Optimus Prime will take your call: Hasbro leans into AI-driven licensing

Dive Brief:

Hasbro launched an AI studio, dubbed Sixth Wall, last week in a bid to better control its intellectual property.
The company developed Sixth Wall to give creators, rights holders and the company’s partners a means of bringing characters into new environments and experiences while preserving authenticity and commercial rights.
Sixth Wall is introducing a new category of IP licensing called behavioral licensing, which is focused on how characters think, speak and interact in dynamic experiences.

Dive Insight:

Optimus Prime, Mr. Potato Head and the cast of Clue are some of the first characters Hasbro will sanction for third party use.

Consumers are already encountering unauthorized versions of their intellectual property as AI technology grows, according to Hasbro.

Licensing in particular will give Hasbro a means of “preserving a character’s personality, canon, voice, and safety guardrails across interactive experiences.”

Along with the debut of Sixth Wall, Hasbro announced a partnership with AI audio company ElevenLabs to bring select Hasbro characters to its marketplace.

Hasbro’s AI licensing tech is built on the performances of voice actors.

The new effort, “gives brands a trusted way to bring characters into new AI-enabled platforms without losing what makes them authentic,” CEO Chris Cocks said in a statement. “And most exciting to me, it opens entirely new surfaces for play and storytelling, from making a store greeting feel magical to transforming a call waiting experience into a moment with a fan’s favorite character.”

At the start of the year, Cocks foreshadowed some of what was to come with its AI efforts, stating on an earnings call, “we’re beyond experimentation.”

“Great IP plus great storytelling is durable as technology evolves, and it positions us to benefit from disruption rather than being displaced by it,” he said at the time.

Hasbro recently released its Q1 earnings, and reported revenue increased nearly 13% year over year to $1 billion. Net earnings doubled to nearly $200 million compared to the year-ago quarter.