Stephanie Clifford of The New York Times today covers Monopoly's latest attempt to stay relevant in the video game era, a new version of the game that replaces dice, play money and chance cards with a computer that tells you what's going on.
With free digital games everywhere, Hasbro is hoping to revive interest among young children and preteenagers in several of its games that cost money. (The new Monopoly, available in the fall, will be about $50). Battleship will undergo a similar digital upgrade this year, and other Hasbro games will be redesigned for 2012 and 2013, Ms. Ritson-Parsons said.
Hasbro's handling of Monopoly is a case study in such desperation - constantly announcing new versions of the game, reintroducing the classic, changing the dollar amounts the game economics is based on etc.
Clifford does a good job of giving their executives their say while also finding novel sources from business and academia to explain why the long-term approach probably won't work.
My focus group, comprised entirely of my nieces and nephews, loves to play Monopoly with Uncle Sean every time he visits, but if you took away the back-biting, property trading and cheating, I'm sure they'd enjoy it any longer. And I do note that the youngest nephew is only sort-of interested and would much rather play his video games if given the option.
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