Inside Social Games

Earlier in the month, Electronic Arts and Hasbro announced that the two companies are collaborating on a brand new virtual world scheduled to launch in the Fall of 2009. The world will be based on the Hasbro toys “Littlest Pet Shop” and launch in tandem with the new toy line this Fall.

Little more is known for sure at this point, but based on the official announcements from Chip Lange, General Manager and Vice President of EA Hasbro, Littlest Pet Shop Online will be a “Safe destination where girls go to explore and interact with their virtual Littlest Pet Shop collections and friends.” This, in conjunction with the Fall release, suggests that the actual toys could be integrated with Littlest Pet Shop Online in some form or another. 1.8 million girls  have been “creating and tracking online pet collections” on Hasbro’s littlestpetshop.com already to date.

Brian Goldner, President and CEO of Hasbro, stated in their Q4 earnings call that the Hasbro Girls category grew a total of 13% with Littlest Pet Shop on top (up by 26%). Combining the line’s popularity with EA’s brand and their plethora of top games (i.e. games in the top 5 on the Nintendo DS in both Europe and North America), and things could go rather well for the new venture.

This isn’t the first dance for Hasbro either – Littlest Pet Shop VIP was launched back in 2007, and then later expanded upon by Pileated Pictures in 2008. However, there has not been any official word as to whether or not this new virtual world will be synergistic with the original or not.

[via Virtual Worlds News]