toio is an
educational
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...
video game console developed by
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...
. It consists of two miniature robots, a docking station with a
monochrome display, a
cartridge port to load software onto, and two controllers. After shipping to crowdfunding backers in January 2018, the platform was released across Japan in March 2019.
Development
The product was conceived by Alexis André, based out of Sony Computer Science Laboratories' Tokyo division. It was unveiled at the Tokyo Toy Show and was put up for pre-order on
Sony Corporation's First Flight
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
platform in June 2017.
Bandai
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...
,
LEGO
Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...
and
Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
were announced as partners in development and content creation. In late 2017,
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...
took over the project as it offered a challenge beyond the television.
Backers began receiving toio in January 2018.
Shortly after the project shifted to the gaming division, the hardware and software was significantly redesigned to improve stability. Sony offered the revised version of toio to those who crowdfunded the original at no additional cost.
This version began being sold to the general public in Japan on March 20, 2019.
Sony made the platform open source and released a
GitHub
GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...
repository on June 13, 2019. On September 30, 2020, Sony and Morikatron released a free
Unity
Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...
software development kit
A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific t ...
designed for toio. The platform launched in China on September 25, 2021.
Kits
Alongside the hardware itself, Sony has released a variety of themed kits that include game cartridges, additional toys for the robots and books with activities.
Reception
The platform and its games have won multiple Japanese Good Design Awards between 2017 and 2020. ''Papercraft Creatures - Gesundroid''
made the Jury's Selection in the Entertainment category during the 22nd
Japan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition.
Based on judging by ...
in 2019. In 2020, the hardware won a
Red Dot Design Award
The Red Dot Design Award is an international, annual design competition for product and industrial design, brand and communication design as well as design concepts, in which the Red Dot quality label is awarded to winners. The Red Dot Design A ...
and an
iF Product Design Award
The iF Product Design Award was introduced in 1954 and is annually conferred by the iF International Forum Design. The award, which spans multiple disciplines, has more than 5,500 entries from around 59 nations every year.
History
The iF Indus ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Sony Interactive Entertainment
Educational video game consoles
Japan-exclusive video game hardware
Sony consoles
Sony products
Products introduced in 2019
Sony Interactive Entertainment
2019 in video gaming