''Invizimals'' is an

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

franchise developed by Novarama and owned 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 ...

. The series, which originally began in 2009 as a video game on PSP, has since inspired toys, trading cards, comics and an animated television series telling an interconnected

transmedia Transmedia storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling) is the technique of adapting a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. From a product ...

story.

Games

Invizimals

''Invizimals'' is a PlayStation Portable augmented reality video game developed by Novarama, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. It is a collectible creature game, and was bundled with the PSP's camera attachment on launch.

Invizimals: Shadow Zone

''Invizimals: Shadow Zone'' is a PlayStation Portable augmented reality video game developed by Novarama, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. It is the sequel to 2009's Invizimals. As such, it is a collectible creature game, and requires the PSP's camera attachment for play. It was released on 12 November 2010, in Europe and on 25 October 2011 in North America. The game also includes a needed trap card to play but can be easily replaced by printing a new one.

Invizimals: The Lost Tribes

Invizimals: The Lost Tribes is a PlayStation Portable augmented reality video game developed by Novarama and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. It is the sequel to 2009's Invizimals, and 2010's Invizimals: Shadow Zone. As such, it is a collectible creature game, and requires the PSP's camera attachment for play. It was released in November 2011 in Europe and September 2014 in North America.

Invizimals: The Alliance

Invizimals: The Alliance is an augmented reality video game for the PlayStation Vita. It features cross-play multiplayer interactivity with the PlayStation 3 title Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom. It was released on 30 October 2013 in Europe simultaneously with Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom.

Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom

''Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom'' is a video game for the PlayStation 3, and was released on 30 October 2013 in Europe simultaneously with ''Invizimals: The Alliance''. *''Invizimals: Hidden Challenges'' *''Invizimals: TV Tracker'' *''Invizimals: New Alliance'' *''Invizimals: Revolution'' *''Invizimals: The Resistance'' *''Invizimals: Battle of the Hunters''

Animated Series

In September 2012, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced that a 26 episode ''Invizimals'' computer animated series would be produced by BRB International. The show was created by BRB's Screen21 division and Novarama, who are both based in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, with writers from

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and animation done in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It billed itself as the first augmented-reality cartoon TV series, with on-screen scannable markers that would unlock content in '' Invizimals: The Alliance'' on

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

and the ''Invizimals: TV Tracker'' app for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and Android devices. The series launched in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on December 6, 2013, with a

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

on Super3 and

Clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

called ''Invizimals: The Alliance.'' A second TV movie, entitled ''Invizimals: A Tale of Two Dimensions'', aired on both channels on December 27 and 31, respectively. The two films were also released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and the

PlayStation Store PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital distribution service for users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via PlayStation Network. The store offers a range of downloadable content both ...

. They would later be broken up into 6 twenty-two minute episodes for reruns. The first regular episodes of the series began airing on Super3 on 29 November and 5 December 2014, on Clan. To promote the debut, local

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

singer

Abraham Mateo Abraham Mateo Chamorro (born 25 August 1998) is a Spaniards, Spanish singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He began his career as a child prodigy, capturing national attention in Spain for his remarkable vocal talent and releasing his ...

produced a song and music video called "Cazado" (Hunted). The final 13 episodes began airing November 2015. The series had its English television debut in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, when the two TV movies premiered during

Eleven Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

's '' Toasted TV''

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

on 15 December and 22 December 2013. Episodes that weren't recuts of the TV movies began on 7 June 2015, with the final batch of 13 starting broadcast on 15 October 2016. The first 13 episodes became available to stream on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and various other countries on 1 July 2015, under the name ''Invizimals: The Alliance Files.'' ''Invizimals'' began airing on

Primo TV Primo TV is an American English-language children's television channel operated by V-me Media aimed at the 6-16-year-old Latino market in the United States. The channel launched exclusively through Comcast Xfinity cable systems on January 16, ...

in the US on 17 January 2017. In addition to English, Catalan and Spanish, the series has been dubbed into

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (; ; also known as pt-BR) is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of Portuguese language native to Brazil. It is spoken by almost all of the 203 million inhabitants of Brazil and widely across the Brazilian diaspora ...

, Croatian,

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

, Dutch, French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, Hungarian,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, Polish, Portuguese,

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

for broadcast on Jeem TV,

Megamax Megamax was a pay television channel that was broadcast in Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic and Slovakia, owned by AMC Networks International in Central Europe. It was aimed primarily at children, 5–17 years old and broadcast animated series and ...

, Multimania,

Gulli Gulli (; stylised as gulli) is a French free-to-air television channel focused on kids' programming for those aged 3 to 14. It was created as a result of a partnership between Lagardère Active and state-owned broadcaster France Télévisions. ...

, K2, Star Channel,

SIC The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; ''thus'', ''so'', and ''in this manner'') inserted after a quotation indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated as found in the source text, including erroneous, archaic, or unusual spelling ...

and other channels around the world.

Merchandising

The franchise has spawned a number of products launched in Europe. In 2010, Spanish toy company Comansi secured the license to produce a series of collectible figurines based on the franchise. That same year, Panini signed on for sticker albums and trading cards in Spain and Portugal, Edibas Collection agreed to produce trading cards and figures in Italy, while Safta produced school supplies for the Iberian market. In 2011, Panini launched a line of sticker albums and cards that featured augmented reality connectivity with ''Invizimals'' and '' Invizimals: Shadow Zone''. With sales surpassing 6 million units, the company then licensed the brand for all territories in Europe. Between 2011 and 2016, Panini published a 37 issue ''Invizimals'' magazine that featured tips, comics and previews for upcoming games. In 2013, IMC Toys acquired the global master license to produce toys based on the series. Some of the merchandise has launched with direct video game tie-ins by Novarama and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Panini's ''Invizimals: Hidden Challenges'' trading card range launched in early 2013 alongside an app for

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

and Android that allowed players to experience augmented reality battles using the cards. Within two weeks, it had surpassed 100,000 downloads in Spain and Portugal. As of September 2013, 10 million ''Hidden Challenges'' cards were sold with downloads topping 500,000. This was followed up with a separate app for the ''New Alliance'' line in 2014. IMC's toyline features the ability to scan the figurines into the ''Invizimals: Revolution'' app. This functionality was also included in a patch for '' Invizimals: The Alliance.'' As of October 2014, Panini has sold 44 million sticker packs and 31 million ''Invizimals'' trading cards in Europe.

References

External links

Official Invizimals SiteNovarama's Invizimals page
{{Authority control Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2009 Sony Interactive Entertainment franchises Video games developed in Spain Augmented reality Augmented reality applications Invizimals