Sept 30, 2020 – Coming off the success of the Power Rangers Board Game, the partnership has been extended where the Renegade and Hasbro deal now covers Transformers, My Little Pony and G.I. Joe. Renegade will continue to work on the Power Ranges brand, as well as, create new strategy titles for those new iconic brands. The story was originally reported by Forbes.
The partnership between Renegade Studios and Hasbro started in 2018 with the development of Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid. It was a game that had you team up as teenagers with attitude to take down Rita Repulsa and her vile monsters. The game is still relatively new but has been well received and is growing in popularity. The game was well designed by Jonathan Ying, one of the designers of Star Wars: Imperial Assault.
According to the original Forbes article:
In addition to more games featuring the Power Rangers brand, Renegade will produce card and roleplaying games for Transformers, My Little Pony and G.I. Joe brands. “Hasbro has brought so much joy to fans through these worlds filled with rich narratives and iconic characters. We are excited to expand our relationship with Hasbro to help bring these stories to hobby tabletops in a new way,“ explains Scott Gaeta, President and Publisher at Renegade Game Studios.
“We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Renegade Game Studios to include more fan favorite brands from our portfolio,” said Casey Collins, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Global Consumer Products at Hasbro. “The tabletop and roleplaying games Renegade Game Studios innovated for the Power Rangers franchise have proved to authentically connect with both gamers and the Ranger Nation and we are confident that G.I. Joe, Transformers and My Little Pony fans will love the exciting games coming soon.”
The partnership looks to cover two directions:
(1) Deckbuilding Games
(2) Tabletop Roleplaying Games
This makes sense since Renegade Studios has products that dominate these spaces and Hasbro’s gaming specialty is in the family space. Hasbro knows that Renegade can bring in the best talent and develop a quality product from start to finish.
The idea that in the near future we could have a Transformers board game, a My Little Pony Board Game, a G.I. board game and more Power Rangers board games, is such a source of joy. And the fact that they will be high end strategy game makes it all the better.
THE BRANDS
Power Rangers – The colorful group of five known as the Power Rangers were originally introduced to U.S. audiences in 1993 with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television show. The concept focused on a group of high school students who were infused with unique superpowers and teamed up to save the world. It was zany, over the top and people loved it. Saban, creator of the franchise, used only Japanese footage and shot pick up shots with the kids to make a show.
Transformers – The Transformers are a species of sentient, living robotic beings (mostly) originating from the distant machine world of Cybertron. The stories of their lives, their histories, and most especially their wars have been chronicled across many different continuities in the vast multiverse. The original cartoon launched in 1984 with the major film franchise first coming in 2007.
My Little Pony – My Little Pony is a toy line and media franchise mainly targeting girls, developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed and produced in 1981 with a cartoon to coincide and help sell. The ponies feature colorful bodies, manes and a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks. Such symbols are referred to in the two most recent incarnations as “cutie marks”.
G. I. Joe – The initial launch in 1964 represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier (U.S. Army), Action Sailor (U.S. Navy), Action Pilot (U.S. Air Force) and Action Marine (U.S. Marine Corps). The name derived from the usage of “G.I. Joe” for the generic U.S. soldier, itself derived from the more general term “G.I.”. A cartoon to sell the toys launched in 1983 and made them a phenomenon. A movie came in 2009 but was not received well.
