The Release
BarbieGirls.com was launched on April 24th 2007. As a spin-off brand of Mattel's iconic Barbie doll, Barbie Girls was meant to gather the attention of children which were more focused on eletronic toys and online games. As online dressing games were ever so more popular, Mattel decided to create a "digital" Barbie doll which also combined the popularity of eletronic gadgets and music players. With that BarbieGirls.com was the first online world meant for young girls, with the worry of being a safe online envrionment for girls on the internet. A BETA version of the website was launched together with a line of Barbie Girls MP3 player devices which included an online V.I.P. subscription to the website (3 version of the Barbie Girl MP3 were available at launch: Pink, Gold and Green). Accessory packs to change the look of the MP3 players were also available (Fashion Packs and Deco Packs). After one week it had already 200.000 users and just in two months from it's release there were already 3 million users signed up, which Mattel proclaimed as being "The fastest growing virtual world in history".
Development
BarbieGirls.com was developed at the agency Studiocom, and was a completly 2D online world supported by Flash software. All backgrounds and individual assets were drawn by game artists, which included all views of the Barbie Girl, the walking animation and sitting views for each each clothing piece, accessory and hair pieces and makeup. Same was applied to all the furniture pieces for the players room. Originally the games were imported for other Mattel owned franchises but later on all game except one were Barbie Girl's original games.
Sketch to final design of Tail-Shakin' Tree House by Raneiro Cobos
Beta
When BarbieGirls.com was first released in it's BETA state there were fewer options and items available on the game plus there were a few differences from the final version. The map was fairly different, with it being mostly modern Shop-a-Mallics and with the addition of Barbie Girls Rooms server and B Posh Pets. Little Barbie Girl avatars could also be seen walking around the map. Other differences included the inclusion of two male NPC characters who were later removed, one in B Cinemas and another in B Café. Different content was available at B Cinemas and the Arcade , which were taken from other Mattel owned franchises at the time such as Barbie, Pixel Chix and MyScene. There was also an icon button later removed which showed all spendings and earning of B Bucks. Non V.I.P. members could some items at the stores such as clothing and furniture but Club Beauty, Glam Gowns and adopting a pet was exclusive to V.I.P. members. The site also didn't get any updates until it was changed during Summer 2008. All international versions of the website were kept on the BETA state until they closed on 2011.
UPDATES
On late Summer 2008 the website was closed for maintenance and reopened with brand new features, items and places. As such a new homepage was created which advertised all the new features and brand new online V.I.P. subscriptions. A new larger map was created with four regions: Shop-a-Mallics, Paw Pawlooza, Total Girlhood and Extreme DreamPark. New places were added to make the world feel bigger such as: Tail-Shakin' Tree House, B Central, Purple Parlor and Sparkle Coaster Place. The new interactive Buzz & Goss zeppelin was also added. The original places were divided through the 4 regions. Six other places were later added: Twilight Woods, B Kooky Costumes, B Fab Fashionistas, Rockin' Rec Center, Groom and Glam Pet Salon and Enchantment Bay. 9 new games were available on the relaunch with another older one from Pixel Chix. Another 7 were released through the years, including the unique multi-player contest Design Idol. V.I.P. members could also create their My Fab Facts page with info about theirselves and play the exclusibe Sparkle Coaster Race.
The website had also gotten weekly or twice a week news and updates with new items being released from time to time and events and activities happening through out the year: Halloween, Christmas, V-Day, Summer Scavenger Hunt, B Day, Too-Cool Back-to-School and so on. Such events had limited time items available and exclusive activities like transformations, treasure hunts and freebies. New gameplay features were also added later on such as My Trophies, were players could collect gem badges and win trophies and prizes.
The 2008 relaunch of the website also featured the 2008 MP3 devices and accesory packs, with B Posh Pets featuring the 2008 Deco Packs (Koala, Elephant, Giraffe) instead of the 2007 ones (Panda, Penguin, Turtle).
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2008
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Late Summer 2008: Barbiegirls.com goes out of Beta. The website has a full update, with the new world map with four regions with 4 new hangouts: B Central, Purple Parlor, Tail-Shakin' Tree House, Sparkle Coaster Place plus the interactive Buzz & Goss. 10 new games were added to the Arcade. V.I.P. members could do My Fab Facts and V.I.P. memberships were created (starting with the Penguin and Panda exclusives).
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Halloween 2008 is launched on the site. B Park gets a spooky makeover and new outfits are launched at B Stylin' Shop and B Chic Boutique, accessories at B Charmed Accessories and furniture at Furni Fever. Free items are given to all players.
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New V.I.P. subscriptions are launched with the exclusive pets in purses (dog and cat).
