Proposed Sea-Monkeys® App (2008-2009)
Concept Developers: Victor Agreda Jr in colaboration with Smudgy Games (Alex Hartley & René Højstrand).
Proposed Platform: iPhone OS (Rebranded to just iOS in 2010).
In the Endgadget article from 2014 titled ‘The Sea Monkey app that never was’, author Victor Agreda, Jr., writes about his proposed Sea-Monkeys app that never saw the light of day.
In 2008, inspired by his fascination with Sea-Monkeys and with the then-new iPhone App Store being available, Agreda allegedly pitched his idea of a fun and educational Sea-Monkeys app to the then-rights holder of the brand. After getting a lukewarm response to the idea, he got the green light to work on the proposal.
Agreda partnered up with iPhone game developer, Smudgy Games (defunct), to work on the concept. This small company was based in Sweden, and only consisted of two members: Alex Hartley & René Højstrand. Sometime in 2009, while they were still working on the proposal, those in charge of the brand’s rights at the time allegedly shut down the idea & cut off communications. And thus, this app never was.
You can read the full article here, where Agrada goes into details about gameplay ideas they had in mind, screenshots of how the app would’ve looked, and the full proposal notes.
That article is all we have about that alleged proposal, so take it with a grain of salt; however, given the assets presented, it seems to be credible.
The year before the app was proposed, the Sea-Monkeys license had been recently acquired by Big Time Toys. Unbeknownst to the general public at the time, business disagreements between the parties involved were happening with this new licensing deal. Eventually, due to questionable business decisions & poor management of the brand, Sea-Monkeys entered a chapter of legal hardships.
It would’ve been interesting to see how a Sea-Monkeys app would’ve turned out during a time when the mobile market was still young and speculative.
