Last month, Chooseco sued Netflix for trademark infringement when the company included the phrase “Choose Your Own Adventure” in its interactive film, “Bandersnatch.”
Now, like all good stories, the drama continues to build, as the company that has been making printed Choose Your Own Adventure books for decades partnered with the audiobook company Audible to produce CYOA stories for Amazon’s Alexa.
It’s a format, but it’s also a brand
Choose Your Own Adventure the brand began as a publisher of children’s books in 1979. Since then, the brand has printed more than 265m books in more than 40 languages.
Chooseco’s books became so popular in the ’80s and ’90s that the company trademarked the format.
When most American kids turned the page on printed books in favor of video games, it seemed that Chooseco’s story might finally be over. But after a recent resurgence of interactive storytelling, Chooseco seems to have decided its story is only beginning.
An Amazon-powered epilogue
Now, Chooseco has decided to enter the realm of content giants, and it will be narrated by Alexa. The company released 2 stories: “The Abominable Snowman” has 28 endings and “Journey Under the Sea” has 37 endings.
Listeners control the stories by verbally picking the next part of the narrative, and for now all the stories are free.
