Toca Boca™ Welcomes SanrioⓇ’s Hello KittyⓇ and Friends into the Toca Life™ World

The global lifestyle brand, Sanrio, has partnered with the leading digital games studio, Toca Boca, to enhance the iconic and world-famous character Hello Kitty’s presence online.

(STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – December 14, 2021) - Toca Boca, an award-winning Swedish game development studio that makes digital games from the kid’s perspective, welcomes global lifestyle brand Sanrio and its Hello Kitty and Friends franchise into their digital playground. Today, Hello Kitty is introduced into the vibrant community of the Toca Life World game, with the launch of a furniture pack for the Home Designer creator tool, which features home decoration items from Hello Kitty, Kuromi™, Badtz-maru™, Gudetama™ and My Melody™. The pack encourages self-expression using the Home Designer tool so kids can create, play and explore new environments with Hello Kitty and Friends.

“Hello Kitty is a global cultural phenomenon with fans spanning four generations. For decades, Sanrio has encouraged people to express themselves through iconic characters. We're thrilled to welcome Hello Kitty and Friends into our digital world, providing players with new tools for self-expression while enhancing Sanrio’s digital presence with a new generation of playful people,” says Max Heirbaut, Senior Manager, Franchise Development at Toca Boca.

“Toca Boca’s purpose of fostering a new generation of creativity aligns perfectly with Sanrio’s values of cultivating friendship, kindness and inclusivity through the power of play. In this collaboration, we wanted to help bring the world of Sanrio and its characters to life through Toca Boca’s immersive digital playground. Players have endless possibilities to design their home and interact in the game, and now they can create their very own environment that infuses our unique and lovable characters,” says Craig Takiguchi, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Business Development at Sanrio, Inc.

Mathilda Engman, General Manager of the Toca Life franchise at Toca Boca, continues the reasoning behind the partnership:

“Toca Life World is a super quirky, colorful digital playground where diversity is the norm. We are always thinking of new ways to spark imagination and inspire creativity so that all our players can define their own play experience. This partnership brings together the iconic Sanrio characters and the Toca Life universe, offering our players the possibility to express themselves like they would do in the real world.”

Toca Boca has been dominating the top mobile kids brands charts for years – making it one of the leading digital kids brands in the world. During the last two years the company has seen a rapid growth in monthly users, jumping from 20 to 57 million. In total, Toca Boca apps have been downloaded more than 400 million times in 238 markets.

About Toca Boca:

Toca Boca creates digital toys and other playful products for kids around the world. Since our first product launch in 2011, we have released 40+ apps that have been downloaded more than 444 million times in 238 markets, making us the No. 1 mobile-first kids brand in the App Store. Our products focus on sparking kids’ imaginations and creating opportunities for open-ended play.

With offices in San Francisco and Stockholm, Toca Boca is owned by Spin Master, a leading global children’s entertainment company that creates exceptional play experiences through a diverse portfolio of innovative toys, entertainment franchises and digital games.

About Sanrio®

Sanrio is the global lifestyle brand best known for pop icon Hello Kitty®, and home to many other beloved character brands including Chococat™, My Melody™, Badtz-Maru™, Keroppi™, Gudetama™ and Aggretsuko™. Sanrio was founded on the “Small Gift, Big Smile®” philosophy – that a small gift can bring happiness and friendship to people of all ages. Since 1960, this philosophy has served as the inspiration to offer quality products, services and activities that inspire unique consumer experiences across the world. Today, Sanrio's legendary breadth of products are available in over 130 countries and in retail locations including department, specialty, national chain retailers and Sanrio boutique stores. To learn more about Sanrio, please visit www.sanrio.com and follow @sanrio and @hellokitty on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest and subscribe to the Hello Kitty and Friends YouTube Channel.

About Spin Master

Spin Master Corp. (TSX:TOY) is a leading global children's entertainment company creating exceptional play experiences through a diverse portfolio of innovative toys, entertainment franchises and digital games. Spin Master is best known for award-winning brands PAW Patrol®, Bakugan®, Kinetic Sand®, Air Hogs®, Hatchimals®, Rubik’s Cube® and GUND®, and is the toy licensee for other popular properties. Spin Master Entertainment creates and produces compelling multiplatform content, stories and endearing characters through its in-house studio and partnerships with outside creators, including the preschool success PAW Patrol and nine other original shows along with multiple short-form series, which are distributed in more than 190 countries. The Company has an established digital games presence anchored by the Toca Boca® and Sago Mini® brands. With close to 2,000 employees in 28 offices globally, Spin Master distributes products in more than 100 countries. For more information visit spinmaster.com or follow on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @spinmaster.