Toca Boca

Last updated
Toca Boca
Company type Subsidiary
FoundedJuly 18, 2010;14 years ago (2010-07-18)
Founder
  • Björn Jeffery [1]
  • Emil Ovemar [2]
Headquarters,
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Fredrik Löving
  • (CEO)
  • Emil Ovemar
  • (Head of Toca Boca Studio)
Products Games
digital toys
Number of employees
100-150
Parent Spin Master
Website www.tocaboca.com

Toca Boca is a Swedish children's mobile video game developer. [3] [4] The company is owned by Spin Master and is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Contents

Toca Boca was founded July 18, 2010 by Emil Ovemar and Björn Jeffery, both of whom worked for the Bonnier Group. [5] They released their first application, “Helicopter Taxi” in March 2011. [6] [7] Toca Boca's apps has been downloaded over a billion times by users in over 238 markets ever since the first launch. [3]

In 2016, Bonnier sold Toca Boca and sister company Sago Sago to the Canadian toy and entertainment company Spin Master for SEK 263 million. [8] [9] In 2020, Fredrik Löving took over as Toca Boca's new CEO. [10]

Naming

Toca Boca means "Touch the mouth" in Spanish and comes from the logo design of a face with its mouth open; as well as being able to skip the intro screen by 'touching the mouth'. [11]

Games

Toca Boca Jr

On October 5, 2023, Toca Boca announced that they would be delisting and merging most of their smaller and older titles into one app titled Toca Boca Jr, as part of a new subscription service targeted towards preschoolers called Piknik. [12]

Games included in the combined offering include Toca Kitchen 2, Toca Kitchen Sushi, Toca Nature, Toca Lab: Plants, Toca Lab: Elements, Toca Builders, Toca Blocks, Toca Mini, Toca Boo, Toca Pet Doctor, Toca Train, Toca Cars, Toca Mystery House, and Toca Band.

Toca Life

Toca Life is a series of games that encourage the player to imagine stories for characters in the game. The player can drag the character around the screen with their finger and make the characters eat, sit, etc. In the series, there are different locations the character could go to based on the game's theme. (Town, Farm, Office, etc.) There are groups such as Kids, Elders, Babies, and Creatures. The player can add more than one character to a scene. Dressing up the characters was introduced in Toca Life: City.

On November 21, 2018, Toca Boca announced they would be merging all of their Toca Life games into one free-to-play app, titled Toca Life: World. Instead of releasing standalone apps for future themes, additional play sets are introduced over time as in-app purchases. [13]

A web series based on the game, under the title Toca Life Stories, was released on February 21, 2020 on Toca Boca's official YouTube channel. It focused on four close friends with mismatched personalities, Rita, Zeke, Nari, and Leon (the main characters in the Toca Life app series), on a quest to vanquish boredom in their neighborhood of OK Street (based on one of the towns found in Toca Boca World). [14] The series is animated by Canada-based Pipeline Studios, with voices recorded in America-based Studiopolis, despite it being a web series, it aired on some television stations such as Pop in the United Kingdom, and Cartoon Network in the United States.

Toca Boca Days

On April 30th, 2024, Toca Boca Days was announced. [15] [16] The game is poised as a significant departure from previous entries in the Toca Life series, utilising a 3D world with multiplayer functionality. [17] On May 2nd, 2024, Toca began rolling the game out in early access for Australia and New Zealand. [18]

Awards and honors

Toca Boca has won the following awards:

2025

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

References

  1. "Bonnier: Toca Boca a Hit at the App Store". Bonnier News Press. December 4, 2012. Archived from the original on 31 March 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  2. "Spelvärldens udda fågel". ICON Magazine. January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Spin Master Corp. (2021). Annual Report 2021" (PDF). www.downloads.ctfassets.net.
  4. "Toca Boca makes the kind of games kids can't possibly beat - so why have their apps been downloaded 67 million times? (video interview)". Tech.eu. 2014-05-20. Archived from the original on 2024-12-26. Retrieved 2024-12-26.
  5. Newnham, Danielle (2015-12-13). "The Toca Boca Story". The Startup. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  6. Sterling, Bruce. "Augmented Reality: Toca Boca Helicopter Taxi". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  7. Williams, Jenny. "Toca Boca Continues to Deliver Great Apps". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  8. "Bonnier - Bonnier's App Hit Toca Boca to Get New Owner". Bonnier. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  9. AB, Breaking Media. "Dokument avslöjar: Så mycket fick Bonnier för Toca Boca". www.breakit.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  10. "Spin Master ramps its game business as toys go digital". VentureBeat. 2020-06-19. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  11. Rosoff, Matt. "An 8-year-old interviews the cofounder of the company who makes her favorite app". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  12. Master, Spin. "Spin Master Launches Piknik™, A New Preschool App Subscription Service". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  13. "Toca Boca merges apps" . Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  14. Whyte, Alexandra. "Toca Boca launches first animated series". Kidscreen. Alexandra Whyte. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  15. Corp, Spin Master. "For The First Time Ever, Toca Boca® Is Entering the Multiplayer Universe with the Release of Toca Boca Days™". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2024-07-27.
  16. Kaser, Rachel (2024-04-30). "Spin Master announces multiplayer game Toca Boca Days". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
  17. Bloom, David. "Spin Master's Toca Boca Takes On Roblox With First Multi-Player Push". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
  18. "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
  19. "Toca Boca Wins Best Alternative Award - Kidscreen Awards 2025".
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  21. "iPhone App of the Year: Toca Life World".
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  24. "Parent's Choice: Toca Life: World" . Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  25. "These are the 397 most inspiring, innovative designs of 2018". Fast Company. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  26. "Toca Life: Hospital | Kapi Awards". kapiawards.com. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  27. "Toca Life: World – Parents' Choice" . Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  28. "Kidscreen Reveals Summit Nominees". License Global. 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  29. "2017 Kidscreen Awards". Kidscreen.
  30. "Webby Awards". WebbyAwards.
  31. "Children's Tech". Children's Tech Review.
  32. "iKids Award". Kidscreen.
  33. "Cinekid". Cinekid.
  34. "NAPPA". NAPPA Awards.
  35. "The Lovie Awards". Lovie Awards. 21 February 2023.
  36. "Junior Design Awards". Junior Magazine.
  37. 1 2 Spencer, Graham (8 December 2014). "Macstories". Mac Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  38. "Children's Tech". Children's Technology Review. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  39. "Bestekinderapps". Best Kinder Apps. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  40. "Toronto 4 Kids". Toronto 4 Kids. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  41. "Kidscreen" . Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  42. "Parents Choice". Parents' Choice. Retrieved 26 June 2015.(Silver)
  43. "Parents Choice". Parents' Choice. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  44. "Parents Choice". Parents' Choice. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  45. "Parents Choice". Parents' Choice. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  46. "NAPPA Website". Nappaawards.com. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
  47. "Parents' Choice Award: Toca Boca Page". Parents-choice.org. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
  48. "Telenor Awards Press Release". Telenor.com. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
  49. "Business Wire: Toca Hair Salon Named 2011..." Businesswire.com. Retrieved Oct 25, 2011.