The Monkeys of Bloons TD 6 have traded in the battlefield to star in their very own YouTube series.
Developer Ninja Kiwi launched Bloons Monkey Tales on YouTube early Monday morning, following the April announcement of their release of an animated series that follows the game’s beloved characters “when they’re not busy popping Bloons.”
The series shifts the focus of the nearly 20-year-old franchise from tower defense to the Monkeys’ individual personalities, relationships, and adventures, according to a press release from Ninja Kiwi. The show features returning voice actors, new voices, as well as cameos from two popular Bloons YouTubers, with new three-minute episodes releasing every Saturday.
Bloons Monkey Tales is based on Ninja Kiwi’s beloved tower defense game Bloons TD 6 and explores the lives of the Monkeys beyond the battlefield. According to their press release, Ninja Kiwi says the series will offer fans a closer look at the characters “when they’re not busy popping Bloons.”
The first episode of the series was made available on YouTube earlier this morning. Starting this week, new three-minute episodes will drop on Ninja Kiwi’s YouTube channel every Saturday, alongside additional shorts that come before and after each episode. Fans of the series can follow along on TikTok, Instagram, Bluesky, X, and Facebook. The first weekly episode will launch this Saturday, October 24.
Scott Walker, chief executive officer of Ninja Kiwi, explained that the series goes deeper into the Monkeys’ lives than the studio has before.
“Bloons Monkey Tales is the first time we’ve gone this deeply into the lives of the Monkeys that fans have been playing with for nearly two decades,” Walker said.
Walker also noted that Ninja Kiwi has been working on efforts to expand upon the story’s world building and character backstories: “We’ve been extending the lore and storytelling in our games,” Walker said. “This series gives us the opportunity to focus on the characters, their idiosyncrasies, how they work together…”
The Bloons Monkey Tales series is working with many of the original voice actors who have played the game’s characters for more than eight years. In addition to these returning cast-members, the series is bringing in new voices for fan-favorite characters such as Patch. The series also features cameo performances from two of the most popular Bloons YouTubers.
Ninja Kiwi first launched the Bloons franchise in 2007, and has now accumulated more than 150 million downloads, according to Ninja Kiwi. The game has also garnered over 40 million hours of Twitch view time, with billions of gameplay sessions. According to Ninja Kiwi, the franchise is known for its “blend of strategy, humor and satisfying Bloon-popping gameplay.”
Ninja Kiwi was founded back in 2006 and, now has a staff of about 100 employees. The studio is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, with a second studio located in Dundee, Scotland. In 2021, the studio was acquired by Modern Times Group, an international mobile-first gaming conglomerate. Some of the studio’s most popular games include Bloons TD 6, Bloons Blitz and SAS: Zombie Assault 4.
Bloons Monkey Tales the series is available now on Ninja Kiwi’s YouTube channel.