Petz 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. Developed by PF.Magic, original Petz (Dogz and Catz) has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. The series has grown to over 22 million copies as of 2011 since coming under Ubisoft.
Development
The original Petz games — Dogz: Your Computer Pet and Catz: Your Computer Pet—were developed by PF.Magic, released in 1995 and 1996 respectively. They reused the graphics engine used in Ballz. Rob Fulop conceived of Dogz, following the controversy surrounding his previous title Night Trap, which resulted in him wanting 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 about what children wanted, and was informed that puppies were the most popular request every year.
Following the success the company, instead of continuing to branch out into other household pets, developed Oddballz, focused on Chimeraic and mutatable creatures. This would release along with sequels to the Dogz and Catz. 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.
Ubisoft would publish Catz 5 and Dogz 5, in 2002, as the last games following the original style, before putting franchise on hold for three years. After releasing Dogz and Catz for the Game Boy Advance in 2005 and 2006, Ubisoft announced their intention for a "revitalisation" of the series, in direct response to the success of Nintendo's Nintendogs. The successive entries were in many ways very different from the P.F. magic games, No further announcements have been subsequently made, and no such game was ever released.
Ubisoft would continue releasing entries until 2014. Bunnyz, 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.
Games
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="min-width: 80%; font-size: 85%;"
!Game
!Developer
!Publisher
!Release date
!Platform
!class="unsortable" |Ref(s)
|-
!Catz and Dogz: Your Virtual Petz
|PF.Magic
|PF.Magic, Virgin Interactive Entertainment
|
|
|
|-
! Oddballz: Your Wacky Computer Petz
|PF.Magic
|PF.Magic, Virgin Interactive Entertainment
|1996
|PC
|
|-
!Catz and Dogz II: Your Virtual Petz
|PF.Magic
|PF.Magic, Mindscape
|1997
|PC
|
|-
!Catz and Dogz 3: Your Virtual Petz
|PF.Magic
|PF.Magic, Mindscape
|1998
|PC
|
|-
!Catz and Dogz 4
|PF.Magic
|Mindscape Entertainment
|1999
|PC
|
|-
!Catz and Dogz 5
|Studio Mythos
|Ubi Soft
|2002
|PC
|
|-
!colspan=6|
|-
!Dogz
|MTO, Backbone Entertainment
|Ubisoft
|
|
|
|-
!Catz
|MTO
|Ubisoft
|2006
|Game Boy Advance
|
|-
!Catz
|Powerhead Games
|Ubisoft
|2006
|Nintendo DS
|
|-
!Dogz and Catz
|ImaginEngine
|Ubisoft
|2006
|PC
|
|-
!Hamsterz Life
|
|Ubisoft
|2006
|Nintendo DS
|
|-
!Petz: Dogz 2 and Catz 2
|Yuke's
|Ubisoft
|2007
|
|
|-
!Petz: Dogz 2 and Catz 2
|ImaginEngine
|Ubisoft
|2007
|PC
|
|-
!Petz: Catz 2
|Powerhead Games
|Ubisoft
|2007
|Nintendo DS
|
|-
!Petz: Dogz 2
|MTO
|Ubisoft
|2007
|Nintendo DS
|
|-
!Dogz 2
|MTO
|Ubisoft
|2007
|Game Boy Advance
|
|-
!Petz: Horsez 2
|Phoenix Studio
|Ubisoft
|2007
|
|
|-
!Petz: Hamsterz 2
|
|Ubisoft<br />Interchannel
|2007
|DS
|
|-
!Petz Vet
|Sensory Sweep
|Ubisoft
|2007
|Game Boy Advance
|
|-
!Petz: Wild Animals: Dolphinz
|Magic Pockets
|Ubisoft
|2007
|DS
|
|-
!Petz: Wild Animals: Tigerz
|Magic Pockets
|Ubisoft
|2008
|Nintendo DS
|
|-
!Petz: Bunnyz
|Digital Kids
|Ubisoft
|2008
|Nintendo DS
|
|-
!Petz: Monkeyz House
