Hasta La Motion!

Rocket Licensing has signed a deal to manage the consumer products programme for the award winning stop motion animation series, Kiri and Lou. This will bolster Rocket’s preschool portfolio. 

Featuring two little prehistoric creatures, Kiri and Lou was launched in New Zealand, Canada and Australia and now airs on weekdays on CBeebies in the UK. Launched in the UK on 27 April 2020, the series received a strong reception and during its first week, also became the most requested CBeebies brand. 

In four weeks, Kiri and Lou achieved over two million requests on iPlayer. New episodes are premiering today, 8 June, and a free Kiri and Lou Hide and Seek app is now also available on the App Store and Google Play.

Rocket will manage the licensing rights in the UK and Eire and will be discussing the exciting new brand with potential partners in a wide range of categories, including toys and games, stationery, publishing, homewares, apparel, accessories, food and drink, educational tools, partyware and digital. Rocket also sees great potential to explore options for sustainable and environmentally conscious products and partnerships, in keeping with the brand’s core values and messaging.

Comments Rocket Licensing Joint MD Charlie Donaldson on the deal, “Kiri and Lou bring something completely fresh to the preschool sector. The animation employs a traditional stop motion animation technique, which brings not only a different look, but a different pace to the screen and enables fully developed characters, environment and stories. The brand is the perfect mixture of a calm and gentle approach to exploring personal and social education for young children, with fun, laughter and adventure. The rich design and writing offer a huge scope for licensed products.”

The series revolves around Kiri, a feisty little dinosaur, and her best friend Lou, a gentle creature with a long and remarkably sensitive trunk. Targeted at children aged two to five, and created using clay creatures, set in a peaceful, beautiful forest formed from cut out paper, Kiri and Lou attracts and retains the attention of younger audiences.

The show focuses on music, the environment, nature, feelings and friendship, and explores values such as kindness, thoughtfulness and empathy. Each episode follows the charming creatures in a fun adventure story with an emotional theme.

Adding on the partnership, Stretchy CEO and producer Fiona Copland said, “We are delighted to partner with Rocket Licensing for the UK and Eire. They share the values of this brand and bring a wealth of experience working with high quality IP that is beloved across the UK.”

Written and directed by New Zealand writer, actor, musician and director, Harry Sinclair, Kiri and Lou also features original songs co-written for each episode with well-known NZ musician, Don McGlashan. A Kiri and Lou album will be released later this month. The characters are also voiced by famous names, including Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) as Lou.

CAKE handles all international television distribution of the animated series.

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WildBrain CPLG has been tapped by Haven Global to represent sibling YouTube superstars Vlad and Niki in EMEA and Russia. Brothers Vlad and Niki (aged seven and five) star in one of YouTube kidfluencer channels, garnering four billion monthly views. Originally launched in English in 2018, Vlad and Niki now have 15 YouTube channels across 12 languages and have amassed 90 million subscribers worldwide.

WildBrain CPLG executive vice president and managing director Maarten Weck said: “In just a couple of years, Vlad and Niki have established a remarkable international fan-base on YouTube with staggering global reach. We’re already seeing a huge amount of interest in this brand so will be moving quickly as we create a licensing programme which captures the fun and family spirit of Vlad and Niki’s much-loved videos for fans across EMEA and Russia.”

Vlad and Niki’s energetic videos centre on the brothers’ daily adventures which are brought to life with fun special effects and animation, superhero narrative, toy testing and catchy songs. WildBrain CPLG will work with Haven to build an extensive consumer products programme in EMEA and Russia for the kidfluencer duo, covering all merchandise categories and promotions.

“Fans worldwide have a remarkable opportunity to watch the boys’ content in their native languages – English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic and more. With an uplift of 40 per cent in views in the last month alone, it is an extremely exciting time for the brand. We are thrilled to be joining forces with WildBrain CPLG to grow the retail and licensing footprint in the region,” said Haven Global managing director Tom Punch.

