Random House Books for Young Readers—an imprint of Random House US and Penguin Random House UK—has launched a publishing program based on iconic characters and worlds from Nintendo, with brands like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Splatoon and Animal Crossing leading the pack.
The program officially kicked off on January 2 with two full-color official sticker books—Super Mario Official Sticker Book and The Legend of Zelda Official Sticker Book—both priced at US$12.99.
A pair of US$9.99 hardcover books (Mario Time! and Link’s Book of Adventure, pictured) will be released on July 3, followed by Splatoon Official Sticker Book, a US$12.99 trade paperback edition on sale from July 24. Along with full-color pages and stickers, the books in the program include mazes, puzzles, trivia, and additional value-added inserts.
The publishing program arrives as licensed titles made up more than a quarter of US children’s book sales last year, according to new data from market research firm The NPD Group. The data also placed Penguin Random House among the top five license owners and leading publishers in 2017.
Licensing game IPs has been a particular interest for Random House of late. Following this summer’s Nintendo program, Penguin Random House UK’s Ladybird imprint will launch sticker books based on game brands from Spin Master-owned children’s mobile publisher Toca Boca.