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History
Brian Zheng was a Chinese student who immigrated to the United States in the late 1980s. After seeing a television advertisement for “How to Make Money From Your Own Business” by Joseph Crossman, he created a windshield cover called the “Pop-Up Automotive Sun Shade.” Although cardboard sunshades already existed, Zheng’s design attracted enough customer interest to be sold in major retailers of the time. He soon sold his automotive sun-shade company and, in 1992, founded Playhut, Inc., a toy company that designed, manufactured, and marketed a line of collapsible children’s playhouses and structures using the same Pop-Up / EZ-Twist technology developed for the sun shade.
The company grew rapidly, eventually employing more than 100 people in the United States, along with 63 staff overseas, seven sales representatives, offices across the U.S., and a 23-person sales network. Marketing and sales offices were also established in Australia, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. In the United States alone, Playhut occupied over 200,000 square feet of distribution space.
In the early 2000s, Barbie remained the dominant brand in the fashion-doll market, but the Bratz dolls, introduced in 2001 by MGA Entertainment, began gaining significant traction. According to MGA Entertainment, “In 2003, the Bratz brand became a retailing powerhouse, with the brand and its licensees generating $3 billion in sales.” This demonstrated that Barbie’s long-standing dominance was no longer absolute and that other fashion-doll lines could be highly profitable.
In early 2004, Playhut launched its own doll line, the MystiKats. The dolls appeared to draw direct inspiration from the Bratz, sharing many of the features that had made that line popular: almond-shaped eyes with eye shadow, glossy lips, stylized proportions, and fashion-forward clothing. Like the Bratz, the MystiKats consisted of a set of four dolls with different skin tones. The main distinction lay in their backstory: the MystiKats were half-cat, half-human creatures, each possessing unique powers (such as telekinesis) that had been granted to them by a mysterious “kat” on their 18th birthdays.
While the original MystiKats achieved moderate success, the timing proved unfortunate. The overall doll market slowed in 2005, largely due to the rising popularity of other toys such as MP3 players. It was becoming clear that children wanted more interactive experiences. In an interview, Brian Zheng observed: “Children, especially girls, are so advanced in technology at a young age that they’re dropping their traditional toys and hopping into computer play.” Based on this insight, Zheng decided to incorporate technology into the existing MystiKats line and, in October 2004, began development of the GoLive MystiKats.
Release
Released in September 2006, the GoLive MystiKats was intended to be the perfect combination of two play patterns—one traditional and one interactive. The line included three fashion dolls, each bundled with a handheld unit and a cartridge that allowed girls to play games either on the handheld’s screen or on a television via the built-in TV output. Also included was a doll stand that could detect which doll was placed on it. Once the doll was on the stand, additional games and features could be unlocked by changing the doll’s outfit in real life.
Three different packages were available at launch:
- The i-Fashion package came with the Siva doll, the i-Fashion cartridge, and a purple-themed handheld and portal.
- The Precious package came with the Talin doll, the Precious cartridge, and a red-themed handheld and portal.
- The Dancing Chic package came with the Kalani doll, the Dancing Chic cartridge, and a pink-themed handheld and portal.
Initially, the GoLive MystiKats were available only in Target’s 300 newest stores because of production-capacity limitations. The company expected the product to expand to the rest of the Target chain, as well as to Toys “R” Us, in time for the holiday shopping season. A deliberate decision was made not to sell the dolls at Walmart, as Playhut did not yet have sufficient manufacturing capacity to supply another major retailer before Christmas. The plan was to enter Walmart in 2007 once production capacity had increased.
Demise
Sadly, due to a lack of advertising, the high price tag ($99.99), less-than-stellar reviews, and the complicated market segment Playhut was targeting, the GoLive MystiKats did not perform well during the Christmas season. Major retailers quickly dropped the line, and the dolls and handheld console faded into obscurity.
This outcome came as a surprise to Playhut, which had expected the new toy line to sell out. In fact, the company was already developing the next series in the GoLive MystiKats line, called High School Mystical, which had been scheduled for release in the fall of 2007.
Legacy
The GoLive name survived when, in 2007, Playhut, Inc. created an independent gaming division called GoLive2. The company went on to release the Stix, a series of PC gaming controllers (heavily inspired by the Wii Remote) that allowed users to play downloadable games. The Stix 200 focused on 2D online gaming, while the Stix 400 was compatible with both 2D and 3D environments. They later released GoLive2Kidz, a Hello Kitty-themed series of gaming devices that combined built-in mini-games with downloadable content in a single kid-friendly package.
To our knowledge, the GoLive MystiKats was the first video game console to incorporate a true toy-to-life experience, predating the Mattel Hyperscan by about a month. While computer and standalone electronic games had previously featured similar concepts, this was the first time the mechanic had been directly integrated into a dedicated video game console.