Haven Global represents licensors including Nickelodeon, Sanrio, Sesame Workshop, MGA Entertainment, The Pokémon Company and more for the Australian and New Zealand market, as well as representing global rights for YouTube brands including Vlad & Niki, and CKN Toys.

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Netflix India will premiere Japan Sinks: 2020, a new sci-fi anime series,  on 9 July.

Based on the bestselling 1973 disaster novel of the same name by Sakyo Komastu, Japan Sinks: 2020 centres around a family trying to reunite in the middle of devastating earthquakes hitting contemporary Japan which caused Japan to sink into the ocean.

Previously, Japan Sinks: 2020 had been adapted into a live-action film and TV series. In 1973, the film titled Tidal Wave was released in Japan, and Roger Corman bought the film rights, edited it thoroughly, and added new scenes with American actors.

Another Japanese TV series also aired in 1975. Shinji Higuchi (Shin Godzilla fame) released Sinking of Japan in 2006, starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Kou Shibasaki.

The cast of the anime series includes Hiroyuki Yoshino as Haruki Koga, Nanako Mori as Nami Miura, Kensho Ono as Kaito Umeji and Sasaki as Kunio Ashida.

Japan Sinks: 2020 consists of 10 episodes directed by Masaaki Yuasa, who has well known titles like Night is Short, Walk on Girl, Devilman Crybaby, Ride Your Wave, and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken to his credit.

Though it’s an adaptation of the catastrophe in Japan in 1973, the treatment and the anime is very modern. Given the condition of 2020 till now, the series may be too relatable.

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The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent country-wide lockdown has affected many facets of Indian society, including the gaming industry. When  1.3 billion people went on nationwide lockdown the gaming space changed completely. Publicis Groupe India reported that gaming saw a 41 per cent increase in time spent in March. According to findings of the research firm Niko’s series of interviews – a 21-year old male who mentioned that he used to play games for around two hours per day before the lockdown. He now plays between four-six hours per day due to the lockdown. Ludo King, PUBG Mobile, Clash of Clans, and Teen Patti and Online Poker are among the popular titles that gain more playtime during the lockdown.

Growth story of Indian real money Poker

Online Poker which involves real money gaming and sheltered under game of skill umbrella, has experienced the Covid 19 growth surge tremendously like Rummy. Speaking with few Indian poker industry players like Spartan poker, PokerDangal and 9stacks we have figured out due to house arrest boredom and urge of earning extra cash in lockdown has driven the poker players to play more real money gaming (RMG) in lockdown.Thus it has not only boosted new user rates, download rates but also impacted DAU rate. Spartan Poker, have seen greater traction during the lockdown with 100 per cent increase in acquiring new customers and overall  25 to 30 per cent growth, mostly from Tier 1 and tier 2 cities. Poker Dangal has witnessed growth in its user acquisition and time spent per session by the users skyrocketed. 9stacks witnessed 30per cent uptick in the number of concurrent users, and in total games played each day, referrals and new sign-ups have also increased by almost 100 per cent as compared to the pre-COVID period.  We are seeing explosive growth in Tier 2/3/4 markets. Thus the industry believes lockdown has helped many to build a very solid foundation for the future.

Spartan Poker has observed a downward trend in terms of volume and spend around the lockdown period as compared to the time before the lockdown. “Since there is a considerable drop in ARPU, Spartan Poker plans to compensate by aggressively acquiring more users. In addition, with the analysis of the past three months, we have been trying to leverage this outcome through project restructuring and existing operations to provide the best experience to all the gamers,” said Spartan Poker founder and managing director Amin Rozani.

