VELAN STUDIOS AND @MATTEL RELEASE HOT WHEELS®: RIFT RALLY, A FULL THROTTLE MIXED REALITY RACING EXPERIENCE FOR iOS AND PLAYSTATION
Starting Today, Players Can Fire Up Classic and Reimagined Hot Wheels Cars in Hot Wheels: Rift Rally to Experience High-Velocity Mixed Reality Racing At Home
TROY, N.Y. – March 31, 2023 – The future of racing is here! Velan Studios and Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) today launched Hot Wheels: Rift Rally, a new mixed reality racing experience now available on the Apple App Store, Sony PlayStation 4 and Sony PlayStation 5. Leveraging Velan Studio’s patented RC mixed reality technology, Hot Wheels: Rift Rally offers an all-new kind of Hot Wheels® experience that blends the real world with over-the-top digital environments to transform players’ homes into high-speed raceways.
“Velan Studios is a leader in mixed reality gaming, and with Hot Wheels: Rift Rally they’ve created a Hot Wheels experience that blends digital and physical play in an incredibly imaginative new way,” said Mike DeLaet, Global Head of Digital Gaming, Mattel. “Over the past 55 years, families around the world have created cherished memories with Hot Wheels, and we’re thrilled to further that tradition in the digital space to keep the brand ahead of the curve as it continues to resonate with fans.”
Hot Wheels: Rift Rally puts players behind the wheel of their favorite Hot Wheels vehicles using the Chameleon RC car, which can digitally transform into more than 140 vehicle variations. This includes iconic Hot Wheels such as Twin Mill™, Bone Shaker™, Mach Speeder™, Gotta Go™, and more fan-favorites; as well as several Rift Rally original vehicles.
“At Velan Studios, we pride ourselves on our ability to create ground-breaking game experiences through new forms of play,” said Karthik Bala, CEO, Velan Studios. “With Hot Wheels: Rift Rally, we leveled up our RC car technology to really bring the fantasy of being in the drivers’ seat of a Hot Wheels car to life. We can’t wait for players to experience it for themselves, and turn their living rooms into the ultimate Hot Wheels race tracks.”
In Hot Wheels: Rift Rally, players begin by selecting from two unique modes of play: Campaign Mode, where players create the ultimate mixed reality track and explore different challenge maps where there are multiple challenges to complete and races to race; and Stunt Mode, where they’ll stunt the Chameleon without gates as they chain together drifts, wheelies, and burnouts to hit high scores and earn rewards. Hot Wheels: Rift Rally provides endless options to players to customize the look and performance of their cars that impact the RC car’s performance in the real world. Through a variety of mini-games, puzzles and challenges – as well as solo or multiplayer sessions – the opportunities for fun in Hot Wheels: Rift Rally are limitless.
The Hot Wheels: Rift Rally Standard Edition is available now in the U.S. for $129.99 USD, and the Deluxe Edition is available for $149.99 USD at www.riftrally.com, Amazon and GameStop. Included with purchase is the Chameleon RC car, four Rift Gates for track building, and a charging cable. Game software is free to download from the App Store for iPhone, iPad and PlayStation Store. The Collector’s Edition includes a special edition Chameleon with black deco and gold accents and a limited edition McLaren Senna Hot Wheels die-cast supercar in a display case.
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About Velan Studios:
Velan Studios was founded in 2016 by industry veterans Guha and Karthik Bala to create breakthrough games that are magic. In the past two years, Velan’s team of world class game makers have released Knockout City and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, two titles featuring revolutionary new gameplay experiences that exemplify Velan’s breakthrough technology and design. The studio is based in Troy, NY, the center of Upstate New York’s growing game development cluster. For more information about Velan, please visit https://www.velanstudios.com/.
About Mattel:
Mattel is a leading global toy company and owner of one of the strongest catalogs of children’s and family entertainment franchises in the world. We create innovative products and experiences that inspire, entertain, and develop children through play. We engage consumers through our portfolio of iconic brands, including Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price®, American Girl®, Thomas & Friends™, UNO®, Masters of the Universe®, Monster High™, and MEGA®, as well as other popular intellectual properties that we own or license in partnership with global entertainment companies. Our offerings include film and television content, gaming, music, and live events. We operate in 35 locations and our products are available in more than 150 countries in collaboration with the world’s leading retail and ecommerce companies. Since its founding in 1945, Mattel is proud to be a trusted partner in empowering children to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential. Visit us online at mattel.com.
Daniel Pickett
AFi founder and Editor-In-Chief Daniel “Julius Marx” Pickett has been around toys his whole life. The first line he ever collected was Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line back in the 70s. He has been surrounded by collectables ever since.
In 1999 he was confounded by a lack of information and news about some of his favorite toy lines he was collecting. Since he couldn’t find the information he decided to pursue it himself thinking other people might also be interested in the same news. He started writing a weekly column on the toy industry and action figure for a toy news site and in a years time he tripled the sites daily traffic with his updates, reviews and product features.
He built relationships with every major toy manufacturer and many sculptors, painters and mold makers. He grew his hobby into a world wide expertise that the industry has embraced.
In 2004 he teamed up with his toy buddy Jason “ToyOtter” Geyer and they created their own website www.ActionFigureInsider.com.
Daniel has been quoted in both industry and mass media press outlets. Over the years Daniel and AFi have been sought out as experts in the field. Daniel was regularly featured on “Attack of the Show” on the G4 network as the primary contributor to their “Mint On Card” segment, and our front page has been linked to from USA Today’s
“Pop Candy” Blog twice. Daniel’s content has also been featured on Bloomberg News, MSNBC.com, Time.com, The Wall Street Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, CNN.com, AssociatedPress.com
Wired.com, Fark.com, Boing-Boing, Gizmodo.com, Ain’t It Cool News, the Official
Star Wars blog, Geekologie, G4, CNet and Toy Fare magazine, among many
others. He has consulted on toy lines, books, documentaries and TV shows.
But all of that really just sounds snooty and “tootin’ his own horn” – the long and short of it is that Daniel loves toys and he LOVES talking about them.
