Mind Candy, the company behind the successful Moshi Monsters online kids game and character franchise, has acquired a games studio, Origami Blue, to power a new initiative being dubbed ‘Candy Labs’. The move marks another twist to the Mind Candy playbook which has seen it develop into comic books, music and toys. The team joins as full-time Mind Candy employees.
‘Candy Labs’ will be an R&D studio to spin up new ideas around entertainment for children, as is Mind Candy’s focus, though they are keen to stress than some will be digital and some non-digital concepts. “Some of the new concepts will be acquired from third parties, but most ideas will originate in-house,” said a spokesperson.
Origami Blue has until now been known as a small studio originally set up by ex-Disney Blackrock studios creatives Edd Smith, Mark Knowles-Lee and James Ovnik. They set out to create character animations, but most notably they developed augmented reality gaming applications for large corporates. They’ve also been working with a team of educational psychologists to develop a state-of-the-art touch-typing system for children.
In a statement Michael Acton Smith, CEO and Founder of Mind Candy commented: “We clicked creatively with the Origami Blue guys from the outset and are hugely excited to bring them onboard. Developing new IP has always been part of the plan to expand Mind Candy. We have lots of ideas bubbling away and can’t wait to see the new visions come to life.”