As mentioned earlier users want to engage with platforms that are not only a source of entertainment but also rewarding their time and effort in lockdown so they landed on RMG in lockdown. Experiencing the same PokerDangal CEO and founder Varun Mahna says, “The challenge with RMG gaming platform is the disposable income of the users. As the economy suffers there is a trickle effect on all the sectors. An operator has to provide the best service during these times to ensure the users are engaged on the platform and the user acquisition also plays a very important role in a time like this.” Taking advantage of the players’ interest in RMG 9stacks  launched a number of new promotions, contests, and tech features in the last few months itself to engage the audience said 9Stacks CEO and co-founder Sudhir Kamath.

Where it is heading post lockdown?

The COVID-19 pandemic, while responsible for deaths and socio-economic problems for India, also created an avenue of opportunities for the gaming industry in the country. More exposure on video games and esports to the general public during the lockdown could lead to the mainstreaming of the industry in India. As Mahna  added “The sector will continue to grow at a rapid pace in the months to come and will become mainstream soon.”

Furthermore, the increasing popularity of gaming in the country could also increase the industry’s potential to be recognised and supported by the government.

Although many are not able to pursue or attracting any investments in the real money gaming space, because “ the spike in numbers experienced over the past three months will go back to normal (it already has more or less), Rozani said. Therefore Spartan Poker is aiming to focus on operational standpoint by incorporating better technology for their communications, as a lot of their staff will be working from home over the next four to six months.

Whereas on the other hand Kamath believes coronavirus lockdown will be going to have a lasting long-term impact on online gaming. “We think that the gaming hours would hardly vary by one to two hours as it is right now, since the new users will become more acquainted with the online gaming features. Overall, we think while the current 100per cent increase in usage and revenue is transient, there will probably be a lasting uplift of 30 to 40per cent for online poker companies,”he added.

Since coronavirus pandemic having a catastrophic effect in the entire economy, as the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was deeply concerned about the economic wreck that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused, and which is expected to take several years to repair. As long as the gaming industry is concerned the scoring user and DAU numbers might start reflecting on revenue numbers once everyone find ways to face the dawn of new normal.

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It’s fair to say game development is a long, involved process. It can take years to fully craft the original idea, with developer companies all coming with different employee sizes, goals and engines.

Online games, undoubtedly the most popular version of the platform today, are particularly difficult to create – especially in the animation department.

From massive multiplayer shooters to the tense stakes of online casino games found on Royal Panda, there is a certain process to approaching the animation of online games and the differences they require to animating other sorts of titles.

Animating every angle

The main difference between movie and game animation is game developers must consider every possible angle the player will view the animation from. 3D animation within a game engine must look plausible from every conceivable view.

On top of this, the player’s input controls the movements of the character or sprite that they play as, so every animation must work in a continuous sequence and be able to smoothly flow from one to the other.

When an input is given to a sprite, it usually completes the cycle of movement 60 times every second, resulting in a smooth transition from a resting stance to moving to resting again.

Game developers have the intricate job of coding every small movement to work in sequence to whatever the player demands their controlled component does, with inputs needing to take these short milliseconds in order to register and perform the actions.

What the player wants

Whereas animation for a single-player game can offer more impressive, complex movements, online game animation requires something different, as the player vs player performance depends on how robust the animation is.

Game animation is nothing to be taken lightly, with developers putting painstaking amounts of effort and hours into the making of the properties we know and love.

Online games are often a competitive field, where animations and sprite movement need to be precise in order to have every gamer on a level playing field. Physics needs to be incorporated too, with every action given an equal outcome based on how the game’s physics dictate it.

Taking into consideration that a lot of these online games are so popular to the point where entire tournaments can be made out of them and people can earn real money from Esports, it’s required that the animation be snappier, more streamlined and perfectly timed.

The future

Looking back and seeing how far game animation has come – on top of how popular online games are now – the future of animation within the industry is wholly exciting.

With the next generation of consoles on the horizon, there are already showcases of new animation technology and game engines that are furthering the capability of the platform.

With more detail to work with within game engines and better hardware on the systems that the games are played on, animation for online games will surely become more precise in the coming years and will open up more avenues for players to compete through.

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