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Buzz & Goss is added to the website.
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Winter 2008 arrives at BarbieGirls.com. B Park and B Café are decorated for Christmas. Outfits are available at Glam Gowns and themed furniture at Furni Fever. Free items are given to all players
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2009
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New games Puzzle Scram! and Dazzling Designs! are added to the arcade. Dazzling Designs is also a decorative building in Shop-a-Mallics (the first map update).
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New winter themed items are available: Winter sports gear at B Stylin' Shop, B Chic Boutique and B Charmed Accessories. Ice themed furniture is also made available at Furni Fever.
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V-Day starts at Barbie Girls on February 2009. A free item was given to all players. New themed outfits are available at B Stylin' Shop and B Chic Boutique and earrings at B Charmed Accessories. New furniture was also at Furni Fever.
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Barbie celebrates her 50th birthday at B Café on March 9th with unique decorations that only lasted that day.
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New clothes and accessories are released themed around wanna be careers, available at B Stylin' Shop, B Chic Boutique and B Charmed Accessories.
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New V.I.P. subscriptions are launched with the exclusive pjs.
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Funky Flower & Fairy Power transformations are available for a limited time for all players.
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New games Lady Buggin!, Sudoku, Litter Blast and Tiara Trivia are added to the arcade.
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Summer 2009: Mystery Hunt starts with 5 new word mysteries. Each week all players had to find letters across the world of Barbie Girls to form a word which could be turned into a code to receive a free item. Each week there was also new clothing and accessory items available across B Stylin' Shop, B Chic Boutique and B Charmed Accessories for a limited time.
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The first new hangout is released: Twilight Woods for only V.I.P. members. Twilight Woods also got new clothing items.
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Summer and dining themed furniture is also made available at Furni Fever.
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Late Summer 2009: a new small event is released. Too-cool Back-to-School had two sets of limited time outfits and accessories available at B Stylin' Shop, B Chic Boutique and B Charmed Accessories. Players who bought all items would get exclusive boots.
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Halloween 2009 starts with the renewal of B Chic Boutique who turned into B Kooky Costumes. New clothing items were available there and a new spooky mirrow was available at Furni Fever. Twilight Woods got a spooky transformation. All previous features and items from the last year were also available.
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New collection of items is available inspired by Thanksgiving with new kitchen furniture at Furni Fever and a dress with apron at B Kooky Costumes.
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November 2009: a new store is under construction, B Fab Fashionistas with new clothing items for sale and a quiz available to everyone with free necklaces.
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December 2009: Christmas starts once again with decorations and themed pjs available for sale at Twilight Woods. New V.I.P. only activity Missing Frisky Pets was launched where new color versions of the Koala, Giraffe and Elephant were available to adopt at B Posh Pets. Tail-Shakin' Treehouse was also decorated for the Winter Holidays.All previous features and items from the last year were also available.
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2010
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February 2010: V-Day starts once again. New accessories are available at B Charmed Accessories and a pair of themed boots is given to all V.I.P. members. New activity is available: Give a Valentine where all players could receive two new types of tables for their rooms. Twilight Woods gets a new non-playable character Crushboy. All previous features and items from the last year were also available.
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March 2010: Funky Flower & Fairy Power transformations are available for a limited time for all players.
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April 1st 2010: April Fools happens where players avatars got triple the size.
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April 2010: Rockin' Rec Center, the new hangout, is under construction. A new phase of the activity Deck Out the Deck! is launched each week until it's conclusion.
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New campaing Inspire Girls is launched for a limited time where all players could win an exclusive top.
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New team t-shirts are available at B Stylin' Shop.
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May 2010: New feature is release: My Trophies! Players could reveive badges and finish badge collections to receive prizes. Three new Fun Badges are available: Beginner Gamer Girl, Total Gamer Girl, Xtreme Gamer Girl.
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Funky Flower & Fairy Power are now only available through Sparkle Coaster Place making them V.I.P. exclusives.
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July 2010: Summer Scavenger Hunt starts with 6 searches, a new one every 2 weeks until 7th of October. Players had to find the hidden items across the world of Barbie Girls in order to receive a set of clothes and the newly released fashion badges. All weeks had the previous year's Mystery Hunt items with the addition of two new sets, one for the week hunt and another as the prize for Exclusive Summer Fashion Scavenger Hunt badge collection.
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September 2010: Too-Cool Back-to-School is back as only the items are available once again at B Stylin' Shop and B Charmed Accessories for a limited time.
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October 2010: Halloween is back again with two new costume sets, one through B Kooky Costumes and another from My Trophies. New themed furniture was also added to Furni Fever. Two new badge collections about Halloween were available: Halloween Fashion Show (which award was a full costume) and Halloween Fright Fest (which awarded a claw machine furniture).A new activity was added: Halloween Goodie Bag only for V.I.P. members. All previous features and items from the last year were also available.
