Tamagotchi Is Back
A Japanese housewife named Aki Maita invented Tamagotchi in 1996. She pitched the idea to Bandai: a digital pet
A Japanese housewife named Aki Maita invented Tamagotchi in 1996. She pitched the idea to Bandai: a digital pet that fits on a keychain. Feed it, play with it, clean up its poop. If you ignore it, it dies.
Bandai thought the idea was ridiculous. Who wants a toy that dies?
They were wrong. Tamagotchi sold 40 million units in the first two years. Schools banned them. Kids snuck them into class anyway. Teachers confiscated hundreds. Parents complained their children cried when the digital pets died.
By 1999, the fad collapsed. Sales plummeted. Bandai kept making Tamagotchi but they became a niche product for hardcore fans. For 20 years, Tamagotchi existed but nobody cared.
Then 2022 arrived. Sales doubled. By August 2025, Tamagotchi hit 100 million units sold lifetime. Bandai opened the first UK flagship store in London’s Camden Market in September 2024.
Adults are buying digital pets that require constant attention while their real responsibilities pile up. The Tamagotchi revival is here.
The 1999 Collapse
The original 1996 Tamagotchi had a fatal flaw: it never stopped needing you. The digital pet required feeding every few hours. It pooped constantly. It beeped for attention during meetings, classes, dates.
You couldn’t pause it. You couldn’t turn it off without killing it. Going on vacation meant your Tamagotchi died. Sleeping through the night risked finding a dead pet in the morning.
Kids handled this fine initially. Constant attention felt fun. But the novelty wore off fast. After a few months, the beeping became annoying. Parents refused to wake up at 3am to feed digital creatures.
Schools banned Tamagotchi because kids checked them during class. Teachers confiscated devices. Some schools had entire drawers full of confiscated Tamagotchi beeping simultaneously.
The other problem was simplicity. The original Tamagotchi had three buttons and a tiny black-and-white screen. You fed it, played a simple game, cleaned poop. That was it. After you raised one successfully, there wasn’t much reason to do it again.
Bandai released updates and new versions through the 2000s and 2010s. Color screens. More complex gameplay. Connection features. None captured the original magic. Sales stayed low.
Millennials Got Nostalgic
People who owned Tamagotchi in 1997 were 30-40 years old by 2022. They had disposable income and fond childhood memories.
The “kidult” market – adults buying toys and games from their childhood – exploded over the past decade. Pokemon cards surged in value. Retro gaming became a massive industry. LEGO targeted adults with complex sets.
Tamagotchi fit perfectly. Bandai released anniversary editions and retro versions with the original 1996 design. Millennials bought them for nostalgia. Some wanted to relive childhood. Others wanted to complete the experience they never finished as kids because their parents threw the Tamagotchi away.
Sales doubled from 2022 to 2023. Bandai noticed. The company invested more in Tamagotchi, releasing new versions and opening physical retail stores.
Gen Z Discovered It
Gen Z never owned original Tamagotchi. They were born after the 1997-1999 peak. To them, Tamagotchi was retro technology from before they existed.
TikTok and YouTube drove discovery. Creators posted videos customizing Tamagotchi shells, bedazzling cases, creating elaborate care routines. The aesthetic appealed to Gen Z’s love of Y2K nostalgia.
Tamagotchi became an object you displayed and photographed. People matched Tamagotchi colors to outfits. They bought multiple units to collect different shell designs. The device turned into an accessory.
The analog appeal mattered too. A Tamagotchi does one thing. A dedicated device for a specific purpose, unlike a smartphone with infinite distractions. This felt refreshing to people drowning in screen time.
The irony is thick. People bought Tamagotchi to escape constant phone checking. Then they checked Tamagotchi constantly instead. Trading one digital dependency for another while claiming to embrace analog simplicity.
Tamagotchi Paradise Launched
Bandai released Tamagotchi Paradise in July 2025. The device returned to roots – simple gameplay, minimal features, nostalgic design. Color screen but otherwise close to the 1996 original.
Paradise emphasized care over complexity. Feed your pet, play simple games, clean messes. That’s it. No convoluted evolution trees or complicated mechanics.
The servers supporting Paradise are guaranteed only until mid-2026. After that, Bandai might shut them down. The device would still work offline but connection features would die.
