Among the most successful toys in history, bring Furby back to shelves in 2023 was the result of nearly a decade of innovation and inspiration.
Originally conceived by Dave Hampton and Caleb Chung, and sold-in to Tiger Electronics by Richard Levy, Furby hit toy shelves in 1998 to skyrocketing holiday sales totaling 27 million units in just the first 12 months. Since then, various toy industry luminaries have brought Furby back to shelves in 2005, 2012, 2013, and 2016.
The adventure to define Furby for a new generation started in the aftermath of Furby Connect's retail failure in 2016. The subsequent years, including a redoubled effort during the height of the pandemic, resulted in hundreds of exciting directions for the brand. We didn't immediately land on "Hey Furby", but I'll always remember the moment I shouted out that name during a session on Microsoft Teams. The initial magical concept and vibrant imagery carried through to the final product. The 2023 edition of Furby took into consideration a robust series of testing in Hasbro's internal FunLab as well as quantitative concept testing and volumetrics.
Of course, no toy is of singular origin. Brilliant designers Joe Grasso, Melissa Jones, and Sy Hon also joined in the fun.
