In late 2021, the first chapter of a quirky survival horror game called Poppy Playtime launched and was a surprising hit that began to make the rounds on gaming YouTube and Twitch channels. Riding the coattails of the lasting fervor created by 2014’s Five Nights at Freddy’s and its sinister animatronics, Poppy Playtime also featured malicious toys whose goals were not to make friends with the player character.
Similar to Five Nights at Freddy’s, MOB Games endeavored to turn a boring real life job into an entertaining horror fest by putting players into the role of a former toy factory employee who returns to the now-abandoned edifice after the staff mysteriously disappears. One of the first things the player encounters upon entering the building is Huggy Wuggy, an absolutely unsettling “toy” with razor sharp teeth and a gigantic smile that can creep out even the most stalwart horror game aficionado.
Like the terrifying Momo sculpture that became the centerpiece of an alleged internet challenge a few years back, Huggy Wuggy has become the new mascot for schoolyard hijinks that can have lasting negative effects on a young child’s mental health. Children have been mimicking the blue horror at school, frightening and potentially even traumatizing their peers. Things have gotten so bad that some schools in the UK have even issued warnings to parents about letting their kids view videos featuring the unnerving blue creature.
Part of the problem stems from the fact that the name Huggy Wuggy seems innocuous enough and therefore slips through various parental controls. The reality, however, according to mental health officials, is that Poppy Playtime’s Huggy Wuggy can cause real terror for some children. The Suicide Awareness and Mental Health Initiative released a statement that parents are “urged not to let their children watch the terrifying Tik Tok and YouTube videos of the killer teddy.”
Prior to this latest alert from schools, police in both the UK and US had also issued warnings about Poppy Playtime and Huggy Wuggy in particular, stating that the blue toy sang songs about killing. However, although frightening, Huggy Wuggy doesn’t sing songs in Poppy Playtime. Third-party videos have been created that showcase the sharp-toothed plaything singing a song with the lyrics, “I could just hug you here, forever, forever, till you breathe your last breath.” These creations have become ubiquitous on social media video platforms and are now viewed by many as official Poppy Playtime lore.
It's important for parents to realize that Poppy Playtime, despite being about toys, is not intended for children. In the US, the indie game doesn’t have an ESRB rating at all, but it is rated PEGI 12 in the UK, which means it is inappropriate for children under the age of 12. The PEGI description also states that games with this rating could contain “non-realistic violence towards human-like characters.”
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