Official Statement on the Future of Webkinz Plush Toys

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:

 

  1. 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.
  2. Our attempts to move plush sales online through the eStore and Amazon did not meet our goals.
  3. 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

314 Responses to Official Statement on the Future of Webkinz Plush Toys

  1. cool9555 says:

    Went to Living Teasures Wild Animal Park in PA over the weekend. They sell Webkinz plush in the gift store. They have about 10 different plush, what I consider the originals. I bought 8 of them, could not resist after reading this announcement last week.

  2. cat2f says:

    I’ve just got a questions, will the plushes available now, still be available or more made once they come back? Anyways, thanks for letting us know Ganz! I just hope they come back soon because in my opinion I’m not a fan of the vertral pets. They seem like they are so much more expensive! Once again, thank you Ganz for the info. :)

  3. Princesstoast1255 says:

    Yeah the place I would get my Webkinz from were $5 Lil’ Kinz each year, and then they stopped selling them completely. Kinda Sad.

  4. guppie52 says:

    My biggest problem was finding a store that carried Webkinz. I tried to buy the new plushes but could never find a store that carried them close to home.

  5. OneTrueNebby says:

    Kinztube is dying, there’s no new pets to look forward to, the site’s kinda just dead, Ganz. Fix this. Please.

  6. neongum says:

    Thank you for providing this information. I love your plush toys and try to get one whenever I see them in a store, which is, unfortunately, so rare. Reading the comments of others reveals that I’m not alone in being a fan of the plush toys, and that this is sad news. The disappearance of Webkinz from physical stores prevents me from buying more of your products even though I still want them. I know now that this is the fault of the retailers not wanting to risk shelf space for products that don’t sell quickly, and not Ganz. I am not happy to see plush go, but I’d rather not see them produced for awhile as long as Ganz can save money and ensure the survival of Webkinz. I am kind of excited to see how Webkinz will develop product-wise. Please don’t make this site 100 percent virtual. Somebody likely suggested this already(I haven’t read all of these comments, yet), but maybe you can do adoptable webkinz blind-bag plastic toys? Maybe they can be figurines of long retired and popular Webkinz pets that us newer players cannot buy anymore, online or in real life, or figurines of your exclusively virtual pets? They can have pet codes just like the plush and be limited edition? Or blind-bag mini plush toys that can be adopted on Webkinz?

  7. rynniepoo says:

    Oh my goodness!! Thank u so much for finally giving us some feedback! I’m thrilled that the plush pets will return. I bet they’re gonna be awesome!!!

  8. EiHughes says:

    Perhaps producing just one annual pet would give users a chance to still collect and play for another year.

    • ImaPepper says:

      This might be a good time to take advantage of specials, if you can find any, on plush pets. When a local department store went out of business, they discounted everything–including Webkinz. So, at $4 each, I bought about six of them. It’s been great to have “backups” for our accounts, as well as gifts for other Webkinz fans. I’m always on the lookout for Webkinz plush, lol.

  9. CDR_Shepard says:

    I do hope that when the plush’s come back, you re-introduce the ones from the very beginning of Webkinz. I’ve been a player for nearly the entire 14 years since Webkinz has started, and there were many plush’s that I like and wanted to get back then (like the retired pets). When the plush’s do come back, I am definitely going to be searching and buying them.

  10. kittzkatt says:

    Thank you for letting us know. It’s very sad, but understandable. I adore the plush myself, but purely from a collector’s point of view, I’m running out of room! A suggestion if I may when considering the return of plush options? Small ones – I mean figure size. Just think of the playsets you could offer to go with them! Think micro machines and you’ll understand the possibilities. Or if that’s too elaborate, just their pet item? A cute little plush pony with say a little car or swing? Very fun and I believe it could help keep costs down along with giving us collectors a space-break. In any case, good luck to you all at Ganz and thanks for keeping the virtual end of WW fun.

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