YouTube media franchise Spy Ninjas is coming to Roblox this month, as part of an agreement between Spy Ninjas‘ licensing agent Surge Licensing and Roblox developer Shaggy Doge, founded by toy industry veteran Shawn McCarthy.
The online serial drama follows Chad Wild Clay, Vy Qwaint, and their Spy Ninjas team as they set out to save the world from an evil hacking group called Project Zorgo through detective work and martial arts. In the upcoming inspired game, which has not yet been titled, a new Project Zorgo splinter cell threatens Roblox, so Chad, Vy, and the team must jump into the metaverse and save Roblox with the help of their fans/fellow Spy Ninjas.
Currently, Spy Ninjas launches seven new episodes weekly, boasting over 400 million monthly views and over 37 million subscribers.
The game launch will be supported by the Spy Ninjas YouTube channels, including their gaming-focused channel; on YouTube, Chad and Vy will prompt gamers to join them on Roblox to help them solve riddles, spot clues, do detective work, and battle Project Zorgo.
“We already like to think of our content like a video game that our audience plays in real time, so expanding into the Roblox environment, which lends the opportunity for interactive play, and where we know our fans already live, is a natural next step,” said Chad Wild Clay and Vy Qwaint. “We are excited to soon be able to seamlessly integrate the stories between the YouTube and Roblox platforms, where Spy Ninjas gamers will participate in a hyper-focused and participatory experience.”
“Our fans are already on Roblox, which entertains 150 million monthly gamers, making it an ideal platform for us to extend the Spy Ninjas experience. Our fans are there so we will be bringing the experience they’re craving directly to them,” added Surge VP, Elan Freedman. “We are thrilled to be working with Shaggy Doge to bring this new game to our fans to further engage with the characters and stories they love. It’s an exciting new development, adding to our successful 2020 toy launch from Playmates Toys and the opening of our global store by Event Merchandising.”
The past year has seen the brand grow with the launch of master toy partner Playmates Toys’ line in October 2021 at Walmart.com, Target.com, and Amazon.com. Brick and mortar retailers are beginning to sell the line this year as well, with Target already carrying it. The first wave of the toy roll-out features spy gadgets, including secret electronic spy ninja gear, decoders, ninja weapons, a new Project Zorgo mask, and spy activity kits from the series.
Event Merchandising also launched the official Spy Ninjas eCommerce global store in December, spyninjasstore.com. Additionally, Spy Ninjas episodes air on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Roku through partners Janson Media and Future Today.