THE FUTURE
OF PLAY
Richard Gottlieb
Global Toy Experts
In an age in which everything, and I mean everything,
changes so fast the future shows up a lot sooner than
it used to. It is therefore more important than ever to
think about what is coming so we are minimally not
surprised and maximally have some plans in place.
I write the “Toy and Play Futurist Letter” which I distrib-
ute to a restricted number of recipients. In it, I take a
look one to five years out and extrapolate on develop-
ments now taking place in the world around us. No,
not toy trends per se but societal, cultural and techno-
logical phenomena that will have an impact on the
business of play. Here are just some areas that we are
studying:
1. SELF-DRIVING CARS
We believe that the rise in self-driving cars is going to
have an impact on how families relate while in transit.
That will in turn have an impact on the toys and games
we create.
There is currently an ongoing move towards self-driv-
ing cars. Google, Mercedes Benz, Intel, Audi, Tesla,
GM and Volkswagen are all betting that driverless cars
will be a commonplace by 2020.
Because there will be no driver per-se, the car will no
longer have a “captain” who is unapproachable
because he or she is steering a course. Rather, the
driver will now become another passenger and by
being able to turn the seat towards others, engage
everyone in play, storytelling, games and other forms
of entertainment.
By parents becoming more interactive with their
children, the car will become an extension of the
family room. The resulting need for games and toys
that can easily be ported between home and car will
call for new design elements.
Here is what I predicted in the “Toy and Play Futurist
Letter” on the subject”:
self driving car with turning seat
Page 02 | Kids India Mag Issue: July 2017
We predict that this is going to be a net plus for family
room play. That means table top games like Trivial
Pursuit, Scrabble, Monopoly, Checkers and Chess; over-