Summary
A new, official, Barbie-themed game is coming toRoblox. It marks one of multiple crossoversthe gaming industry has made with Mattel’s iconic franchise.
Robloxis among the longest-supported online games and is even older than the likes ofMinecraft. The two are alike in that they place an emphasis on allowing players to flex their creative muscles, but whereasMinecraftforces players to work within a preset world,Robloxflat-out lets players design their own games from the ground up and share them with others online. Following a spike in numbers during the back half of the 2010s,Robloxhas seen a release on almost every notable platform, and has been hailed as one of the most popular video games of all time, despite some criticism for the lack of protection for underaged players.
Despite being mostly known for its player-made content, sometimes theRobloxdevelopers will develop new ones in-house, and this latest one was created likely as a promotion for Warner Bros.' critically acclaimedBarbiemovie, which was a blockbuster release last summer. In a new press-release, the team revealed that they directly worked with Mattel and Gamefam to create this new title:Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon. It allows players to enter Barbie’s world, customize their characters, build their own dream houses, explore a fictionalized Malibu, and play various “career-themed mini-games.”
The dream houses themselves take a page out ofotherRobloxtycoon games, allowing players to construct up to four floors with up to thirty-two rooms akin to the ones at a celebrity’s mansion. Some examples include yoga and recording studios, a vlogging room, up to two walk-in closets, and even some rooftop amenities such as a tennis court and a helipad. Barbies can also be designed with nine skin colors, an unspecified number of body types, and countless clothing and makeup options. In typicalRobloxfashion, players can travel between each other’s custom abodes online.Barbie DreamHouse Tycoonis planned to release on October 6.
It’s always nice to see whenever the developers of any creatively-driven game throw some official material into the mix of fan creations, andRobloxis no different. It will be interesting to see how popular this new game turns out to be, and whether there are plans to implement some protection againstthe security issues onRoblox’s servers, especially considering the Barbie brand’s popularity among younger children.
Robloxis available to play on Android, iOS, PC, and Xbox One, with PS4 and PS5 versions coming in October 2023.
