When you think of a female internet pioneer, you might not think of a plush tabby cat — but Pusheen the cartoon kitty has been an instantly recognizable part of the internet for well over a decade. Until this year, however, she was not the subject of her own video game.
Pusheen’s Place is a mobile game from Lively Studios, in which players can amass their own collection of Pusheens, adorable cat-like creatures patterned after the character’s various incarnations across her social media presence, merch and original comic appearance. It’s currently available exclusively for Apple Arcade.
I played Pusheen’s Place and spent some time collecting and tending to my own various versions of Pusheen. It’s built around a series of minigames, through which the player collects materials they can use to summoning Pusheens to their apartment. It’s a relaxing and unbearably cute experience, especially when you give your Pusheens a pet or a treat.
“We first met Pusheen Corp in 2023 and we were both interested in how to bring the uniquely relaxed and cosy experience of Pusheen to gamers and fans in a more interactive way,” Richard Tawn, the game’s director, told GamesBeat in an email interview. “We began exploring this idea of players solving relaxing daily puzzles, nothing too taxing, but as a bit of an escape and we blended this idea of puzzles and building out your own place full of Pusheens.”
Doing right by the internet’s cat
As a fan of the fluffy feline, one thing I wanted to ask was how Lively Studios brought such an icon to the world of video games. Tawn told me that Pusheen’s popularity among fans made it imperative for the studio to reflect the character accurately in the game.
“Everything in Pusheen’s Place is a reflection of how we all know her, but we also explored how fans express their love for her and used this as inspiration for decor and items in Pusheen’s Place,” he said.
According to Pusheen’s creators, Pusheen gifs and stickers have been shared over 20 billion times across various social media platforms, with licensed merchandise in 60 countries. Pusheen’s Place includes many iterations of her across those stickers and merchandise. According to Tawn, they included as many recognizable versions of her as they could. Tawn added that the game was designed with Pusheen’s millions of fans in mind, and that Lively Studio is listening to fans to bring new features to the game in the future.
“We wanted players to build their connection with their Pusheens but she never speaks so we’re finding ways for players to interact with her and ways for her to communicate in the game,” he said.
Pusheen’s Place is available on Apple Arcade with no in-game purchases.