Gamefam's NFL and Warner Music Group experiences (both powered by Intuit) off to strong start
Every week we at Metaverse Marcom publish exclusive research about how brands are activating on the Roblox platform. And at the start of each month, we gather data on how many visits branded games have gotten on Roblox during the previous month in order to see what's currently popular on the platform.
Monthly Decrease Across Top 20 Games
When looking at the top 20 branded games combined, overall visits were down. In January, the top 20 games collectively had 110.9 million visits. In February, the top 20 games had 103.7 million. That's a decrease of 6.5% month over month.
This decrease is likely due to a couple of factors:
1) February is a shorter month with only 28 days vs 31 days in January
2) Kids had vacation in early January, but not in February
Big Super Bowl Splash
After launching two Roblox experiences (NFL Tycoon and NFL Quarterback Simulator) with Roblox development studio Melon, the NFL teamed up with Gamefam to launch a couple of new experiences around the Super Bowl, which is obviously the professional sports league's biggest event of the year.
NFL Super Tycoon
Lifetime Visits: 5,801,882
February Visits: 5,801,882
The NFL's original tycoon game performed relatively poorly, reaching only 7.9 million visits with a 40% user rating. That game is no longer listed on Roblox. The new NFL Super Tycoon game is well on its way to surpassing the original game in terms of visits and has a far superior 90% user rating thus far.
Within the game, players can roleplay as a player, owner or fan. They are tasked with building their own NFL empire including a stadium, training facility and team. Right off the bat, players select a team of their choice, which later impacts what uniforms players wear on the field.
Unlike the original NFL Tycoon, the onboarding to this new game is very clear. You are guided to start building a football field and training facility right from the beginning. There's also a gift box icon with a clock that shows you that you will earn a prize for simply sticking around. That specific detail has certainly helped contribute to the game's strong average player session time of over 11 minutes, which is fourth highest of all games in the top 20. Obviously, the longer players play the game, the better.
It's worth highlighting that NFL Super Tycoon features brand sponsor Intuit. The Intuit logo is displayed prominently on the launch screen and many other places within the actual game.
Also Intuit's product QuickBooks "powers" the transactions, with the Quickbooks logo featured next to players' earnings. Players go to the "Intuit QuickBooks Business Center" to collect money to build their NFL empire, and free items are earned by completing "Intuit Quests."
One NPC called "Researcher Matt" presented a survey with questions about Intuit products. Upon completing the survey, players are rewarding additional funds. This tactic of using NPC's to create surveys allows brands to actually measure the brand lift they get when activating on Roblox.
When collecting the special gift awarded to players for sticking around in the game, a Intuit Turbotax image pops on screen with a prompt about taxes being filed. While this tax software ad probably is not super relevant to young kids who may be playing the game, it is a very seamless way to integrate the product into the gaming experience.
Rhythm City RP
Lifetime Visits: 5,071,686
February Visits: 5,071,686
Not only did the NFL launch its own new game, but they also partnered with Warner Music Group for a Super Bowl halftime concert featuring Saweetie with Warner Music Group's Rhythm City RP. This roleplaying game is also sponsored by Intuit, whose logo features prominently through the map, including at "Intuit Stadium."
UGC virtual fashion and merchandise are available for sale within the game as well as in the Roblox avatar shop. But looking at the amount of favorites the items have, it looks like they are not performing well.
While this game was created by a music label, and the description mentions music being available, I did not notice any music playing at all while playing the game, which was both surprising and disappointing.
Free UGC & Paid Advertising Fuel H&M Growth
H&M Looptopia
Lifetime Visits: 3,301,901
February Visits: 2,527,150
After getting off to a very slow start, apparel retailer H&M produced stronger results in the month of February. How did they drive over 2.5 million visits to their experience? They released free UGC virtual clothing and aggressively spent on paid ads within Roblox.
When I was on Roblox, I would often see H&M ads like this...
It will be interesting to see how H&M's experience performs next month, and I'm curious whether they will continue to invest in paid ads to drive traffic.
Korean Convenience Store Enters Top 20
Work Together! GS25
Lifetime Visits: 7,872,402
February Visits: 1,605,619
It's always cool when a new brand breaks into this list, especially a brand that I've never heard of before. That's the case here with GS25, a Korean convenience store chain.
There's a lot to like about this game, including the cool design of the store with so much detail, including a variety of snacks, including Pringles, which instantly made me hungry.
Within the game, players role play as store employees such as a cashier or clerk. The game is actually harder to figure out than I expected, which had the effect of making me want to spend more time figuring out how to play. It was made by Pond Studio, which also made the Hyundai Mobility Adventure.
Top Industries Finding Success
Not every company across every industry needs to create a branded Roblox games. But here are the industries that are most active as well as seeing the most success reaching young, global audiences via Roblox:
Entertainment: 6
Sonic the Hedgehog, Warrior Cats, Hello Kitty, Miraculous, Ben 10, Sesame Street Mecha Builders
Apparel: 5
Alo Yoga, Vans, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, H&M
Sports: 3
NFL (2 times), Australian Open
Music: 2
Warner Music Group, The Chainsmokers
Toys: 2
Squishmallows, NERF
What industries and trends are most interesting to you? Leave a comment, and let us know!
Stephen Dypiangco is the CEO of Metaverse Marcom, a strategy and consulting firm helping entertainment and sports brands enter the metaverse.