Lorraine Williamson
MALAGA – Riding on the success of the hit movie Barbie, a company from Málaga has launched the first official gaming chair with a Barbie design. It concerns the company Drift, which is part of the Atlas Informatica group.
Drift has the license to sell the chair throughout Europe and they also hope to reach an agreement with Mattel, the owner of the Barbie brand, to distribute the chair in Latin America and Australia as well. The chair, priced at €169.90, is such a great success that the current production has already been sold out.
Well-known brand in professional gaming chairs
Drift is known worldwide as one of the leading brands in professional gaming chairs and desks. Their products have previously been purchased by football teams such as the Spanish national team, Atlético de Madrid and Betis, as well as basketball teams such as Movistar Estudiantes and UCAM Murcia.
The prices of these chairs are around €250. The company has also designed two chairs for the famous Spanish YouTuber El Rubius, whose premium version of €390 is already sold out.
Barbie movie
The recent launch of the Barbie movie, which is achieving global publicity success, has boosted sales. “We launched the chair a few days before the film release and the product is already being sold in the main stores in the country. We hope that, especially with a view to the start of the new school year, it will be a product that is added to families’ shopping lists,” said Virginia Calvo, CEO and owner of Atlas Informática, in an interview with El Español.
Initially gaming products for Hot Wheels
The process leading up to this final product was not easy. “We started talks with Mattel almost two years ago. They wanted to start making gaming products. Initially, it was not for Barbie, but for Hot Wheels, the toy car brand. They were very interested in this brand because they had a triple-A video game. They wanted to enter the gaming world and were interested in making peripherals and together we produced headphones, a mouse pad and a Hot Wheels controller for game consoles,” said Calvo.
Girls also game
“I gradually became personally interested in the Barbie brand and I told them that maybe it would also be a good opportunity for Barbie to enter the world of gamers, to normalise the fact that girls, the biggest users of Barbie dolls, are also gaming and it could be interesting to include these types of products in such a powerful brand.”
Success story
No sooner said than done. “They liked the idea and we launched a headset, keyboard, mouse and mouse pad about a year ago. The product turned out fantastic and it sells quite well. We also sell it all over Europe and in some Latin American countries, but the great achievement was yet to be achieved, namely the gamer chair,” says Calvo.
Also read: 77% of Spanish young people play games for almost four hours a day