Mattel has formed Mattel Game Studios, a new digital games division built to develop and publish original interactive titles across its toy portfolio, according to the company’s own announcement, distributed via WebWire.

Key Points

• The studio launched in August 2026 under Mattel Digital Studios, combining nearly 300 artists, designers, engineers and producers across offices in Los Angeles and Hangzhou, following Mattel’s move to take full ownership of its Mattel163 game-development team.
• Franchises named in the announcement include Hot Wheels, UNO, Barbie, Masters of the Universe, Polly Pocket and Thomas & Friends, according to New Game Network’s coverage of the release.
• Marcus Liassides, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Mattel Digital Studios, said in the announcement: “Mattel Game Studios gives us the scale and capabilities to build and publish more original gaming experiences inspired by our iconic brands.”
• Target platforms include mobile free-to-play titles and user-generated-content platforms like Roblox and Fortnite.

Turning toy-box IP into a live-games business

The move formalizes something Mattel had already been building quietly. Mattel163 — the studio’s core team, led by founder Amy Huang and originally built as a joint venture — has generated more than 550 million downloads since 2018 and currently reaches roughly 20 million monthly active players, according to New Game Network’s reporting on the launch. Mattel taking full ownership of that operation and folding it into a dedicated studio signals the toy company wants those numbers to keep climbing rather than plateauing as a side project.

UNO is furthest along, with UNO Wonder and UNO Wild already in soft launch alongside the classic UNO! mobile app, per the same reporting. A new Hot Wheels mobile title is in active development, and a Masters of the Universe game, Skeletor: Until Next Time!, had already released in June 2026 ahead of the studio’s formal launch — evidence the underlying team was shipping before the Mattel Game Studios name went on the door.

The strategy mirrors what other legacy toy and entertainment companies have tried with mixed results: license or self-publish mobile and platform games built around characters people already know, rather than build new IP from scratch. Mattel’s advantage is breadth — Barbie, Hot Wheels, UNO, Polly Pocket and Masters of the Universe span multiple generations of nostalgia at once, giving the studio several different audiences to target with different game types rather than betting everything on one property.

Whether Barbie and Hot Wheels translate into games people stick with long-term is still an open question. But the corporate structure is now in place — a nearly 300-person studio spanning two continents, reporting up through Mattel Digital Studios, with a mandate to keep the pipeline of toy-based games moving.