The strange bedfellows made of game studios and other brands has been A Thing for a while – we’ve even made a whole Golden Yachties category for it – so consider this bundle of news stories three extra candidates for the 2023 edition of that award. I’m mostly typing that as a reminder to Bree.
We’ll get the (arguably) wholesome one out of the way first: Animal Crossing is soon getting the LEGO treatment as the toy brick makers unveiled minifig versions of Rosie, Bunnie, Marshal, Kappa, Fauna, Julian, Isabelle, and Tom Nook. Release timing wasn’t announced with the unveiling, but there are leaks that suggest the toys will arrive in March 2024; we can certainly confirm they’re cute as a button.
PUBG and chicken dinners are pretty synonymous with one another in terms of victory in the battle royale, but now there’s a more literal chicken dinner thing happening as part of a collab between the shooter and KFC for this month, as gas stations within the map Erangel are being transformed into KFC restaurants, which dispense fast food chicken consumables that double as health and energy healing items. The update is part of a wider change to the map itself, but now players can heal up with the power of fried chicken.
Finally, Roblox has teamed up with the doll brand Barbie and metaverse game developer Gamefam to release the Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon game arriving Friday, October 6th. This “experience” will let players build a Barbie dream house of their own, with up to four floors and 30 different room types like a vlogger studio, a yoga studio, a rooftop tennis court, an indoor bowling alley, and two walk-in closets. Players will also be encouraged to meet up and explore the wider town of Malibu, visit others’ dream houses, and doll up their avatars in Barbie style. Bathe in the neon colors of the gallery below for more. We dare you.
