PLAYMATION by Disney
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Disney Bets Big on Wearable, Web-Connected Toy Line
Playmation will let children don Iron Man gloves or Hulk fists and interact with action figures through downloadable storiesWalt Disney Co. is developing a line of wearable, Internet-connected toys that it hopes will draw children into a new technological ecosystem—and keep them there.
Playmation, which launches in October, has been in the works at the entertainment giant for three years as Imagineers, who typically design theme-park rides, and other employees have been researching toys that integrate new digital technologies.
The first result of their work will let children don Iron Man gloves or Hulk fists from the company’s Marvel superhero line and interact with action figures or each other, playing through brief stories that are downloaded from the Internet and read by a narrator on a speaker.
The company is touting Playmation as an application of the “Internet of Things” that will appeal to parents who want the digital devices their children love to make the children move, rather than sit still in front of a screen.
The new toy line represents a higher risk, higher reward strategy than Disney has previously pursued for its consumers products. Typically, Disney grants licenses to other companies to make and market Star Wars toys or Cinderella dolls, requiring Disney only to execute and oversee agreements with those third parties.
But Disney poured its own resources into developing Playmation’s technology and will handle most marketing for the toys, which Hasbro Inc. is manufacturing and distributing.
“We haven’t done this much innovation internally before,” said Kareem Daniel, a senior vice president in charge of strategy for Disney Consumer Products. “That’s going to be a large part of what we do going forward” as technology becomes more integral to toys, he added.