia.

“We couldn’t be happier to work with Disney,” said Emma Puzey, licensing manager of Wild + Wolf. “Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars are global household brands that are loved by millions of people around the world. Our licensed range strengthens our mission to create innovative, giftable, and entertaining games for all ages.”

The license comes at a time of significant growth for the games brand, as Ridley’s Games was just exhibited at its first London Toy Fair, celebrated a bumper year of award wins, received a dedicated UK account manager, as well as seeing great success in expanded international distribution with translations into multiple languages.

Beano secures five new licensing partners including games and health and beauty via Rocket Licensing

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Beano is expanding its presence across the apparel, games, health and beauty, food and beverage, and partyware sectors thanks to a string of five new licensing deals brokered by its licensing agency, Rocket Licensing.

On board for a fun new range of paper partyware, Smiffy’s will be offering a myriad of products including paper plates, bowls, cups, napkins and straws, as well as paper decorations and bunting to complete the Beano party set-up. The range will be sold across the High Street, grocery, independents and online.

Meanwhile, growing the offering in games and puzzles, Rocket has teamed up with Rachel Lowe to create a collection of puzzles, board games and card games for Dennis and his Beanotown friends. Product will be developed to appeal to both the adult gifting market and to kids, reflecting the cross-generational appeal of this classic British brand.

Beano confectionery in personalised packaging will also be created by Great Gifts. The unique gifting lines are set to include gift boxes, jars and advent calendars and launch across retail later this year.

Health and beauty experts H&A will also be developing a creative range of Beano products to include everyday essentials, play cosmetics, health and beauty accessories and hair care. These will be targeted at both boys and girls and launching into high street retail for autumn/winter 2020.

In licensed apparel, Park Agencies are supporting the brand, with adult and kids tees and sweats currently in development to launch into high street and online retail.

These new deals take place in the run up to Dennis’ 70th birthday in 2021, for which Beano Studios and Rocket Licensing are planning a raft of celebrations, partnerships and new product launches.

Rob Wijeratna, joint managing director of Rocket Licensing, said: “2019 was an incredibly busy and successful year for Beano, with a fabulous calendar of consumer products deals, marketing initiatives and campaigns. It’s great to be able to start 2020 with the same momentum, and five new best-in-class licensing deals for the brand, as we look ahead to a big celebration year in 2021.

“Beano continues to capture the hearts of the British public and offers a huge depth of content for great consumer products partnerships.”

Angeles Blanco, director of Global Licensing at Beano Studios, added “Adding five new partners to our licensing programme shows huge momentum as we build up to Dennis’ 70th birthday next year. We plan to continue this, adding more partners to bring Beano products to more fans, young and across the globe.”

Mattel teams with Scopely to launch Scrabble Go mobile game

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Mattel has teamed with the mobile games company Scopely to launch the new mobile word game, Scrabble Go to the global stage, allowing players from across the world to engage in the classic Scrabble experience.

Billed as a highly social game, Scrabble Go allows players to invite and connect with friends and family via Facebook, WhatsApp, and contacts, as well as play with others around the world in a series of tournament-style matches.

The mobile game aims to bring the authentic Scrabble experience in line with new digital modes and features that include Classic, Modern, Arena, and Duels gameplay.

Classic is a head to head game that uses the official game board rules, and dictionaries, while Modern offers a fresh take on the classic experience with boosts and helpful tools to learn and improve while playing. The Arena mode is a collection of daily and weekly tournaments that include Word Drop – an anagram style game, Tumbler, and Rush. Finally, Duels is a mode in which players face-off on a smaller board, completing a real-time match in under five minutes.

“Scrabble fans around the world feel a deep connection to the brand for its long-standing tradition of competition,” said Victor Díaz-Roig, general manager and vice president, product at Scopely. “We’re so proud to introduce a reimagined take on the Scrabble experience with Scrabble Go.

“Our team has created an extremely vibrant, social, personalised, competitive, triple-A experience for a brand that transcends generations. We also worked with super fans and professional players to make this the most dynamic game experience possible. We are thrilled to share the all-new Scrabble Go with the world.”

Scrabble Go is published by Scopely and co-developed in partnership with PierPlay game studio. The game is the latest in Scopely’s diverse slate of mobile games, including Marvel Strike Force, Star Trek Fleet Command and YAHTZEE With Buddies, among others.

Gibsons extends its partnership with Transport for London in new deal via the TSBA Group

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Following record sales of its London Underground-inspired card game, Mind the Gap, the family owned jigsaw and board game outfit, Gibsons has expanded its partnership with Transport for London.

In a deal brokered by TSBA Group – the licensing agent for Transport for London – Gibsons will produce a raft of new branded products to complement the 2017 best-seller that has to date found particular success across retailers such as WH Smith, Amazon, John Lewis, and Waterstones.

Gibsons will now be growing its TfL licensed collection with the release of four jigsaw puzzles this spring, followed by two brand new games and additional puzzles later in the year.

In keeping with both Gibsons’ and TfL’s mission to become more sustainable, the new products will be produced using minimal single-use plastic. Made in the UK, the jigsaws will be manufactured using the thickest, 100 per cent recycled board and FSC approved paper.

The jigsaw puzzles will be available in 250, 500 and 1000 pieces and feature the iconic Underground maps and roundels, as well as a selection of the most popular graphics from Transport for London’s expansive poster archive.

The two new games have been developed in collaboration with talented game designers. They give fans the opportunity to competitively build Zone 1 of the tube map or race across London visiting famous stations while completing tasks along the way.

Julie Dixon, head of customer information, design and partnerships at Transport for London, said: “London’s transport network is recognised the world over and has been a symbol of the city for more than 150 years. We are excited to be continuing our relationship with Gibsons and develop new products with them to delight people young and old, while also generating vital funds for wider transport improvements across London.”

Emily Charles, product development manager at Gibsons, added: “We are so pleased to be working with TfL once again. Mind the Gap continues to be hugely successful and we have high hopes for these new products joining the card game at the top of our best sellers list.

“The London Underground is recognised all over the world, so it’s great to work with such a famous brand and increase our TfL collection.”