Barbie Fashion Designer
Object name/title: Barbie Fashion Designer
Developed by: Digital Domain Inc
Published by: Mattel Inc
Released: 1996 (PC / Mac)
On display: Yes
Object number: SHEVG.2024.7
Credit line: Purchased, 2024
Barbie Fashion Designer
Back to exhibitionsPerhaps the most famous of the many Barbie videogames – there are over 50 and counting – is Barbie Fashion Designer, released for PC and Mac in 1996. In this ground breaking game, players could design and model clothes for Barbie in 3D, and then print out the clothes for use on their dolls in the real world.
Barbie Fashion Designer was so popular when released that it would end up outselling mainstream gaming competitors like Quake and DOOM, becoming the ninth most popular PC game of 1996. It would go on to become the first commercially successful game made specifically for girls.
Although women and girls have been playing videogames since their inception, many games companies in the 1990s felt that videogames were for boys and young men. They marketed accordingly, designing their games and advertising specifically to appeal to that demographic. In 1996, however, the surprise hit of the year was Mattel’s Barbie Fashion Designer.
It outsold such well-known titles as Quake and DOOM, and established there was a market for games aimed at girls. Barbie Fashion Designer’s popularity sparked the Girl Games Movement as competitors sought to replicate Mattel’s success.
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