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''Petz'' is a series of single-player
video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. Developed by PF.Magic, original ''Petz'' ( ''Dogz'' and ''Catz'') has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. The series has grown to over 22 million copies as of 2011 since coming under
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...
.


Development

The original ''Petz'' games — '' Dogz: Your Computer Pet'' and '' Catz: Your Computer Pet''—were developed by PF.Magic, released in 1995 and 1996 respectively. They reused the graphics engine used '' Ballz''. Rob Fulop conceived of ''Dogz'', following the controversy surrounding his previous title '' Night Trap'', which resulted in him wanting to make a game that was "so cute and so adorable that no could ever, ever say it was bad for kids". He claims to have consulted a shopping mall Santa Claus about what children wanted, and was informed that puppies were the most popular request every year. Following the success the company, instead of continuing to branch out into other household pets, developed '' Oddballz'', focused on Chimeraic and mutatable creatures. This would release along with sequels to the ''Dogz'' and ''Catz''. In 1997, PF.Magic was acquired by
The Learning Company The Learning Company (TLC) was an American educational software company founded in 1980 in Palo Alto, California and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company produced a grade-based line of learning software, edutainment games, and ...
's Mindscape division for $15.8 million in 1998. In 2001,
Ubi Soft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include ''Anno (video game series), Anno'', ' ...
(Ubisoft, since 2003) acquired the entertainment division of The Learning Company, granting Ubisoft exclusive publishing rights to 88 titles, including ''Dogz'' and ''Catz''. Ubisoft would publish ''Catz 5'' and ''Dogz 5'', in 2002, as the last games following the original style, before putting franchise on hold for three years. After releasing '' Dogz'' and '' Catz'' for the Game Boy Advance in 2005 and 2006, Ubisoft announced their intention for a "revitalisation" of the series, in direct response to the success of Nintendo's '' Nintendogs''. Many of the successive games were localised games from Japan or Europe in origin and were simply rebranded with the ''Petz'' name. In, 2010 Ubisoft announced its intention to publish a Frima Studios developed Petz themed MMO under the title ''Petz World'', which they expected to be released in 2011. No further announcements have been subsequently made, and no such game was ever released. Ubisoft would continue releasing entries until 2014.


Animals

The initial games were limited to dogz and catz, but additional animals were also introduced. These animals include Pigz, Bunnyz, Monkeyz, Dolphinz, and Hamsterz, some of which received their own games. Users learned how to reverse-engineer the system, and began producing additional breedz, toyz, playscenes, clothes, and developer tools for the games, as permitted by PF.Magic, Mindscape, and Ubisoft.


Games

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Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
, PC , , - !''Petz Rescue: Ocean Patrol'' , Magic Pockets , Ubisoft , 2008 , DS , , - !''Petz Rescue: Wildlife Vet'' , Virtual Toys , Ubisoft , 2008 , , , - !''Petz Rescue: Endangered Paradise'' , Phoenix Studio , Ubisoft , 2008 , DS , , - !'' Petz Sports: Dog Playground'' ,
Ubisoft Montreal Ubisoft Divertissements Inc., doing business as Ubisoft Montreal, is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Montreal. The studio was founded in April 1997 as part of Ubisoft's growth into worldwide markets, with subs ...
, Ubisoft , 2008 , , , - !''Dogz'' ,
Gameloft Gameloft SE is a French video game company based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games for mobile devices, video game consoles, and ...
, , 2008 ,
N-Gage 2.0 N-Gage, also referred to as N-Gage 2.0, was a mobile game, mobile gaming digital distribution platform from Nokia that was available for several Nokia smartphones running on S60 platform, S60 (Symbian). The successor to the original N-Gage (devi ...
, , - !''Petz: Dogz Pack'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2008 , DS , , - !''Petz: Dogz Fashion'' , MTO , Ubisoft , 2008 , DS , , - !''Petz: Catz Clan'' , Digital Kids , Ubisoft , 2008 , DS , , - !'' Petz: Crazy Monkeyz'' , Y'sK , Ubisoft , 2009 , Wii , , - !''Petz Fashion: Dogz & Catz'' , Powerhead Games , Ubisoft , 2009 , DS , , - !'' Petz: My Baby Panda'' ,
Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game ...
, , 2009 , DS , , - !''Petz: Hamsterz Superstarz'' , Ubisoft Nagoya , Ubisoft , 2009 , DS , , - !''Petz: Hamsterz Bunch'' , DK Games , Ubisoft , 2009 , PSP , , - !''Petz: Dogz Talent Show'' , Ubisoft Nagoya , Ubisoft , 2009 , DS , , - !''Petz Nursery'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2009 , DS , , - !''Petz: Pony Beauty Pageant'' , HotGen , Ubisoft , 2009 , DS , , - !''Petz Nursery 2'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2010 , DS , , - !''Petz: Horsez Family'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2010 , DS , , - !''Petz: Catz Playground'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2010 , DS , , - !''Petz: Dogz Family'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2010 ,
DSiWare This is a list of games and applications, collectively known as DSiWare, for the Nintendo DSi handheld game console, available for download via the DSi Shop and unplayable on earlier DS models. An update released for the Nintendo 3DS in June 20 ...
, , - !''Petz Hamsterz Family'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2010 , DSiWare , , - !''Petz Kittens'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2010 , DSiWare , , - !''Petz Fantasy: Moonlight Magic'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2010 , DS , , - !''Petz Fantasy: Sunshine Magic'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2010 , DS , , - !''Petz Fantasy 3D'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2011 , 3DS , , - !''Petz: Puppyz & Kittenz'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2011 , DS , , - !''Petz Beach'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2014 , 3DS , , - !''Petz Countryside'' , Ubisoft , Ubisoft , 2014 , 3DS ,


