Sanrio, the company that owns the IP for the popular Hello Kitty brand, has announced the formation of its own gaming brand Sanrio Games, with a number of new projects set to launch over the next few years.
According to an Automaton Media report, Sanrio Games will launch ten games between now and March 2029, the first of which will be the appropriately-named party game Sanrio Party Land, which is set to arrive this fall.
Sanrio Party Land sounds like it’ll play a lot like Mario Party; you’ll create an avatar and play minigames with iconic Sanrio characters, so expect a Hello Kitty slant on Nintendo’s popular party game franchise rather than the more cozy stylings of something like Hello Kitty Island Adventure.
Automaton says that another console game will be arriving at some point in the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2027, and that more info about each of Sanrio’s upcoming projects will be announced “gradually”.
Sanrio is best-known for its Hello Kitty brand, but that’s not the only IP the company owns; it’s also known for characters like Kuromi and Cinnamoroll, and it also owns the worldwide publishing rights for the Mr. Men franchise, as well as the Japanese publishing rights for the Charlie Brown-starring Peanuts.
Presumably, Hello Kitty herself will be featuring in many of Sanrio’s upcoming efforts, and it won’t be her first foray into the gaming world either. Many Hello Kitty games have been released as Japan-only ventures, alongside efforts like the aforementioned Island Adventure, which was created by a Western studio.
The character is also set to feature in a number of upcoming tabletop projects; back in 2023, Maestro Media signed a multi-year deal with Sanrio to create board game experiences based on Hello Kitty.
We’ll have to wait and see what Sanrio has in store for its new gaming brand, but for now, you can look forward to Sanrio Party Land arriving later this year.
