A Minecraft Moviehas been splashing the cash on its branded tie-ins, with everything from Oreos to Doritos getting in on the action. However,A Minecraft Movie’s collaboration with McDonald’s has by far drawn the most attention online, and it’s not the first time the fast-food icon has boosted a major videogame franchise.
Despite a history with too many controversies to count, McDonald’s remains an untouchable juggernaut in the fast food area. Though the company has pivoted towards a more adult-oriented strategy in recent years, its Happy Meal remains popular with kids—and the amount of videogame tie-ins taking place through the meal has only ramped up.McDonald’s collaboration withA Minecraft Moviehas caused a particular stir recently, in no small part due to the uncanny translation of characters like Grimace into the film’s aesthetic. Nonetheless, this isn’t the first time the fast-food eatery has used its weight to massively promote a videogame IP.
A Quick History of McDonald’s Videogame Tie-Ins
All McDonald’s (USA) Videogame Collaborations
The above list represents McDonald’s US collaborations (many of which have also taken place internationally). However, despite McDonalds emphasizing homogeneity among its franchisees, there is a great deal of regional variance internationally, such as the differentMcDonald’sMariotie-ins, includingMario Kartfigurines in Canada, Australia, and Europe, as well as character statuettes in China.
Sonic and Mario Have Been Consistent Partners
Super Mario Bros. 3was the first videogame collaboration the company took on, with four Happy Meal toys to collect (Mario, Luigi, Goomba, and Paratroopa). The 2017 collaboration, which didn’t set out to promote anything in particular, had more toys to its name; joining Mario and Luigi were figures of Bowser, Yoshi, Piranha Plant, Invincible Mario, Koopa Shell, and a facade of the floating Question Mark block. 2023’sThe Super Mario Bros. Moviecrossoverwas a bigger campaign, with toys of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Toad, Luma, and Donkey Kong.
McDonald’sSonic the Hedgehogcollaborationsalso have a long history. The original 1994 Happy Meal set had Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Robotnik figures, along with a Sonic-branded ball. 2003 and 2004 saw Sega team up with McDonald’s to deliver Fisher Price handheld games, many of which were explicitlySonic-themed.Sonic The Hedgehog 2saw a variety of Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails standees, in addition to an Eggman Robot standee. Most recently,Sonic the Hedgehog 3delivered Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Super Sonic, and Super Shadow figurines encased in plastic ‘rollers’.
Pokemon Has Ramped Up McDonald’s Tie-Ins
A huge variety ofPokemoncrossovers have taken place through McDonald’s, though none have been as famous (or as infamous) as many ofBurger King’sPokemoncollaborations. 2011 saw 8 toys, rolling out Pikachu, Reshiram, Oshawott, Zoroark, Tepig, Zekrom, Snivy, and Zorua.Ruby and Sapphirehad its figures (Pikachu, Groudon, Kyogre, Lugia, Rayquaza, Mega Latios, Hoopa, Wobbuffet) accompanied by respective TCG cards, giving collectors more of an interest in these Happy Meals.
Pokemon TCGcards are a mainstay at McDonald’s. 2018 saw toys of Dialga, Palkia, Latias, Latios, Reshiram, Zekrom, Thundurus, Tornadus, along with different TCG cards—a trend other promotions have followed. The most recent promotion, which took place in February of this year, was the inclusion of TCG booster packs in Happy Meals.
Skylanders, Spyro, and LEGO
Among the other big promotions between videogames and McDonald’s were theCrashandSpyrotie-ins, which naturally led to collaborationswith the Skylandersseries. Similar to theSonicFisher Price games, Spyro and Crash saw their own handheld games in booklet-shaped plastic. Spyro, Tree Rex, Jet-Vac, Ignitor, Drobot, Gill Grunt, Chop-Chop, Crusher, and Kaos toys were released to coincide withSkylanders: Giants,which was followed by aSkylanders: Swap-Forcecrossover that included figures of Chompy, Magna Charge, Wash Buckler, Freeze Blade, Prism Break, Eruptor, Free Ranger, and Rattle Shake. Finally, aTrap Teampromotion saw figures of Food Fight, Wolfgang, Snap Shot, Wildfire, Wallop, and Pain-Yatta.
Despite a storied history of videogames (as well as of McDonald’s tie-ins),LEGO Batman: The Videogameis currently the only LEGO game to have a McDonald’s crossover. The tie-in also deviated from previous LEGO McDonald’s items, such as theBionicleMatoran polybags of 2001, as these statuettes were plastic toys entirely separate from the LEGO system (similar to theGalidorpolybags of years prior). These included figures of Batman, Robin, Mr. Freeze, the Joker, Penguin’s Sub, the Batmobile, Joker’s helicopter, and the Batboat.
A Minecraft Movie
A Minecraft Movie’s McDonald’s crossoveris a big one, with the fast-food giant ushering in temporary changes to its iconography on some packaging to align with the film. It’s easy to see how hard the film is being pushed with this tie-in, and a selection of Happy Meal toys are there to back up the initiative. In addition to an ‘adult’ Happy Meal option, tied in with a limited Nether Flame sauce, the tie-in includes six collectibles (Grimace Egg, Soda Potion, Birdie Wings, Fry Helmet, Zombie Hamburglar, and Big Mac Crystal), as well as 11 figures (Evoker, Llama, Skeleton, Pink Sheep, Pink Wool and Pink Sheep, Creeper, Garrett, Dawn, Steve, Wolf, Redstone and Creeper, and Bee)