This is planned obsolescence. Bandai knows digital products need server support. They guarantee support for one year, then may pull the plug. This forces customers to buy newer models if they want connected features.
Some fans don’t care. They treat Tamagotchi as disposable entertainment. Others resent paying $30-60 for a device that might stop working fully in a year.
Camden Market Flagship
Bandai opened the first UK Tamagotchi flagship store in Camden Market, London in September 2024. The store sells devices, accessories, and exclusive merchandise.
Camden Market attracts tourists and young shoppers. The Tamagotchi store became an Instagram destination. People photographed themselves with displays, bought devices, posted about the experience.
The store proves Tamagotchi moved beyond online novelty into physical retail. Bandai believed the revival would sustain a permanent storefront in expensive London real estate.
Sales data supports this. 49% of global Tamagotchi sales come from Japan, 33% from the US, 16% from Europe. The European market is small but growing.
Toronto Mass Wedding
In August 2025, Tamagotchi fans held a mass wedding event in Toronto. Participants “married” their digital pets in a ceremony complete with vows and certificates.
The event was part joke, part genuine fandom. Some participants treated it as silly fun. Others took it seriously, expressing real emotional attachment to their digital pets.
This mirrors a broader trend. People forming emotional bonds with digital entities – AI chatbots, virtual idols, game characters. The line between digital and real relationships blurs.
Tamagotchi weddings are harmless. But they signal how people increasingly substitute digital interactions for human ones. Marrying a Tamagotchi is funny until you realize some participants have more emotional investment in digital pets than real friendships.
Customization Culture
YouTube and TikTok filled with Tamagotchi customization videos. People paint shells, add rhinestones, create elaborate cases. Some customizations cost more than the device itself.
This turned Tamagotchi into craft projects. The device became a canvas for personal expression. People compete to create the most elaborate or unique designs.
Bandai benefits from this. Customization requires buying multiple devices. Someone who buys three Tamagotchi to customize and display spends $90-180 instead of $30-60.
The customization community also sustains interest. New designs and techniques get posted regularly. This keeps Tamagotchi visible on social media and attracts new buyers.
Tamaverse Integration
Bandai launched Tamaverse, a metaverse platform where Tamagotchi owners’ digital pets exist in a virtual world. Players visit friends’ pets, trade items, play minigames.
Tamaverse attempted to modernize Tamagotchi for online-connected gaming. The execution was mediocre. Graphics looked dated. Gameplay was shallow. Most people ignored it.
The failure reveals a problem. Tamagotchi works because it’s simple. Adding metaverse complexity defeats the purpose. People who want elaborate virtual pet games play better options on phones or computers.
Tamagotchi’s strength is limitation. It does one thing adequately. Trying to expand beyond that core appeal dilutes the brand.
Sales Keep Growing
Tamagotchi hit 100 million lifetime sales by August 2025. Sales doubled from 2022 to 2023 and stayed strong through 2024 and 2025.
Bandai hasn’t released 2026 numbers yet but early indicators suggest continued growth. The 30th anniversary in 2026 provides marketing momentum.
Whether growth sustains past 2026 depends on whether this is genuine revival or temporary nostalgia spike. The 1997-1999 boom lasted three years before collapsing. The 2022-2026 boom is four years old.
Differences suggest this might last longer. The original boom targeted kids with limited spending power. The current boom targets adults with disposable income. Adults can buy multiple devices, accessories, and special editions without parental permission.
The kidult market keeps expanding. Adults buying nostalgic products isn’t a fad anymore. It’s a permanent market segment.
Still Alive After 30 Years
Aki Maita probably didn’t imagine Tamagotchi lasting 30 years. Bandai initially rejected her pitch. Even after the 1997 success, the toy seemed like a fad destined to disappear.
Instead Tamagotchi survived two boom-bust cycles and remains relevant three decades later. Not bad for a digital pet on a keychain.
The 2026 revival proves nostalgia sells. It proves adults spend money on toys. Proving simple products work in an over-complicated world.
It also proves people will embrace digital dependencies while claiming to reject them. As long as the device looks retro and feels virtuous, the contradiction doesn’t matter.
Tamagotchi came back. Whether it stays depends on how long adults keep caring about digital pets that poop.
Sources:
The Guardian – Tamagotchi Returns
Bandai Namco – Tamagotchi Sales
Toronto Star – Tamagotchi Wedding
