In past features, we have taken a look back at some of Microsoft's older hardware products, including the fact that it made add-on cards for Mac PCs, and more recently teamed up with Razer for a short lived PC gaming accessory line. We even took a look at how the company released a mouse-like joystick for RTS gamers.
All of these products were things I was previously aware of. However, when I took a deep dive into the interwebs, I found something that I had never heard of before, or at least don't remember. Microsoft actually launched its own interactive toy line for young kids in the late 1990s. It' was called Microsoft ActiMates, and it was first introduced in February 1997 at the New York Toy Fair with a tie-in to perhaps the biggest children's TV show at that time: the PBS sensation Barney.
Yes, Microsoft actually sold a Barney toy.
The premise of the Microsoft ActiMates lineup was that your kids got a plush small version of Barney in the box, and when you connected the plush toy to your TV with a special transmitter (sold separately), and then played specially coded VHS tapes on your TV (also sold separately), the toy would react to what was playing on the tape. The toy could also be connected to a PC and could interact with videos and software shown on the monitor.
In both cases, the toy Barney could talk by using an extensive vocabulary. He could "talk" about what was being shown on the TV screen or PC monitor, ask questions to the kids that are watching the videos with them, and more.
The TV version allowed Barney to use up to 4,000 words, while the PC version, made to work with Windows 95 (naturally) increased his vocabulary to 14,000 words. The increase was likely because the PC version included special games and interactive activities that kids could play, and have Barney react and interact with them.
Microsoft marketed this toy line as "educational". In fact, the initial press release quotes an Erik Strommen who has a Ph.D in developmental psychology and who Microsoft stated was a consultant on ActiMates. He stated:
Young children learn through play. While playing with the ActiMates system, the child is encouraged to explore and discover the curriculum that's built into the software programs, videotapes and the games available in the character itself. The full system gives parents a library of information from learning experts on children's growth and development, and suggested activities to enhance the child's mastery of important skills.
The toy Barney could also be interactive on his own, without a TV or PC. Microsoft stated:
Through sensors in his eyes, feet and hands, the plush 16-inch ActiMates Interactive Barney is able to respond to a child's touch and, with a 2,000 word vocabulary, can talk a child through a wide variety of learning-oriented activities - always with an emphasis on fun. Squeeze his foot and he'll sing one of 17 songs such as "Alphabet Song," "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and his signature "I Love You." Squeeze his hand and he'll engage the child in one of 12 activities including counting, rhymes and ABCs. Cover his eyes and he'll play peek-a-boo.
The actual toys went on sale later in the fall of 1997. They were not cheap, by the way. The Barney toy itself was sold on its own for $109.95. You had to purchase the ActiMates TV Pack and ActiMates PC Pack transmitters on their own, and they were $64.95 each. Both included one VCR tape or one CD-ROM disk. Additional VCR tapes cost $14.95 each, and additional CD-ROM software cost $34.95 each.
The Barney ActiMates toy and accessories were apparently a big enough sales success that the line expanded later on to include plush toys, tapes, and software for other PBS-based kids shows; specifically, Arthur and his sister DW, along with the Teletubbies.
However, the toy line ended up being short-lived. Microsoft stopped selling ActiMates toys, tapes and software in 2000. There's no specific reason I could find online for the fairly sudden end of this lineup, but it's possible that after the big promotional push in the fall of 1997 for the Barney line, parents may have had enough of buying an over $100 plush toy for their young kids, even if it could talk, along with all of its accessories.
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