Walmart Discovered is a new Roblox-based virtual experience with a new monetization system for community creators
Image: Walmart
The world’s largest retailer Walmart has introduced the new experience on Roblox, which allows users to discover trending virtual items and creators of all sizes, while also shaping the community experience by voting for their favorite games, virtual items and experiences.
As Walmart’s growing community on the platform was seeking easier ways to discover experiences and virtual items, the company decided to launch new ways for its customers to interact in an immersive virtual world. Walmart Discover offers a new nomination system, that will spotlight over 300 community creators, from digital fashion designers to experience developers.
Over the next four months, the community members will vote for the best games, indie experiences and virtual items. The developers and creators, in turn, will be able to monetize their content through sales of their virtual items via Robux, Roblox’s native currency.
According to the results of Q1 2023, the volume of acquisition of Robux virtual currency, necessary for making purchases during the gameplay, increased by 23% year-on-year, amounting to $773 million.
The experiences and items presented on Walmart Discover are divided into a few main categories: sports, pets, racing, beauty, entertainment, etc. New departments and events will be released later this year.
Users can save virtual items or new experiences they’ve discovered to visit or buy later. They will be able to decorate and customize “their” department, for example, to showcase their avatar’s latest virtual fashion. As users nominate and discover more, they unlock the ability to upgrade the My Cart feature. The latter allows users to express themselves and navigate the experience in a customized way.
Walmart Discovered is available on Roblox.com and standard devices and platforms, including PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Amazon devices, Xbox consoles, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Access to the virtual experience is open for all customers 13+ years old.
Last year marked Walmart’s foray into the Roblox Metaverse. The company is hosting a range of virtual experiences in Roblox, including various games, a DJ booth and a Ferris wheel. Walmart Land also offers virtual merchandise products called “verch” for users’ avatars. Moreover, it was reported that Walmart has patent filings to create digital currencies, tokens and NFTs in the Metaverse space.
At that time, Walmart’s global chief technology officer Suresh Kumar confirmed Walmart’s positive stance on digital assets. In addition, he noted that “crypto will become an important part of how customers transact” for both physical and virtual goods, disrupting global payments.