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November 2010: New Autumn limited time accessories are available at B Charmed Accessories and new colors for items are added to the site only for V.I.P. members.
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New Hangout is released: Groom and Glam Pet Salon with a new activity and badge collection: Groom and Glam Pet salon which award was a new dog available for adoption at B Posh Pets.
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New game is released: Design Idol with possible new items for the site. A new badge collection is released: Design Idol - Basic Black Dress Challenge which award was new lips and eyes.
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December 2010: Winter Holidays are back at Barbie Girls with new clothing items at B Stylin' Shop and B Charmed Accessories and a new furniture item at Furni Fever. A new V.I.P. only hangout is released were players can go ice skate. A new activity only for V.I.P. members was available: Holiday Goodie Game. Two new badge collections were also available: Festive Holiday Fashions (which awarded a fur coat) and Jolly Holiday Fun (which prize was a new furniture item). A new purse was given to all players. All previous features and items from the last year were also available.
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2011
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January 2011: V-Day is back. B Café is decorated and only available for V.I.P. members during the event to celebrate the arrival of Ken. New team shirts were available for the most recent boys on the website. New feature was added to meet the crushes and check their V.I.P. profiles. New V.I.P. subscription V-Day dresses are available for a limited time. All previous features and items from the last year were also available.
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February 2011: New Barbie and a Fairy Secret dress is added to Glam Gowns. B Cinemas also got the trailer of the movie for players to watch.
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The winning look of Design Idol is available for sale at Glam Gowns and B Charmed Accessories. The winner of the competetion also got exclusive items.
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March 2011: New Spring clothing items are available at B Stylin' Shop and B Charmed Accessories. New colors and a new pattern is available only for V.I.P. members. A new V.I.P. subscription is available with exclusive dresses, eyes and lips.
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April 2011: The international versions of BarbieGirls.com close.
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May 2011: BarbieGirls.com announces it's official closure on June 1st 2011. Super B Chat was no longer available. All items are available for 1 B Buck.
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June 1st 2011: Barbie Girls website and toy line are officially ended.
Closure
BarbieGirls.com was always meant to close someday. On the back of the package of the 2008 MP3 buyers were noticed that Mattel had the right to terminate Barbie Girls online service after June 2010. With a decrease in online players and Mattel's interest in other brands, international versions of the site closed on April 30th 2011 while the english version closed on June 1st 2011. This happened after months without any update on the website. During the site's last month Super B Chat was no longer available but all available items only costed 1 B Buck so players could enjoy the site until it closed. Refunds were made for V.I.P. memberships that wouldn't end before the site closed. During it's closure players could check Q&As and send goodbye letters. When the website closed a goodbye package was left for all users to download with wallpapers and icons. On the site's homepage instead on any log in options there was just some information and three games left to play: Fashion Frenzy, Dazzling Designs and Puzzle Scram!
UNRELEASED fEATURES
After BarbieGirls.com closing some features and items were still left to be released. On early 2010, 4 new hangouts were to be voted on Watcha Think? on Buzz & Goss to be the next hangout: Water Park, Ski Resort, Pet Playground and Music Store. On that poll there was a sneak peak of a unique clothing item with a baby kitten. None of those hangouts were ever realeased but on an old concept of the world map there was a bulding in future Paw Pawlooza that could give an idea what the building would be like. Other unreleased features include the Friendship badges that were always kept as coming soon. Little is known about that type of badge besides being shaped as an heart. Something that could be linked to those badges but wans't released was the ability to give gifts to the boy NPCs, as it was also said it would come soon. Barbie Girls also closed without releasing Design Idol's second winner outfit (it is also to be noted that Design Idol could had other type of challenges as the released one was called Basic Black Dress Challenge). There is also discoveries of items not released on the game. The most commonly seen one was an hairstyle with pigtails and an hair accessory with a skull.
Legacy
After BarbieGirls.com closure Mattel made a partnership with the online game Stardoll so players could have some exclusive Barbie Girls themed items for their MeDolls in a way for players to have another game to play. For a while the Barbie Girls website had three games to play and information but after some months the website was no longer accessible and was turned into a direct link to Barbie.com. Those three games could be played there but they also got removed after a while. Barbie Girls slowly got erased from the internet and there hasn't been any mention of it from Mattel afterwards. Nowadays the MP3 players and add-on packs can still be found on second hand sites but in limited quantities, specially the 2008 releases. It has slightly grown in popularity in recend years with 2000's nostalgia. As of today there isn't any information from Mattel of an official comeback.