As many of you are aware, GANZ has not announced any new Webkinz plush pets in the past few months. The last new plush was the beautifully crafted Narwhal. We can now officially state that there will be no new Webkinz plush in 2019 and that the Narwhal will be the final plush toy of the “first generation” of Webkinz plush.
Our reasons for making this decision are three-fold:
- For any toy to be produced at an appropriate price, a minimum number need to be produced. Our retail orders for our new styles, even great ones like the Narwhal, had fallen below this minimum.
- Our attempts to move plush sales online through the eStore and Amazon did not meet our goals.
- After 14 years and over 500 unique pets, this generation of the toy line had run its course.
The reality is that at times every toy brand needs to take a break, evolve and reinvent. Many of the biggest toy brands in the world – My Little Pony, Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake – have had times where there were no toys on retail shelves.
Will this impact Webkinz.com? Not at all. One of the big developments in the past few years is the acceptance of online purchasing. When we launched Ganz eStore in 2008, many players didn’t understand the idea of buying “purely” virtual pets. Now we’re all used to buying virtual items and we’re happy to say eStore use has been going up! Many of our new eStore virtual pets have been well received and are among our best looking pets ever! As we’ve said elsewhere, GANZ is committed to Webkinz.com and with our desktop version coming soon, the future of the game is strong.
Will Webkinz plush be back? Definitely. GANZ was born as a plush toy company and lovable plush will always be near to our hearts. We have had many discussions about future products and how best to bring those products to market. We can’t say anything more about this at this time, but we do hope to have some more announcements later in the year.
In the meantime, you can still find Webkinz plush at Ganz eStore, and through other online retailers. All available plush are “while quantities last,” so if there is a specific pet you’d like, you will want to order it soon.
We’ve all had great experiences with our Webkinz plush and have those favorites that we feel closest to. While we may be taking a break from making new styles, our incredible range of amazing plush toys will forever be a core part of Webkinz World.
GANZ
Wow, really? Well, thanks for telling us what’s going on anyway, I appreciate it! I guess it’s understandable there will be a hiatus on plush releases. I’m quite looking forward to the next generation of plushies! And, I’m glad this doesn’t really impact the game as I invested a lot of time in it and made quite a few friends there. Anyway, once again, thanks so much for letting us know about the plushies, the plushies you guys made have been amazing! And, I’m looking forward to the future of the plushies! ^-^
I’ve always loved buying plush toys – I am looking forward to their return!
I really enjoy the unboxing videos, and I hope you will continue to make videos showing the new virtual pets. I love seeing the rooms created for them, the PSI, and how cute they are in some new clothes.
Thank you for the announcement. I really did enjoy the plush toys and would rather a plush toy than just an online code. If I can be totally honest, I think the downfall of the plush toys was the decision to take them out of the brick and mortar stores and sell only through online stores and the estore. With the plush toys being in stores, they are continually being introduced to new groups of people as well as reminding people of the Ganz product. I know online shopping is very popular, however, there has to be brick and mortar stores sales as well to keep the product in the eyes of the people.
There was no decision to remove them from brick-and-mortar stores. Retailers have to order plush in order to stock them — we have no control over that.
Webkinz has had a really long, good run. I’m impressed how far we’ve managed to keep it up. I’m actually really surprised GANZ is bringing Webkinz back somehow. If they could appeal to a new audience and rejuvenate the Webkinz community, I’d be ecstatic. Really happy this is continuing and that GANZ is willing to acknowledge what the brand currently is.
PRINT PANEL 0f PAWS PLEASE I know this is a lot to ask IS there any ways to be able to send this ? I want so much to send this to my grandma , We are both Deluxe because of her. I keep hopeing to get her the PLUSHY KITTY and a Golden Column but I havn’t got eigther yet in all this time . I guess I am just not lucky. But I got this print today and can’t send it . THIS and the Drafon FANTASY poster both should be postable if possible . PLEASE Grandma has always been good to me and to others here also !!!!
Thank you so much for letting us know about all this! I’ve been worrying about it ever since January when no new plush was released, so I really appreciate you guys explaining this to us and shedding light on the situation! Though I am very sad to hear that there will be no new plush for the near future, I understand the need to take a break for a while. I will certainly miss seeing the new pet announcements at the beginning of each month, and the excitement of purchasing them, but even though this “generation” of Webkinz plush has run its course, I am very thankful for the numerous pets that have been made over the last thirteen years! I am very happy and relieved, too, to know that this isn’t the end of Webkinz plush. Having been collecting them for almost 12 years, the plush (along with the rest of Webkinz, of course) have been a huge part of my life, and they’re the biggest thing, I think, that makes Webkinz unique from other online games, so I am thrilled to know that there are plans to continue making them in the future! In the meantime, I hope to continue growing my collection with more of the wonderful already existing plush that I do not yet own. Thank you again for the announcement! Though it is saddening, I feel much better now that I know what’s going on. I can’t wait to see what plans you have for Webkinz plush in the future, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting what’s to come! =)
Can you explain how we will be able to keep our accounts active if we can no longer buy the pets? Thank you.
Even if you don’t like to buy virtual pets or Deluxe Membership from the eStore, there are over 500 different varieties of Webkinz plush, and millions of unregistered pet codes already out on the open market. While we aren’t making any new plush for now, Webkinz the game is far from over.
That is a very powerfully positive statement. ‘Webkinz, the game, is far from over.’
Thank you for finally letting us all know about what your plush plans are. All year I was worried since no new plush were being released and hoped that information would be given about their fate. I’ve been a member since September 2007 and I’m so happy that Webkinz is still around and has not vanished like so many other games I used to play as a child. Now that I’m grown and my favorite game is still alive, I understand if you all need a break to focus on other things (Webkinz Desktop, glitches maybe?). Plus, it is good to take a break from creative ideas and return to it when the time is better. I’m eager to hear about plans on future plush when you get to it. Thank you again for telling us about what was going on. -Talon
i live in Romania, Europe. 12 yrs ago we had webkinz plushees everywhere, Noriel was the biggest distributor. Got a swan as gift and this is how I started playing. I bought 12+ Wkz plushees in the next years. then, 8yrs ago they stoped bringing them here. Online the transport was more expensive than the plush, so I stoped buying. If you want plushees to live on, get out of USA and start bringing them back to Europe! kids here will love them!
And I live in Romania and I know a lot of people Who want to buy webkinz plushes.