Remember Neopets? Those fuzzy little creatures that took the Tamagotchi Pet concept to tremendous new heights and got everyone in trouble because raising them is more fun than school?
Yeah, those Neopets. They’re getting an official animated series. For the 75 million people around the world that play Neopets, we suppose it’s pretty cool.
The surprise news comes from the official Neopets Twitter account.
Neopets TV show? It’s happening. Read more about our collaboration with Beach House Pictures and what we have planned for this new project! https://t.co/dnm4y5VBYa pic.twitter.com/1DpofXx3m8
— Neopets (@Neopets) February 10, 2020
Blue Ant Media, the current, scandal-free owner of Neopets, is bringing Beach House Productions on board to create brand-new stories and characters “to expand the storytelling and bring added dimension to the Neopets kid- and family-friendly brand.”
Create a new story might be more accurate. Neopets has always been about raising and playing with the fur-monsters, but it’s never had any kind of Digimon-like story surrounding it, something Donovan Chan, Beach House Pictures’ creative director, understands.
The property is popular across age targets and since the ’90s its fans have identified it as a fun and safe space, and we want to bring that to a new generation of kids. It’s rare to come across a property with global reach, which has a great historical DNA, but is also a blank slate for creatives because it doesn’t already have a series.
It’s sort of surprising news, but also not really. After all, this is an age where The Witcher spawned a Netflix series and Sony created an entire production house just to convert its properties to TV series and films.
We’re getting a Resident Evil TV show, and Pokemon and Dragon Quest movies are releasing on Netflix. And the Castlevania Netflix show just got renewed for a third season. In a way, it appears we’re now entering the Golden Age of nostalgia-centric television and film.
Neopets launched 20 years ago as “an interactive pet website.” The property has been bought and sold several times since. Beach House is known for its live-action puppet shows, as well as a handful of animated children’s shows.
There’s no word yet when we can expect the first installment of the Neopets animated series, but really, the fact that Neopets is still going strong after this long is pretty amazing in itself. We didn’t think we’d ever be telling you to stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Neopets news, but there you have it.
