Look out Toys-R-Us, it seems that the Netflix of the toy industry may be on the horizon! Toy rental service provider Pley has just announced that they will soon be renting out 3D printers and streaming toy designs to their customers. After witnessing the rise of the Maker movement, along with on-going advances in 3D printing technology, Pley sees a clear opportunity to change the face of the toy industry. Instead of going to the toy store, parents will soon be able to rent themselves a 3D printer, download 3D toy designs, and 3D print the design in the comfort of their own homes.
“Pley is inventing the future of play and, since it launched in 2013, it has constantly stayed at the forefront of innovation,” said Ranan Lachman, co-founder and CEO of Pley. “Our goal is to inspire and develop children to think creatively and release their potential by creating their own toys. Kids are significantly more creative than adults, so why do we keep buying them toys designed by adults? At Pley, we believe that children should create their own toys.”
With Pley’s service, children will be able to watch their selected toy be created and start playing with it right away. According to Lachman, Pley plans on streaming their catalog of over 1,000 toy designs to their customers, and also plan to provide a software enabling customers to design their very own toys. The provided 3D printers will be child-friendly, and if parents and their kids grow attached to the device, they can actually purchase the printer from Pley, if they so desire. For Pley, they feel as if they are taking the inevitable next-step for the toy industry, aiming to bring design directly into the home.
“Pley democratizes the toy selection and creation, taking the toy industry from its current guess-based, adult-centric design process to a more consumer-driven design,” Lachman said. “Adding 3D printers to our rental catalog and streaming toy designs is a natural next step in our mission to provide children access to the best educational toys.”
Another interesting aspect of Pley that they’ve already developed is their crowdsourcing platform for new toy creations, called Pleyworld. The platform allows children to vote on their favorite toy designs, with Pley streaming the highest-voted to their customers in turn. Thus far, 13 toys have already been selected on Pleyworld, and will be ‘rented’ to their customers alongside Pley’s 3D printer. Savvy and creative kids will be able to upload their own toy designs on Pleyworld, and if they reach 5,000 votes, will be available to stream those toys for all Pley members to see it made available as a physical toy. Pley looks to be taking the toy industry off of the store shelf and into the home, giving their customers the power to design and manufacture their own high-quality toys right there in the living room. We will have to wait and see how their 3D printer rental service will play out, but could Toys-R-Us soon be facing the same fate as the video rental store Blockbuster?
