Petz (Dogz and Catz) is a series of single-player video games dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. The original Petz has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide^[3] and the brand has grown to over 22 million copies since coming under Ubisoft.^[4]

Development

Petz (Dogz, Catz, et al.) is a series of single-player video games dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. The original Petz games—Dogz: Your Computer Pet and Catz: Your Computer Pet—were developed by PF.Magic. Dogz was released in 1995 and Catz was released in 1996.

Rob Fulop developed the first title in the series, Dogz: Your Computer Pet, following the controversy surrounding his previous title Night Trap and with the desire to make a game that was "so cute and so adorable that no could ever, ever say it was bad for kids". He claims to have consulted a shopping mall Santa Claus to understand "exactly what kids wanted" who informed him that puppies were a popular gift request every single year, leading to the idea of a virtual puppy.^[5]

After earning revenues of $8 million in 1997, PF.Magic was acquired by The Learning Company's Mindscape division for $15.8 million in 1998.^[6] In 2001, Ubi Soft (Ubisoft, since 2003) acquired the entertainment division of The Learning Company, granting Ubisoft exclusive publishing rights to 88 titles, including Dogz and Catz.^[7]

After Ubisoft acquired the series, some games that were Japanese in origin were localized under the Petz name. For example, Petz: Hamsterz Life 2 on Game Boy Advance is a localization of Hamster Club 3, and distinctly different from its DS counterpart, although both DS Hamsterz games were also Japanese-developed but published in English territories by Ubisoft.

Gameplay

In Dogz: Your Computer Pet and Catz: Your Computer Pet, the player choose a dogz or catz to adopt and name in the breedz and gender of their choice as a puppyz or kittenz. After a period of time, the petz become adults. In Petz 3, Petz 4, and Petz 5, adult petz can breed to have more kittenz or puppyz of their own. Cross-breeding can create different types of petz, called mixed breeds.

There are a number of toyz, food and water bowls, and treatz available. Petz can learn tricks with positive rewards such as petting and treatz, or trained not to do something using the punishment (water) spray bottle. Petz must be looked after properly; abused or neglected petz may run away.^[8][9]

Players may share their petz with others who have the game via an email. Each version allows the importing of petz from all earlier versions. There is also a camera feature, permitting snapshots of petz to be taken and saved.

Later versions of the games included a Petz Web Fun Pack, Petz Publisher and a Petz Player web browser plug-in, allowing players to publish their Petz online in playable webpages.^[10] The Petz Publisher does not work anymore, due to the fact that the website has been remodeled with the newer Petz games by Ubisoft.

Animals

The initial games were limited to dogz and catz, but additional animals were also introduced. These animals include Pigz,^[11] Bunnyz,^[12] Monkeyz,^[13] Dolphinz,^[14] and Hamsterz,^[15] some of which received their own games.

Users learned how to reverse-engineer the system, and began producing additional breedz, toyz, playscenes, clothes, and developer tools for the games, as permitted by PF.Magic, Mindscape, and Ubisoft.^[16]

Games

Reception

Entertainment Weekly gave Catz a B+ and wrote that it is an accurate simulation of felines.^[28]

The Petz series is also notable for the online community that grew around it,^[29] which game designer Nathalie Lawhead speculates is part of the reason for its success and enduring legacy.^[30]

The original Dogz and Catz sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide^[3] and the brand has grown to over 22 million copies since coming under Ubisoft.^[4]