Some in our industry may find this statement difficult to hear: Modern tech toys will never be timeless.
While the toy industry thrives on innovation (The Toy Book’s International Innovation Issue goes to the printer next week), there are serious problems when infusing new technology into play experiences.
If it wasn’t evident already, this week’s news that Embodied, the tech startup behind Moxie, a product touted as “the world’s most advanced robot that uses safe AI to boost kids’ learning and emotional development,” is shutting down should make that crystal clear. Even worse, they don’t know exactly when Moxie will cease to function, which means there is a real concern that any kids using the toy will learn to process new emotions — those brought on by death — digital death.
My Spidey Sense started tingling badly more than a decade ago when toymakers entered a race to develop app-enabled toys. At the time, I was concerned that toys would become too reliant on technology managed by other companies and that the rapid development of smart devices would create compatibility problems and, eventually, obsolescence.
As The Hives famously said, “Hate to Say I Told You So.”
Do you remember Zimmiz? This was a plush toy line marketed by Big Foot Toys. Here’s what I said about it in 2013:
“The Zimmi is a detailed, plush “shell” of sorts — a lifeless, faceless husk awaiting the insertion of an iPhone or iPod Touch to bring the toy to life. Powered by a ‘Freemium App’ (the app is free, but additional functionality can be purchased for $0.99), Zimmi becomes an interactive friend for the kids, using the iOS device hardware to react to touch and motion.
While the Zimmiz accomplish exactly what they set out to do, I fear App toys will never spawn a truly ‘timeless’ play experience because they depend on outside technology to function. As that technology becomes outdated and obsolete, what happens to the toy? We’ve already begun to experience this with our Zimmi because my old iPhone 3 functions as his heart and soul. I’ve switched platforms completely (I use Windows Phone now), and keeping the old iPhone charged for playtime has already become a chore. And with a toy that functions on just one platform, the potential user base is automatically limited. There are a lot of kids out there whose parents are Android users. No Zimmiz for them.”
Despite being sold by Build-A-Bear Workshop for about five minutes in a rare deal, Zimmiz and its “Planet Zimmiz” platform were dead within a year. The business was the app, not the toy.
Our experience with Zimmiz and other toys like it led me to state something that I’ve often recounted over the years:
“Though it might be decades outdated, I can still put fresh batteries in a Teddy Ruxpin, and he’ll come to life and start telling stories from his archaic cassette tape. Can we say the same about an App toy even five years from now? I don’t think so.”
I feel the same way with AI.
At Toy Fair in 2023, artificial intelligence was all the buzz, and some products hit the market quickly after that. During the LA Fall Toy Previews this year, additional AI-powered products were shown behind closed doors, and there is no doubt that additional innovations will surface at Hong Kong, CES, London Toy Fair, and Spielwarenmesse.
Embodied says that Moxie’s critical funding round fell through, and it can no longer sustain operations.
In a FAQ posted on its website (archived), Embodied says, “We don’t know the exact date when services will cease. It is likely to happen within days. However, we are exploring options to keep Moxie operational for as long as possible, although we cannot provide any guarantees.”
No guarantees. That’s a problem.
And that’s the plight of toys, games, or any product reliant on cloud-based services, ChatGPT, or whatever the next thing is. It has an expiration date if it’s not entirely self-contained and able to function independently, devoid of an internet connection.
Aside from being out $800, parents and other caregivers who invested in Moxie now have to have a difficult discussion with the little ones in their lives to explain why this digital “friend” is dead.
This made me question the status of Mego’s relaunched 2XL, one of the early items from Toy Fair 2023 that was rushed to market last Christmas, followed by a formal launch in March. As of this writing, visitors to the official website for the 2XL Cobot (companion robot), aka the My2XL | AI Robot for Kids, are greeted with the following:
Yes, an “app outage.”
And this toy is “Currently Unavailable” on Amazon.
But I’d bet the old 2XL from the late 1970s/early 1980s still works.
As I prepare to press the “publish” button on this entry, I know that there are many developers out there — some of whom I consider friends — who are working on products in a very similar space to that recently occupied by Moxie.
If anything, this should serve as yet another cautionary tale from the toy industry.
We need to think ahead and consider the end-of-life scenario for the toys that are being put out into the world through costly, time-consuming, labor-intensive processes. In a business where little can be deemed essential, creating waste that leaves families hanging while lining pockets with the cash of a venture-backed startup that could vaporize tomorrow hardly seems like a worthwhile pursuit.
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