Who owns Carmen Sandiego now

After the ownership chain traced in Brøderbund Software ran through Riverdeep, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) ended up holding the Carmen Sandiego trademark for both education products (workbooks, flashcards, textbooks and study guides) and, for a stretch, the wider entertainment franchise. By 2020, licensing brought HMH roughly $13 million in revenue, including about $3.4 million from a long-term deal licensing the property to Netflix. In May 2021, HMH sold the Carmen Sandiego rights; trademark records now list the owner as HarperCollins Productions L.L.C., the division of the publisher that had already produced the 2019 Netflix series and has run the franchise's media side since.

Licensing and the 2025 revival

WildBrain, the studio behind the 2019 Netflix cartoon, holds global distribution and consumer-products rights under deals with HarperCollins Productions, extended and expanded in 2022 to cover broadcast distribution and merchandise more broadly. In September 2024, HarperCollins Productions and mobile publisher Gameloft announced a new Carmen Sandiego video game — notable for putting the player inside Carmen's coat rather than in pursuit of it, the first time the series has done so (see The name and look of Carmen Sandiego). It launched on Netflix Games on January 28, 2025, followed by PC and console versions on March 4, 2025, and a 40th-anniversary physical edition in spring 2025.

Where in Google Earth

Separately, in March 2019 — while HMH still held the education-facing rights — Google partnered with HMH to build Carmen Sandiego chases directly into the Google Earth app and Chrome browser, starting with an episode called The Crown Jewels Caper. Players open Google Earth, find a Carmen-costumed version of the app's “Pegman” icon, and follow witnesses and clues across real Street View locations. Character art for the Google Earth games came from Chromosphere, the same studio that designed the visual style of the 2019 Netflix series.