As I've outlined before, there are lots of good reasons for brands to integrate into an existing Roblox game instead of building a new game from scratch. Namely, integrations can be faster to build, cost less money, and provide a more-predictable amount of traffic that you'll be able to gauge in advance.
So it comes as no surprise that the past few days have seen flurry of new integrations pop up from a variety of brands interested in reaching Roblox's massive, young audience.
LEGO City - Livetopia Integration
Brand: LEGO City Company: Super League Gaming Roblox Game: Livetopia
Daily Visits (4.3 million peak last 14 days)
I was surprised to see a LEGO brand in Roblox, given that LEGO is already working with Epic Games (maker of Fornite) to create a kid-friendly metaverse destination. However, it's no surprise to see brand the brand integrate into Livetopia, which is one of the most popular games on Roblox and also one of the most prolific when it comes to integrations. Livetopia has done past integrations with Athleta Girl, America Eagle, and Barbie. Give the millions of visits the game gets every single day, I expect us to see many more brand integrations to come in Livetopia.
Nimona (Netflix) - Sharkbite 2 Integration
Brand: Nimona (Netflix) Company: Suit Up Games Roblox Game: Sharkbite 2
Daily Visits (379K peak last 14 days)
I was notified about this cool integration from Ross at Suit Up Games, which put this deal together. Here's what Ross shared with me:
- Promotion of the Netflix Nimona movie being released next week.
- I go way back with the Sharkbite team and client wanted a shark based character as they feature in the movie. We suggested an integration over a new experience as the best fit.
- Month long event - predicted to deliver 10M plays and 50M brand impressions.
- Event features Nimona branding throughout plus special challenges around the movie’s main character to enhance the existing gameplay experience.
- No free UGC - we always knew this was going to be taken away. It’s why we focus on immersive ads/ gameplay driven experiences.
Bebe Rexha - Harmony Hills Integration
Brand: Bebe Rexha Company: Gamefam Roblox Game: Harmony Hills
Daily Visits (145K peak last 14 days)
It should come as no surprise that music artist Bebe Rexha appears in Harmony Hills, which is a game created by her record label, Warner Music Group. What's interesting about this integration is that it relied on free UGC to drive traffic to the game.
As we've noted previously, brands must now pay for each free UGC item they give away, which is based on a change to Roblox's policy. Previously, brands could give away an unlimited number of free UGC items without having to pay for them.
So in this case, Warner Music Group must have paid to give away UGC items for free. And so far the results of this move have been positive.
Based on Romonitor Stats data below, you can see that Harmony Hills went from getting less than 10K visits per day to hitting a peak of 145K visits in a day, which coincides with the free Bebe Rexha UGC giveaway.
A quick search on TikTok revealed several user-created videos with over 100K views showing how to get the free UGC. Clearly, TikTok continues to be a powerful discovery channel for free UGC, which can drive traffic to Roblox games.
Stephen Dypiangco is the CEO of Metaverse Marcom, a strategy and consulting firm helping entertainment and sports brands enter Roblox and monetize via UGC.