Walmart launches ‘metaverse’ experience in Roblox to sell toys to children

Walmart has introduced two “immersive experiences” on the online gaming platform Roblox. The retailer is portraying the launch as an ambitious foray into the metaverse, but the "experiences" — two online worlds dubbed Walmart Land and Walmart's Universe of Play — are essentially just ways to market toys to children. Roblox may appear insignificant, but it has over 50 million daily active users, two-thirds of whom are under the age of 16. That means Walmart is most likely experimenting with virtual worlds in order to capture this market.

Virtual lobbies include Walmart Land and Universe of Play. Inside are a number of minigames and experiences, such as a Ferris wheel, “interactive piano walkway,” and DJ booth, the majority of which direct players to specific brands. A virtual dressing room, for example, allows you to spend coins earned in Walmart Land to outfit your avatar with Skullcandy headphones or a Fitbit fitness tracker. You can race Razor scooters around a track or hang out with PAW Patrol characters in Universe of Play. It's all very basic in terms of graphics and gameplay mechanics, but that's to be expected from Roblox.

We’ve been here before of course, as with most “metaverse” hype. When virtual world Second Life was in its heyday, all sorts of companies launched experiences and shops inside the game, from Dell to Disney, to MTV and Mazda. Advertising budgets have to be spent somewhere, and the “metaverse” rebrand presumably gives a shallow futurist sheen to what is now a decades-old marketing strategy (Second Life launched back in 2003).

Is it worth Walmart’s time? At this point, who knows. Checking the statistics for Walmart Land’s achievements, it seems that a decent amount of users have at least logged in, with 200,000 “Welcome to Walmart Land” badges awarded for entering the game for the first time. But other achievements, like getting a free “loot box” from a circling blimp, have only been won by a few thousand players.

Meanwhile, Walmart’s chief marketing officer, William White, has been talking up the virtual worlds in interviews as a way to connect with Gen Z. “How are we driving relevance in cultural conversation? How are we developing community and engagement? How are we moving the needle from a brand favorability [standpoint] with younger audiences?” White told CNBC. “That’s what we’re trying to accomplish here.”

This video of Walmart's chief marketing officer on a stage in Roblox talking about its new "Walmart Land" experience is one of the saddest videos ever created. pic.twitter.com/HtIIToShKs

— Zack Zwiezen (@ZwiezenZ) September 26, 2022