Media Watch: Bella Sara Trading Card Phenomenon Spreads
From a press release on dBusinessNews.com:
| Bella Sara, the collectable, horse-themed trading cards and online world for girls, which started as a hit in its native Denmark before launching in the United States earlier this year, has now taken hold across Europe with broad multilingual support and more than 50,000 points of sale outside of North America…
All in all, Bella Sara cards have been translated into Slovenian, Croatian, German, Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish, while the website is available in Danish, English, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian and Croatian, with several more languages in the works. “Bringing self-esteem back into playtime for young girls is a concept parents across the globe can support, and we are thrilled that Bella Sara is carrying this message worldwide,” said Peter D. Adkison, CEO of Hidden City Games and the man behind the global phenomena of Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon trading cards. |
You know, I saw the Bella Sara display at Toy Fair 2007 in February and thought the idea was ridiculous. Trading cards that let you care for virtual horses online? Why would anyone pay money for that?
I have zero experience with young girls, other than a niece who is now four years old, and that was my blind spot. While the enormous Bella Sara display at the Spiel game convention in Essen, Germany was mostly empty on Thursday and Friday, when the families roared in on Saturday, girls swarmed over the display.
So how wrong was I? Check out this news item, published on many financial news sites:
| Seattle fantasy game maker Hidden City Games has raised $15M+ in Series B from Trinity Ventures and Rustic Canyon Ventures. The startup currently operates three virtual worlds that are built around collectible trading card games. |
You can view a bit of the Bella Sara world and read the complete news item on TheAlarmClock.com.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on Nov 2, 2007 at 04:00 AM in Game News, Media Watch / 1376
Comments:
You must register with BGN in order to comment. Registration is free, but if you appreciate the news, previews, reviews and other material posted on Boardgame News, please consider becoming a member to keep the info flowing to your screen!|
As a parent of a young girl who loves playing Webkinz and Club Penguin with her friends, this is something I should look into! -Mark Posted by MarkJohnson on Nov 2, 2007 at 10:58 AM | #
|
|
Five words, man. My Little Pony In Cyberspace. Posted by Ava Jarvis on Nov 2, 2007 at 06:23 PM | #
|
|
Way to tap a market not already swamped with CCGs! My unborn daughter will hopefully be inoculated at birth with something that prevents this from taking hold. Posted by Steve Finney on Nov 3, 2007 at 06:19 AM | #
|
Next entry: Stealth Game Designer Jeph Stahl Releases Third Title
Previous entry: Kris Hall: Respect, Not Love
