Spin Master, a leading global children’s entertainment company based out of Toronto, Ontario, has unveiled a breakthrough in the digital pet category with Bitzee. Housed inside a purple pod, this next-generation digital pet comes to life with an innovative full-colour display that you can touch, feel, and interact with, thus introducing a whole new play experience for kids.
“Spin Master has a reputation of delivering unique innovation and disrupting play patterns, transforming the way kids play and interact with toys,” said Chris Beardall, Spin Master’s President of Toys and Chief Commercial Officer in a recent statement. “Bitzee epitomizes our obsession with pushing the boundaries of play, introducing adorable digital pets that kids can really touch, feel, and interact with, reimagining a once two-dimensional interaction and infusing it with color, gamification and collectability.”
Bitzee starts as an eight-bit puppy that needs love, care, and help to grow. If its owner doesn’t give Bitzee the attention it needs, the pet will run away. However, it can always be coaxed back with a treat and a little extra affection. Virtual interactions allow kids to feed their pet, rock them to sleep, and clean up after them. The digital pet respond to tilts, swipes, and shakes with a host of different sounds and reactions. Once Bitzee’s love meter is full, the pup is then ready to evolve.
Each Bitzee digital pet evolves from a baby to an adult to a Super Bitzee. Up to 15 different characters — including a puppy, bunny, hedgehog, and others — can be collected in a single pod. A host of rare and legendary characters are also available, such as a butterfly, a poodle, a chameleon, a mercat, and even a unicorn. Once a pet becomes a Super Bitzee, kids will discover a special outfit and a unique game to play, such as mouse’s Chef catch the falling ingredients game, or unicorn’s Party Animal break the piñata game. There are even virtual treat rewards to attract another pet!
About the inspiration
Of course, this is not the first time consumers have been offered the chance to put a pixelated pup in their pocket! Back in 1996, Bandai released the Tamagotchi, a handheld digital pet housed inside of an egg-shaped pod with an interface featuring three different buttons. Like Bitzee, kids could feed, play with, and clean up after their pet of choice — which ranged from puppies and kittens to dinosaurs and aliens. These “egg watches” took the world by storm, quickly becoming one of the biggest toy fads of the late 1990s with over 83 million units sold worldwide to date.
With Bitzee, Spin Master looks to offer consumers the next stage in the evolution of the digital pet — an interactive fury friend offering up hours of fun that won’t shed all over the furniture!
Recommended for children ages five and up, Bitzee will be available at select retailers beginning August 1st for an MSRP of $29.99 USD.
