Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Sanrio Digital brings Hello Kitty operations to Boston

By Mass High Tech staff

Hello Kitty is putting its North American digital claws in Massachusetts and has picked local gaming industry veteran Robert Ferrari to head the operations.

Sanrio Digital, a joint venture between Hello Kitty creator Sanrio Co. Ltd. of Japan and game developer Typhoon Games HK Ltd. of Hong Kong, will establish its North American operations in the greater Boston area, said vice president of business development and publishing Ferrari, who is recruiting an initial six-person staff and searching for a specific office location.

One of the first products to reach North American shores from Sanrio Digital will be the upcoming Hello Kitty Online, a mix of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), an online virtual world and a social network. Ferarri is no stranger to the online interactive world, having formerly served as vice president of business development for Westwood-based Turbine Inc. since 2004. Turbine is the developer and publisher of MMO games Asheron’s Call, Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of The Rings Online.

Prior to joining Turbine, Ferrari held senior executive roles at interactive media and consumer product companies such as Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG), Websurfer Inc. and Merinta Inc.

Hello Kitty is one of the largest brands globally and in Asia particularly, Ferrari said, who noted the brand is worth $58 billion worldwide and includes such things as toys, clothes, cartoons, comic books and games. Unlike the traditional intellectual property behind most MMOs, which target the male 13-35 demographic, Hello Kitty is a hot property among teen girls through young adult women. That gives it a strong built-in audience, Ferrari said. “It’s a self-expression, and it’s a safe brand,” he said, in contrast to the violent and often profane experience often found in a traditional online game environment.

One of the features that will set Hello Kitty Online, which will launch in the summer, apart from traditional fantasy-based MMOs like World of Warcraft, is that it fully integrates the social network, which is found at sanriotown.com and features such traditional social network features as blogging, with the virtual world and the MMO game of Hello Kitty Online. A player could be in the virtual world of the game, chatting with someone from around the globe, and provide a link to their blog which would open right in the game, keeping them from having to leave the game to read the blog, Ferrari said.

Sanrio Digital picked Boston as its North American headquarters because of access to the talent pool here, according to Ferrari. “I think Boston lends itself to lots of very talented folks in the game and online space. You don’t have to go to L.A. to start a game company,” Ferrari said.