| MTO
|Ubisoft
|2008
|Nintendo DS
|
|-
!Petz: Horse Club
| Phoenix Interactive
|Ubisoft
|2008
|Wii, PC
|
|-
!Petz Rescue: Ocean Patrol
|Magic Pockets
|Ubisoft
|2008
|DS
|
|-
!Petz Rescue: Wildlife Vet
| Virtual Toys
|Ubisoft
|2008
|
|
|-
!Petz Rescue: Endangered Paradise
| Phoenix Studio
|Ubisoft
|2008
|DS
|
|-
!Petz Sports: Dog Playground
|Ubisoft Montreal
|Ubisoft
|2008
|
|
|-
!Dogz
|Gameloft
|
|2008
|N-Gage 2.0
|
|-
!Petz: Dogz Pack
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2008
|DS
|
|-
!Petz: Dogz Fashion
| MTO
|Ubisoft
|2008
|DS
|
|-
!Petz: Catz Clan
| Digital Kids
|Ubisoft
|2008
|DS
|
|-
!Petz: Crazy Monkeyz
|Y'sK
|Ubisoft
|2009
|Wii
|
|-
!Petz Fashion: Dogz & Catz
|Powerhead Games
|Ubisoft
|2009
|DS
|
|-
!Petz: My Baby Panda
|Namco Bandai Games
|
|2009
|DS
|
|-
!Petz: Hamsterz Superstarz
| Ubisoft Nagoya
|Ubisoft
|2009
|DS
|
|-
!Petz: Hamsterz Bunch
|DK Games
|Ubisoft
|2009
|PSP
|
|-
!Petz: Dogz Talent Show
| Ubisoft Nagoya
|Ubisoft
|2009
|DS
|
|-
!Petz Nursery
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2009
|DS
|
|-
!Petz: Pony Beauty Pageant
|HotGen
|Ubisoft
|2009
|DS
|
|-
!Petz: Dogz Family
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2010
|DSiWare
|
|-
!Petz Hamsterz Family
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2010
|DSiWare
|
|-
!Petz Kittens
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2010
|DSiWare
|
|-
!Petz Fantasy: Moonlight Magic
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2010
|DS
|
|-
!Petz Fantasy: Sunshine Magic
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2010
|DS
|
|-
!Petz Fantasy 3D
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2011
|3DS
|
|-
!Petz: Puppyz & Kittenz
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2011
|DS
|
|-
!Petz Beach
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2014
|3DS
|
|-
!Petz Countryside
|Ubisoft
|Ubisoft
|2014
|3DS
|
|}
Notes
Reception
The original software was generally well received, with The Salt Lake Tribune giving 1995's Dogz 4 out of 5 stars, and PC Zone and Entertainment Weekly giving Catz an 8/10 and B+ respectively. However, later games were less well received, in particularly compared to other virtual pet experiences that were available, with the 1999 Game Boy Color games negatively compared to Tamagotchi, and 2005's Dogz for the Game Boy Advance, being seen as an attempt to ape Nintendogs.
By 2007, Joystiq recommended buying games in the series only for "people you hate". On the other hand, a 2008 feature in Game Developer opined that Ubisoft's "casual titles"—specifically mentioning the Petz and Imagine series—had distinguished themselves by being "well-made non-shovelware" that didn't try to "take advantage of the innocence of the target market."
The Petz games developed by P.F. Magic grew a dedicated online community that, including a community of "Hexers", who would edit the games files to create custom petz. Game designer Nathalie Lawhead speculates this was part of the reason for its success and enduring legacy.
Sales
The original Dogz and Catz sold around 200,000, in their first year on the market, and would go on to sell—along with their sequels Catz and Dogz II—1.5 million copies. By the time of PF.Magic's purchase by Mindscape, the series had made over $8 million.