Mattel Creates Its Own Game Studio to Bring Barbie, Uno and Hot Wheels to Video Games
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Mattel announced Mattel Game Studios to produce original games based on its brands. Learn about its plans, releases and strategy.
Mattel has taken a definitive step toward turning its classic toys into interactive franchises on consoles, PCs and mobile phones. The American giant announced the founding of Mattel Game Studios, an internal division devoted exclusively to developing, publishing and managing its own digital games based on brands such as Uno, Barbie and Hot Wheels.
The new structure operates under the umbrella of Mattel Digital Studios, the organization that already managed licensed titles and external partnerships. Now the company unifies creation, publishing and marketing strategies into a single workforce.
Global structure and focus on original games
Mattel Game Studios already begins its journey with about 300 dedicated professionals, spread across offices in Los Angeles, in the United States, and Hangzhou, in China. The team brings together artists, designers, programmers, producers and live operations specialists, a model focused on keeping games active and profitable through constant content updates.
According to Marcus Liassides, global head of Mattel Digital Studios, the in-house studio provides the technical scale needed to build original experiences, without abandoning strategic collaborations with other major studios in the market.
The Mattel163 consolidation and financial impact
The official launch of the new studio continues the move that began in February 2026, when Mattel bought full control of Mattel163 — the mobile developer originally created in partnership with Chinese company NetEase.
The acquisition is already showing on the bottom line: Mattel163 generated nearly US$ 49 million in revenue in the second quarter alone, as detailed by the company's chief financial officer, Paul Ruh.
In its most recent earnings report, Mattel posted net sales of US$ 1.1 billion, up 10% year over year. Despite the growth in gross revenue, the period ended with a net loss of US$ 18 million, compared with a US$ 53 million profit in the same quarter last year. The push into high-margin areas such as digital games aims to balance the company's profitability against swings in the physical toy industry.
Uno Wild and upcoming digital releases
The division is already working on a practical schedule. Mattel Game Studios has begun the soft launch of Uno Wild, a regional technical test aimed at fine-tuning the experience and audience engagement ahead of the global debut.
The company's chief executive, Ynon Kreiz, confirmed that Uno Wild hit all of its preliminary production milestones and has a global commercial release scheduled for early 2027. The project leads the brand's push to turn card games and analog toys into permanent digital ecosystems.
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