Toymaker Mattel is turning its virtual platform into a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace for collectors.
The company announced the forthcoming update in a Thursday (April 20) press release, saying the Mattel Creations Virtual Collectibles Platform will begin allowing owners of Mattel virtual collectibles to display, trade and sell their assets beginning April 27.
“When we first set out to launch our own virtual collectibles platform, we did so with the intention of creating an unrivaled, best-in-class experience for the fans of Mattel’s iconic brands,” Ron Friedman, vice president at Mattel Future Lab, said in the release. “In adding a marketplace feature to our easy-to-navigate platform that enables users to sell and trade their virtual collectibles, we’ve taken another step toward realizing that vision.”
The marketplace is powered by Rarible, a blue-chip virtual collectibles company, with assistance from Wallet-as-a-Service provider Magic, the release stated.
To coincide with the marketplace’s launch, Mattel is debuting the fifth series of its Hot Wheels NFT Garage at the same time.
“Developed by the same team behind Hot Wheels die-cast cars, Series 5 of the Hot Wheels NFT Garage is the latest way for fans to collect digital artwork featuring Mattel’s iconic IP, and features some of Hot Wheels’ most popular car designs in an all-new, digital format,” the release said.
That IP — or intellectual property — has been especially important to Mattel of late, with the company saying earlier this year that it was focused on a strategy of leveraging its IP in areas including filmed entertainment and theme parks.
“We continued to strengthen our relationships with the major entertainment companies with additions or extensions of key licenses, including Disney Princess and Disney Frozen, Pokémon, and Universal’s Trolls,” said CEO Ynon Kreiz in February. “We have grown Mattel Creations, our collector [D2C] business, which is capitalizing on the strength of our franchises and built-in fan base, increasing traffic by over 40% and volume by over 85%.”
The company’s new investment in a digital marketplace is also happening at a time when other retailers are stepping away from the virtual world.
Walmart reportedly shuttered its Universe of Play metaverse experience on Roblox just six months after launch, although the retail goliath has said it had always planned to discontinue the experience.
Disney, meanwhile, has closed its division aimed at creating storytelling and consumer experiences for its metaverse strategies, a decision that followed an announcement by Meta that its metaverse division had seen a $4.3 billion fourth-quarter loss.
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