Moonbug Entertainment, a children’s media company that has become a surprise force in toddler television, competing nimbly against incumbents like Disney and Nickelodeon, announced an expansion into video games on Thursday. CoComelon: Play With JJ, aimed at players ages 2 to 4 and their parents, will arrive on Nintendo Switch on Oct. 28 in partnership with Outright Games and cost $40.
The game is based on the juggernaut Moonbug cartoon “CoComelon,” which combines brightly colored animation, simple lessons (brush your teeth) and earworm songs like “Baby Shark.” On Netflix, “CoComelon” ended 2021 as the No. 2 most-watched program among licensed titles, collecting a staggering 33.3 billion minutes of viewing, according to Nielsen. (“Criminal Minds” was No. 1, and “Grey’s Anatomy” was third.) “CoComelon” generates 4.3 billion monthly views on YouTube, where it ranks as the most-watched children’s brand.
The show is so popular that some parents have nicknamed it “Cocainemelon.” A new season arrived on Netflix on Monday.
So the arrival of a game is noteworthy, even though game tie-ins are a routine part of the playbook for capitalizing on hit shows. What’s not routine is Moonbug’s fast ascendance — the company was founded in 2018 — and what a push into gaming represents for its future.
Moonbug has only started to build a consumer products business, which is where the real money is made in children’s entertainment. Video gaming for preschoolers also happens to be a growing global market — if a tricky one, given parental concerns about screen time.
“We have to follow their behavior to stay relevant,” René Rechtman, Moonbug’s chief executive, said in an email, adding that the company is “engaging with our audiences in this new environment in a healthy way.” (The CoComelon video game involves building a collection of virtual stickers, solving simple musical puzzles and exploring with JJ, the cartoon baby at the center of the show.)
As for Mr. Rechtman’s ultimate ambitions in the toddler video game business?
“We are willing to invest significantly in it,” Mr. Rechtman said. Eventually, he said, Moonbug games “will be on every relevant gaming platform.”
In addition to “CoComelon,” Moonbug owns the popular “Blippi,” “Little Baby Bum,” “Playtime With Twinkle” and “Gecko’s Garage” series. Candle Media, a venture run by two former Disney executives, acquired Moonbug last year for $3 billion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/business/cococomelon-video-game-is-a-first-for-fast-growing-moonbug.html
2022-09-08 20:03:38Z
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