DUBIT RESEARCH
Talk of the Playground: Which comes first – the toy or the game?
With the line between toys and games becoming increasingly blurred, which one is more important to children? Dubit quizzes the kids to find out
With all four brands
THE PAST few years have seen the emergence of the toy-game hybrid. We’ve seen toys licensed from films, games and other children’s media in the past, but never have toys tied so directly with video games. Successes include
Skylanders, Moshi Monsters and Club Penguin, while the LEGO-influenced Minecraft has expanded into toys and, ironically enough, licensed LEGO sets. But when the line between toys and games becomes so blurred which is more important to children? Before we tried to answer that question we began by looking at the size of the market. While strictly
speaking only Skylanders, Moshi Monsters and Club Penguin have a real connection between the toy and the digital component, we also looked at Minecraft due to it proving to be a huge hit with kids and recently expanding into physical play. It’s also had a consistent presence in much of the work we’ve undertaken over the past couple of years. The most played of all
four IPs among kids aged six to 12 in the UK (whether toys, games or both) is Moshi Monsters, enjoyed by 54 per cent of all children surveyed. Minecraftis second, played with by an
impressive 40 per cent of children, followed by Skylanders and Club Penguin which are played by 37 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. All four IPs peaked with
children at different ages. While Moshi excels with eight year olds, Minecraft finds most favour with ten year olds, Club Penguin with nine and tens and Skylanders with nine and 11s. When it’s considered that our research into Disney Infinity (ToyNews August) found Disney’s game is most popular with young children, it appears that the market is well served across all ages.
performing well we wanted to see whether any, despite existing as toys and games, excelled in one area over the other. We asked the children who played with the brand’s toys and games which they played with the most. Moshi Monsters has the most even split, with 60 per cent of children playing with the video game most and 40 per cent choosing the toys. Club Penguin’s divide is
greater with 68 per cent choosing the game over the toys. As expected, Minecraft dominated as a game with 81 per cent of fans opting for the digital version but still 19 per cent preferring the toys. Skylanders is the biggest surprise – despite the deepest toy-game integration of the lot, 30 per cent of its players prefer to play with the physical toys over the game. In most cases it was girls who chose toys over the games, which could suggest
boys are harder to reach through toys or that girls still aren’t as interested in digital games as boys are. Perhaps, despite gaming not being seen as strictly a thing for boys, girls still tend to gravitate towards physical play. When it comes to age it’s clear that around the ages of nine and ten children become more interested in the video games and play with the toys less; it’s at this age that video games seem more grown-up and toys as too childish. Regardless of whether
the toys or games are more popular, we can see that toy-game hybrids are managing to straddle both the physical and digital world with great success. With more brands going down this route in the future, such as LEGO and Pokémon, it could well be the most interesting sector of the toy market to watch.
Dubit is a youth research agency and digital development studio. By utilising a deep understanding of young people’s motivations and behaviours, Dubit works with brand owners to create digital experiences that children love. Phone: 0113 394 7920Email:
research@dubitlimited.com
www.toynews-online.biz October 27
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