On the heels of the Barbie movie’s overwhelming success last year (and Barbie’s reemergence in the hearts of older fans), Mattel set out to find a way to bring Barbie to a new generation of gamers for the first time. Now, Mattel has a new Barbie game for children on its way — and some much bigger gaming ambitions intended for all ages in tow.
Today, Mattel announced Barbie Project Friendship, an adventure game that follows Barbie “Brooklyn” Roberts, Barbie “Malibu” Roberts, and friends as they restore a run-down community center.
Featuring the original voice cast of Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures and developed with support from the show’s head writer Ann Austen, Barbie Project Friendship is headed to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on October 25. It will launch with local minigame co-op, and its colorful reveal trailer shows off a host of activities like renovating an arcade, customizing scooters, cooking in an Overcooked-esque kitchen, and (of course) playing dress up.
However, the game represents a lot more than yet another Barbie game to executives at Mattel — it’s one of the first big steps in the toy brand’s ongoing move to expand its roster of video games. Barbie Project Friendship is one of Mattel’s first games made in collaboration with family-friendly PC and console publisher Outright Games (known for games like Peppa Pig: World Adventures and DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos) as part of their multi-year partnership announced in May.
Also in the works in partnership with Outright are two more games intended to introduce new players to other Mattel franchises: the recently revealed Matchbox Driving Adventures (a competitive racing game inspired by Mattel’s line of toy cars) and Monster High: Skulltimate Secrets (another collaboration-focused title inspired by the doll line), with other unannounced games on their way as well.
Alongside its initiative to develop more PC and console games including Barbie Project Friendship, Mattel recently announced its ambitions to begin self-publishing mobile games. According to Erika Winterholler, Head of Business Development and Digital Gaming at Mattel, the brand plans to announce its first self-published title later this year.
With its mobile games, Mattel especially hopes to to learn from its past errors in accessibility and focus on making its new games inclusive. Most recently, Mattel pledged to make 80 percent of its games accessible for colorblind players by the end of 2024 (with plans to reach 90 percent one year later), with mobile games like Uno! Mobile recently receiving updates to add digital equivalents of the physical cards’ new accessibility features.
Barbie games for all ages
While Barbie Project Friendship and many of Mattel’s upcoming games are being developed with a new generation of young players in mind, seemingly a pillar of Mattel’s gaming ambitions is developing Barbie games for all ages, in part sparked by the Barbie movie’s overwhelming success among older fans. According to Winterholler, this emphasized the fact “that Barbie is for everyone” — not just the kids targeted by Barbie Project Friendship and many of Mattel’s recent video games.
One of these games is a Barbie mobile game made in collaboration with Zynga’s studio Rollic. Targeted toward casual mobile gamers (and purportedly players of all ages), the unnamed game is set to be released later this year.
“We aim to create experiences for all, whether it’s for a younger audience with Barbie Project Friendship or for casual players with our upcoming Barbie mobile game made in collaboration with Rollic,” Winterholler added via email.
Mattel also hopes to bring Barbie to wider audiences through partnerships with mass-market games in the vein of its recent collaborations with Stumble Guys and Roblox, the latter of which saw over 150 million visitors since its launch last year.
Looking further into the future, Mattel has some broader goals for its expanding games initiative in store. According to Winterholler, the company’s games division hopes to grow into entirely new horizons through experimentation, whether it’s by partnering with more gaming studios of various sizes, testing out new platforms and genres, or developing “new creative takes on our existing franchises.”
“Expect the unexpected,” Winterholler said. “One thing we learned from the Barbie movie is the importance of being bold and taking risks.”
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they've contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun, and they're currently developing a game called Garage Sale. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
