A way to bring gamers to Sesame Street
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: Everybody’s seeing green on Sesame Street today. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has done a deal with Sesame Workshop. That’s the nonprofit group that produces the show. The plan is for a series of video games featuring Kermit and Elmo, and the rest of the gang.
Marketplace’s Stacey Vanek-Smith reports, it’s all about showing young gamers a new way to get to Sesame Street.
STACEY VANEK-SMITH: Sesame Workshop and Warner Brothers are hoping a new series of games for young children will tell them how to get to a big chunk of the $21 billion video game industry.
Ben Bajarin is a consumer technology analyst and has a 4-year old. He says, Sesame Street is in a unique position to take video games younger.
BEN BAJARIN: Part of this is being driven by the parents, they’re looking for trusted brands, that they’re familiar with or they think may resonate with their children, at which point they’ll feel comfortable making a decision, you know, integrating that brand into the household.
Sesame Street airs in over 140 countries and has been a household mainstay for 40 years. And Bajarin says many new parents grew up gaming, so they won’t hesitate to buy video consoles for their young children.
COOKIE MONSTER: Cookie starts with C. Let’s think of other things that start with C!!!
Like capture! Tech industry analyst Rob Enderle says capturing consumers when they’re young could really pay off for Warner Brothers.
ROB ENDERLE: Done properly, this could bring people into the Warner family of products and carry them up just like Disney does. So just because you outgrow Sesame Street may not mean you lose track of Warner Brothers.
So today Big Bird fan will be tomorrow’s Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo and “Lord of the Rings” fan.
Snuff: Wish I’d thought of that!
Warner Bros. and Sesame Workshop plan to start releasing games for the Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 later this year.
In Los Angeles, I’m Stacey Vanek-Smith, brought to you by the letters M-P.
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