Notes


Reception

The original software was generally well received, with ''
The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...
'' giving 1995's ''Dogz'' 4 out of 5 stars, and '' PC Zone'' and ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' giving ''Catz'' an 8/10 and B+ respectively. However, later games were less well received, in particularly compared to other virtual pet experiences that were available, with the 1999 Game Boy Color games negatively compared to
Tamagotchi is a brand of handheld digital pets that was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was released by Bandai on November 23, 1996 in Japan and in the United States on May 1, 1997, quickly becoming one of the bigge ...
, and 2005's ''Dogz'' for the Game Boy Advance, being seen as an attempt to ape '' Nintendogs''. By 2007, ''
Joystiq ''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog which was part of the Weblogs, Inc. family later owned by AOL. It was active from 2004 to 2015, acting as the primary video game blog for the group, and operating alongside ''Engadget'' and sister blogs such ...
'' recommended buying games in the series only for "people you hate". On the other hand, a 2008 feature in '' Game Developer'' opined that Ubisoft's "casual titles"—specifically mentioning the Petz and Imagine series—had distinguished themselves by being "well-made non- shovelware" that didn't try to "take advantage of the innocence of the target market." The ''Petz'' series is also notable for the online community that grew around it, which game designer Nathalie Lawhead speculates is part of the reason for its success and enduring legacy.


Sales

The original ''Dogz'' and ''Catz'' sold around 200,000, in their first year on the market, and would go on to sell—along with their sequels ''Catz'' and ''Dogz II''—1.5 million copies. By the time of PF.Magic's purchase by Mindscape, the series had made over $8 million. The series as a whole has now sold more than 24 million copies.


See also

* '' Babyz'' * '' Nintendogs'' * ''
Tamagotchi is a brand of handheld digital pets that was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was released by Bandai on November 23, 1996 in Japan and in the United States on May 1, 1997, quickly becoming one of the bigge ...
'' * '' Creatures''


References


Further reading

* * * {{cite journal , last1=Stern , first1=Andrew , title=Virtual Babyz: Believable agents with narrative intelligence , journal=Advances in Consciousness Research , date=27 February 2003 , volume=46 , pages=215–227 , url=https://cdn.aaai.org/Symposia/Fall/1999/FS-99-01/FS99-01-009.pdf , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618164112/http://www.interactivestory.net/papers/PetzAndBabyz.html , archive-date=18 June 2006 , url-status=live Classic Mac OS games Mindscape games N-Gage service games PF.Magic games Single-player video games Ubisoft franchises Ubisoft games Video game franchises introduced in 1995 Video game franchises Video games developed in the United States Virtual pet video games Windows games *