Yeah, I’m as mystified as you are.
Look, full honesty, I just spent about a week making fun of the sort of people that wear stuff that proudly proclaims that they both went to E3 and are a gamer. After all, who could possibly live without that E3 pizza cutter/bottle opener combo? Which is why finding out that American Girl now offers an Xbox set really just puzzles me.
Dolls can get ready to play—and win—in tournaments with friends! Includes:
- A pretend Xbox® One S game console that projects 10 different gaming scenes
- A Xbox One S controller that dolls can really hold
- A comfy faux-leather game chair with built in speaker. Includes a cord that plugs into personal devices to play music or other sounds!
- Pretend wireless gaming headphones with an adjustable mic to chat with friends
- Two fun game discs to insert into the console projector and two cases to keep them safe
- All devices are pretend.
Thank goodness they let us know this is all pretend stuff. And call me crazy, but I don’t think there are a terribly large number of tournaments out there for Bloks or Dancer. And, I’m pretty sure you can swing a used Xbox One for around that price if you really hunt for it (just, uh, make sure to give it a once over with some sterilizing wipes and erase the hard drive. Just trust me on that last part, if nothing else). Mostly due to the fact that we’re talking about a $50 playset that comes with no dolls. A playset whose actual market I can’t possibly pin down, other than adult women who collect dolls.
And that’s the thing: I remember American Girl dolls being an educational product sort of rooted in various historic time periods. And I know over time they saw more money partially divorcing from the concept. But I legitimately don’t think of any of the girls I knew growing up (who, yes, played games) would’ve seen this and not been a little insulted. Just a little bit, mind; one went on to work at Blizzard for a while, and her thing as I remember was JRPGs and Fighting Games, mostly
Thankfully, the American Girl site page for the set has a review section, with one whole review:
… that seems to be written by someone having some sort of mental break.
Now, to be absolutely fair, you do appear to be getting your money’s worth. The pieces in the set are well crafted. And the console is a tiny projector; the game discs work similar to a View-Master, projecting the tiny cells into a much larger image.
But I still can’t figure out who it’s all really for. Other than people who’ve bought into the oddly expensive world of American Girl dolls. Because I can’t imagine the demand was that high.
Source: GameInformer
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