Walmart Debuts Virtual Experience on Roblox to Spotlight Community Creators

Walmart launched a new virtual experience on the online gaming platform Roblox.

Walmart Discovered lets users ages 13 and older discover virtual items and creators, according to a Tuesday (Sept. 26) press release. It also allows those developers to sell virtual items with Robux, Roblox’s native currency.

“As we began to craft this experience, we listened to our growing community on the platform and found that they were seeking easier ways to discover experiences and virtual items,” Walmart Chief Marketing Officer William White said in the release.

The platform, he added in the release, gives users a new way to “find their thing” by discovering games, experiences and virtual items picked as “best” by the community.

“Through this new nomination system, Walmart Discovered will spotlight 300+ community creators, from digital fashion designers to experience developers, over the next four months,” White said in the release.

Walmart first teamed with Roblox last year with the debut of its Walmart Land and Universe of Play immersive experiences.

“Roblox is one of the fastest growing and largest platforms in the metaverse, and we know our customers are spending loads of time there,” White said at the time.

Walmart eventually shut down Universe of Play six months after its launch, although the retailer said it always aimed to discontinue the experience.

Several retailers have pulled back from the metaverse after their initial investment in the virtual realm.

“While it’s never been clear whether brands and retailers were ever truly welcome in the metaverse, or if it was just an intrusion into a space meant for pure entertainment and disassociation from the real world, it seems the investments retailers have made have not paid off,” PYMNTS wrote in April.

Among them was Disney, which shuttered the unit that was working on developing next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences for its metaverse strategies.

However, while media attention has shifted away from the metaverse, retailers insist consumers’ interaction with the space is ongoing. Among them is fashion brand Ralph Lauren.

“We are investing in the metaverse,” Ralph Lauren CEO Patrice Louvet said in August. “We want to be where our consumer is. And that’s where the younger population is. That’s where they want to engage with brands like us.”

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