The Tetris brand and lifestyle brand Sanrio, best known for Hello Kitty, announced a new, multi-year collaboration today that will span a variety of media and produce a wide range of merchandise.
The first product in the collaboration is an online game combining Tetris with many of Sanrio’s famous characters. No other details have been made available about the game just yet, but it is expected to launch on June 3.
The project coming after that is a co-branded licensing guide outlining the process and guidelines for licensing both brands’ products for categories including apparel, cosmetics, stationery, and accessories. The guide will debut at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, June 4-6.
Again, not much else is known about what these lines might consist of, but it could mean fans will see something similar to the Vans collaboration with Nintendo that resulted in a line of different game-themed shoes in the recent past.
The announcement comes as Sanrio and Tetris celebrate their own major milestones: 2019 marks the 45th anniversary of Hello Kitty, and Tetris is officially 35 years old.
Maya Rogers, president and CEO of Blue Planet Software — Tetris‘ sole branding agent — said:
Not only have the Sanrio characters been one of my favorites since childhood, it also has such an incredible history among girls and women. The pairing of these two brands to create games, novelties and fashion items is an incredible opportunity that we think will have great appeal with fans worldwide.
This isn’t the first time Hello Kitty has ventured into the video game world. There have been numerous Hello Kitty-based games, including a kart racer and Hello Kitty: Fantasy Theater, a storytelling game produced with Sega, not to mention the 2016 mashup with Sonic the Hedgehog.
