2022: Roblox & it's entry point to the Metaverse
Roblox continues it's journey with more and more brands & advertisers using it as an entry point to explore what the potential possibilities are within the world of Web3.
With brands including the likes of Nike, FIFA, Gucci, Vans and many others, there is no surprise marketers & innovation experts are asking how they can get a piece of the action. But, is the technology there yet?
As a Father of two young children, it's been difficult to neglect the persistant requests for Robux (Roblox' currency) and ultimately personally exploring what the world of Roblox has the offer.
The question is, as a prime target audience for the likes of Nike & FIFA, am I truly excited by their Roblox offering?
The answer is no, and I'll explain a little more as to why but first, let's look at why Roblox has become so popular amongst brands.
What's the appeal of Roblox?
It's a growing platform | In the last 2 years, Roblox have doubled it's revenue year-on-year.
It has an enormous dedicated audience | According to statistics, Roblox is accessed by 50 million users on a daily basis.
It's community driven | It has hundreds if not thousands of worlds that you can enter, meaning users can spend time in world's they enjoy and relate to.
Purchasing Platform | In 2013, Roblox made it possible for users to exchange real world currency for Robux, which can be used to buy elite or premium items that can be kept or exchanged.
Its breeds creativity | You can flex your own personal creative muscles, designing your own character, defining their look, clothing, hair and a number of other items.
Cross-platform | Whether you want to play on your phone, tablet, pc or games console, Roblox allows for anyone on any device to access it's world.
It's free | It costs nothing to hop online and play and can be on within the space of a few clicks.
Does Roblox cut it as the eventual platform of choice for the Metaverse?
All the points above, give a great rationale as to why brands have used it as it's platform of entry. Marketers & advertisers of these brands want to reach audiences, Roblox has that, they also want to build their brands around a community, Roblox lets you do that.
They want access to a system in which users can buy their products, again Roblox provides that. It's no surprise that we're seeing more and more household names attempt to make an entry into the world of Web3, including those that have begun collaborations with the likes of Fortnite & Decentraland
But what let's it down?
If you haven't downloaded it yet, do it, it takes 5 minutes and you can be accessing the likes of NIKELAND and many other worlds almost instantly. Yet these worlds lack the cutting edge we are all expecting from the Metaverse, the user experience isn't great and that's no surprise.
After all, the platform wasn't built to withstand complex coding or graphics to execute what we have in our own minds.
It also feels young as a platform and isn't optimised to give you a seemless experience between worlds, so it becomes ever more clunky as you wait to leave one world and enter another.
That said, it's a great experimentation tool for brands, trialling what works and what doesn't work. Giving them valueable insights into what users engage with, enjoy being a part of and invetiably what they buy from their worlds.
Want to check out what agencies are helping brands navigate this world?
Take a look at our list of Web3 Marketing agencies here.
Written by: Alex Swain (Group Director, UK & EMEA)
Ultimate Asset are a leading global digital recruitment agency servicing sectors that include Digital Media, AdTech, Media Agencies, Digital Marketing, Digital Sales and Web3.