Webkinz has even usurped the long-reigning virtual pets site of the Web- Neopets, which went from 2.6 million unique visitors in April 2006 to 3.2 million in 2007.Īnother major contender in the kids category, ages 2 to 11, is Club Penguin, a virtual community of penguin avatars for children. In April, Webkinz attracted 3.6 million unique visitors from home and work, up from just 285,000 a year before. In contrast, Webkinz-plush pets with corresponding virtual homes on the Web-have exploded in popularity over the last year. Those numbers are in line with about 2 million visitors in the same month in 2004. According to Nielsen NetRatings, the Barbie site attracted about 1.9 million unique visitors from home and work in April 2007, down from 2.1 million in April 2006. The overall audience for Barbie sites has declined slightly over the last year, and has failed to grow over the last three years. "I think they'll continue to be a very strong player, but it's hard to innovate at the speed and agility that a company like Webkinz can." "Mattel is the 800-pound gorilla in the toy industry, and it's worked hard to continually reinvent itself," said Lisa Bradner, senior analyst at Forrester Research. Bratz, for example, the racier fashion dolls that have eaten into Barbie sales in recent years, plans to launch a virtual world called Bratz World () and a Rescue Pets (my ) this summer. The company is also being pressured by toys like Webkinz and an avalanche of virtual worlds designed for kids. Mattel's and have the highest concentration of girls age 2 to 11 on the Web, according to researcher Nielsen NetRatings, but their overall audience hasn't grown much over the years. The toy is likely to test Mattel's ability to stay relevant in a Digital Age that has changed the way little girls play and socialize.Ĭertainly, Mattel has tried to keep its brands Internet-savvy for more than a decade. Mattel, the maker of Barbie, is preparing one of its biggest updates of the toy's image this summer, it will start selling plastic "Barbie Girls," a handheld MP3 player that can be accessorized like a doll and used to unlock special animations, make friends and shop in a virtual world on the Web. But online, the fashion icon is struggling to stay the most popular in a class of virtual penguins, Mickey Mouse and small plush pets. Barbie may have a much lower regular player figure as Second Life does.Barbie has long been the only doll in town for girls. * WOW figures of 8.5million users are paying, regular users where as the Barbie Girls figure would be registered users as opposed to regular players. That shift isn’t quite as important now as it will be in the next 5-10 years as those playing Barbie Girls grow into adults simply the next generation of online gaming and virtual world users will not be dominated by men. It would be easy to dismiss an offering like Barbie Girls (feminists are probably going to roll their eyes at the whole concept) and yet 3 million registered users in 60 days does say one very, very clear thing: virtual worlds are going mainstream and the user base is dramatically shifting from being predominantly male to majority female. Competitors include Cyworld, Zwinktopia, Stardoll, Haboo Hotel, Web Kinz, Club Penguin, Gaia Online, Neopets and others. Saying this is a crowded space is probably now an understatement. #Play barbie virtual world game free#The service is free to play with a revenue model focused on the purchase of virtual goods. Barbie Girls would also pass World of Warcraft around the same time as well*.īarbie Girls allows users to customize Barbie dolls, dress them up, create virtual homes, adopt pets and chat with other users. At its current growth rate, Barbie Girls should pass the number of Second Life registered users between November and January based on Second Life’s existing growth rate. To put that in perspective, Second Life took 3 years to get to 1 million registered users. Mattel’s virtual world Barbie Girls hit the 3million user mark in its first 60 days and is growing at the rate of 50,000 new users a day, according to a report from the Scientific American.
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