Feb 54 min read

Top 10 Roblox Brand Games (Feb '24)

Paramount's SpongeBob exits paid beta and enters top 10.

Every week we publish exclusive research about how brands are activating on the Roblox platform. At the start of each month, we gather data on how many visits branded experiences have accumulated during the previous month to see what's currently popular on the platform.

+12% Monthly Increase Across Top 20 Branded Games

When looking at the top 20 branded games combined, overall visits increased +12% month-over-month. In January, the top 20 games collectively had 124.8 million visits, versus having 111.2 million in December.

Entertainment Dominates Top 10

With the exception of Walmart and new entry Littlest Pet Shop, all of the other top 10 experiences are entertainment related. Entertainment IP just fits so well with the platform because well-known characters and stories are relatively easy to translate to a gamified virtual environment, much more than a food or fashion brand.

SpongeBob Exits Paid Beta and Enters Top 10

SpongeBob Simulator from Paramount and Gamefam broke into this month’s top 10 list after being in paid beta for the past few months. I first started tracking this experience back in October of 2023. During its first three months in paid beta, the experience had 87K visits in October, 151K in November, and 116K in December.

Starting the experience in paid beta and then having a big public launch is a strategy that developer Gamefam used to launch Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon with Mattel to great success. Barbie has been on top of this brand rankings list since exiting its paid beta phase last October, when it had 39M visits. After dropping to 26M visits in December, Barbie had 30M visits in January, an increase in +15% month over month.

Towards the end of January, SpongeBob caught my eye on the Roblox homepage with a very high concurrent user count of 13.5K CCUs. As a point of reference, having over 1K CCUs is strong for most branded experiences on Roblox. Some branded experiences will have less than 10 CCU’s at any given point, which means not many players are visiting. So 13.5K CCUs for SpongeBob was really strong.

SpongeBob in hour glass, next to Sonic Hedgehog game. — SpongeBob featured on Roblox homepage with 13.5K CCUs.

At this time of high CCU's, the experience’s title referred to a “Free Preview,” which certainly must have been appealing to players who only knew it as a paid game. Switching a game from paid to free is an interesting launch tactic, especially when tied to a well-known IP such as SpongeBob. When the experience is paid, you have lots of players who want to play, but can’t afford to. So they leave comments, requesting that the game be made free. When the game does eventually become free, these players come back and happily play.

SpongeBob smiling in game page. — SpongeBob details page with "FREE PREVIEW" title.

An influx of sudden traffic can send a strong signal to the Roblox algorithm, which then boosts the visibility of the experience via the homepage. That leads to more users finding and playing, which only increases homepage amplification via the algorithm.

I’ve also seen SpongeBob ads across the Roblox platform. Given that the experience has such strong CCUs, it makes sense to drive paid traffic to the experience. The experience is working, so may as well get more people in to try it out, and hopefully use that added traffic to keep getting featured organically by the algorithm.

SpongeBob character in banner ad at top of page — SpongeBob banner ad on a Roblox game details page.

The official “launch” of SpongeBob on Roblox was February 2nd, a date that was promoted via a special event listing. The experienced launched ahead of the NFL's Super Bowl, which Paramount will be broadcasting this year. Currently, the SpongeBob experience description touts a Super Bowl promotion:

Welcome to SpongeBob Simulator! Dive into an epic SpongeBob adventure with all of your favorite characters, settings, & storylines!

[SPONSORED] 🍍The countdown to 🏈Super Bowl LVIII🏈 on Nickelodeon’s Turf has kicked off in SpongeBob Simulator! 🧽Help SpongeBob & friends get ready for the biggest sporting event of the year.

🗺️Find hidden items in-game to help prep for the Big Game & unlock exclusive UGC & a mount!

🧠Answer pre-game trivia & return after the game to claim a special SpongeBob buddy!

🧭Complete the ENTIRE cross-game quest & come back to SpongeBob Simulator to secure the grand prize UGC & an exclusive in-game reward!

Come for the game, stay for the SLIME! 🎉Watch Super Bowl LVIII on Nickelodeon on February 11 at 6:30 ET / 3:30 ET. 🏈

This is the second year in a row that Gamefam is involved in a Super Bowl activation, having created a half time show with artist Saweetie last year.

Paramount's TMNT Returns to Top 10

SpongeBob and TMNT characters on Roblox. — Paramount's TMNT & SpongeBob team up for Super Bowl promotion.

SpongeBob is the second big game to come from Paramount and Gamefam. The other is TMNT Battle Tycoon, which was one of my favorite branded experiences to come out in 2023. It came out late last summer when the TMNT movie was released. It has amassed over 21M visits to date and reentered our top 10 list this month with 2.7M visits. TMNT is also part of the Super Bowl campaign that SpongeBob is part of.

Here’s what the description says...

[SPONSORED] The countdown to 🏈 Super Bowl LVIII 🏈 on Nickelodeon’s Turf has kicked off in SpongeBob Simulator🧽, and it’s NOW leaping over to TMNT Battle Tycoon🐢! Join the turtles and their Bikini Bottom pals in gearing up for the ultimate sports showdown of the year! 💥

🗺️ Find the missing Super Bowl LVIII items in-game and destroy Planktons to unlock exclusive UGC and a vehicle! 🚙💨 🧭 Complete the ENTIRE cross-game quest and return to SpongeBob Simulator to secure the grand prize UGC and an exclusive reward! 🎁