By Allison Watkinson
TLL Reporter
KessCo and Toei Animation have signed a licensing partnership to create toy and game collections for One Piece and Digimon’s 25th anniversary.
Launched in 1997 by Toei Animation, One Piece and Digimon are Japanese multi-platform entertainment franchises that have expanded to include anime series, licensed products, digital games, movies, published works and more.
The One Piece franchise focuses on a young adventurer named Monkey D. Luffy and his infamous straw hat pirate crew as they quest to find the treasure of the legendary Pirate King.
Digimon is a monster taming and battling franchise that primarily focuses on young protagonists who encounter the Digital World and become Digimon trainers.
“Having the opportunity to create play experiences for One Piece and Digimon is a dream come true,” said KessCo CEO Alex Kessler. “We are dedicated to finding the joys in life through play, whether it be outdoors, at the beach, or in our living rooms. Coming together to just play is the ultimate goal, and bringing our favorite anime licenses into these experiences is a natural blending of two worlds that are incredibly meaningful to us.”
The licensed 25th anniversary products will include two new tabletop gaming titles as well as several outdoor toys for spring and summer that are based around elements from the One Piece and Digimon brands.
“Toys and games are a top licensing category for both our One Piece and Digimon franchises,” said Toei Animation CEO, Masayuki Endo. “We’re excited to partner with Kess to provide new opportunities for fans to interact and engage with our franchises and each other.”
KessCo is a toy and play company that specializes in the design, development and manufacturing of high-quality toys, puzzles, and tabletop games.
The company offers a wide range of proprietary product designs in the active and impulse toy categories.
KessCo’s de.bored puzzle range offers colorful artistic puzzle play that often feature licensed artwork from pop-culture artists and anime-focused properties.
Within its KESS Entertainment tabletop gaming division, the company has released a wide range of offerings across adult party games, strategy and more that are based on both wholly-owned brands and licensed entertainment franchises.
The licensed Digimon and One Piece products are scheduled to hit the global retail market throughout 2024 and 2025.
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