MGA Entertainment is entering the nonfungible token (NFT) market by converting its best-selling toys L.O.L. Surprise into digital assets on the blockchain.
Fans will be able to mint NFTs, exhibit their character collections, and buy, sell, and exchange digital treasures online when the American toy giant launches an NFT functionality for its world-famous brand L.O.L. Surprise.
MGA has teamed with Ioconic, a London-based partnership firm for brand owners that provides exposure to the NFT and digital asset industries, to allow the new feature.
Fans and collectors will be able to reproduce physical purchases using QR codes thanks to the startup’s online gaming hub for the L.O.L. Surprise trading card game.
According to Ioconic CEO Jamie Lewis, the company created “the complete L.O.L. Surprise digital ecosystem from the ground up.”
“Because no two brands have the same needs, we create a custom digital asset strategy for each one we work with. We’ve reached an agreement with a big protocol that will power the L.O.L. Surprise platform, but we won’t reveal anything until the site launches in two weeks,” Lewis said.
MGA Entertainment, which was founded in 1979 and is well known for producing the Bratz fashion doll and products, is one of the world’s private toy suppliers.
MGA’s L.O.L. Surprise doll, which was released in September 2017, was the best-selling U.S. toy property for three years starting in 2018, contributing to overall toy sales in the United States, which reached $25 billion in retail sales in 2020.
Ioconic was launched in early 2021 with an initial investment from Hong Kong-based blockchain investment firm Kenetic. One of Ioconic’s co-founders is Kenetic managing partner Jehan Chu.
Ioconic has partnered with industry powerhouses such as Disneyland and Warner Bros. Entertainment on a number of licensing arrangements.
“We’ve worked with these businesses in both physical and digital venues, and we’re now working with some of them on digital assets. We haven’t revealed all of our relationships yet because we’re a new company,” Lewis noted.
