Tag: Roblox

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Tim Hortons celebrates National Coffee Day with a Roblox game

Following Walmart, Tim Hortons has hopped the metaverse bandwagon via Roblox.

The company announced on September 29th, that it is celebrating National Coffee Day with a new Roblox game, alongside the launch of limited-edition Tims Run Club apparel IRL (in-real-life).

The Roblox Tim Horton game is called the Tims Speed Run challenge, and is essentially an obstacle course with all things Tims that actually looks fun. Only if it awarded real Tim points would it be deemed perfect.

Players would have to run through the course while avoiding or jumping over “mountain-sized” Tims coffees, hopping across spinning donuts and bagels, dodging Timbit boulders, and picking up golden coffee beans for bonus points, all while carrying a tray of Tims. We’ve all been there.

There apparently is also an in-game TimShop, where users can redeem the coins they’ve won/collected  “for exclusive wearables, items & merch.” There’s even a badge called ‘Tims Trendsetter’ that gets awarded to you when you purchase “three Tims merchandise items from the shop.”

Learn more about the experience in Roblox here.

Image credit: Roblox

Source: Tim Hortons

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Mobile Syrup

Walmart releases two metaverse experiences in Roblox

Earlier this year, a Walmart metaverse video went viral that showed how Walmart imagines the future of grocery shopping to be. The video in question was made back in 2017, and its sole purpose was to impress influencers at SXSW (South by Southwest Festival) and get an edge over the competition by showing off a virtual shopping experience.

Walmart never implemented this vision — that is, until now.

The multinational retailer has revealed two metaverse worlds developed in the game Roblox: Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play.

The reveal trailer shows the virtual world as having a blimp, an island with clothing, a swimming area, and some sort of mini-games. According to CNBC News, the islands also feature a music festival area and a “Verch” (Virtual Merchandise) area. Get a load of that.

The virtual worlds are aimed at the younger audience and would serve as “a testing ground for Walmart as it considers moves in the metaverse and beyond,” said William White, Walmart’s chief marketing officer, in a statement given to CNBC News.

“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?” said White. “That’s what we’re trying to accomplish here.”

It’s worth noting that Walmart currently won’t make any money off of the virtual worlds, but it surely is a good tactic to attract young shoppers, who would see the virtual store and the “Verch” it has to offer and might be persuaded to ask their parents to buy them something from the retailer, be it in-store or online.

CNBC News does note that Walmart could make money from the virtual worlds in the future by charging brands to be included in its metaverse as a type of advertisement or source of visibility.

Check out the retailer’s Roblox metaverse trailer below:

Image credit: Walmart

Source: @WalmartInc Via: CNBC News

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Mobile Syrup

Roblox bans developer behind game claiming to feature Kim Kardashian’s sex tape

Roblox, a children’s video game most adults (like myself) don’t understand, was featured in a rather negative way during the premiere of The Kardashians on Disney+’s Star.

In the premiere episode of The Kardashians, Kim Kardashian’s six-year-old son, Saint West, finds an ad for a Roblox game on their iPad that claims to feature unreleased footage of her 2007 sex tape. Though many assumed this was a very dark publicity stunt on the family’s part to promote the new iteration of their popular reality show, it appears that wasn’t the case.

In a statement to several publications (via The Verge), a Roblox spokesperson said the following:

“The referenced video was never available on our platform — we have strict moderation and policies to protect our community, including zero tolerance for sexual content of any kind which violates our Community Rules. The text reference to the tape that got around our filters was quickly taken down and fortunately visible only to an extremely small number of people on the platform. We also swiftly took down the associated experience and banned the community developer involved with the incident.” 

During the episode, Kardashian says that, “This all started earlier at the barbecue. It was clickbait insinuating that if you click on it, there was gonna be a new sex tape coming out.”

“Had my son been a bit older and been able to read, like, I would’ve been mortified, but I.. died inside,” Kardashian continues. Kardashian then goes on to say that she has “all the time, all the money, and all of the resources to burn them [Roblox] all to the fucking ground.” She also calls Kanye West, her former husband, to discuss the incident.

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the already very popular game creation title skyrocketed in user numbers. Roblox is free-to-play with in-game purchases via Robux. The title currently has over 164 million active users.

Via: The Verge