How to Leverage the Platform to Connect and Build a Digital Community for Your Brand What is Discord? Discord is the premier community-building platform for digital natives with massive scale and reach: 150 Million Monthly Active Users 19 Million Active Servers per Week 4 Billion Server Conversation Minutes Daily Source: About Discord | Our Mission and Values Approximately 563 million registered users Source: Discord global registered users 2023 | Statista Source: How Instagram, Discord, and other social media platforms balance teen attention Discord is not a typical social media platform, but instead, the most popular Instant messaging and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform made for people to hang out and communicate with friends or groups of similar interests through text or voice chat, share memes and screenshots, stream content, and most importantly build community via their Server. A Discord Server is meant for users to grow connections and relationships with people of similar interests and provide an ongoing dialogue with each other instead of posting content and gaining followers like social media apps. The platform is the perfect space for brands to empower the community to drive conversations on popular topics to create long-term, meaningful advocates and fans. Who uses Discord? Most Discord users are between 25 and 34, making up 42.4% of its users, and 16 to 24 years account for 22.2% of users. As for gender, males dominate the user base at 65.5%, while the female population makes up the remaining 34.5%. The average age of a Discord user is 16 years old. Source: The Latest Discord Statistics: Servers, Revenue, Data, and More For comparison: Twitch is 65% Male / 35% Female Twitch Statistics (2023) Twitter is 64.3% Male / 35.7% Female Twitter Digital Insights Reddit is 63% male / 32% female Reddit Statistics Geographically, the United States takes the lead in account creation, coming in with 244.5 million users - equivalent to 27% of Discord’s global traffic. Beyond the U.S Brazil holds second place with 115.9 million users or 12.8%, Russia with 39.9 million users or 4.4%, India at 38.4 million users (4.24%), and The UK with 34.8 million or 3.85%. Source: Discord Users by Country 2023 Why Do People Use Discord? Unlike most social platforms, Discord is less about the server’s owner posting content pieces and the interaction from it and more focused on communication and community building. Discord is free to use, making it one of the most popular online communication methods. It offers its users various features like voice, video, and text chat, making it one of the most popular online communication methods. It does have a premium paid model to upgrade user accounts as well as support the various servers a user joins. Discord is a great place for users to have smaller group messages, belong to servers that relate to their interests/hobbies, partake in Q&As/topic discussions, watch and host streams, and more! Although Discord has been previously known as a chat platform for just gamers, it features an array of chat servers covering a wide range of topics as technology to fandoms like MrBeast or WWE. The most popular tags are Gaming, Anime, Community, Chill, Roleplay, Social, Fun, Minecraft, and Friendly. Using Discord for Your Brand: Overview Discord allows your brand to build and empower your community by focusing on shared interests in addition to brand passion. Brand-Focused Engagement: Tailoring interactions and content to reinforce brand identity and values within the Discord community, fostering a sense of loyalty and connection among members. Interest-Focused Engagement: Emphasizing shared interests beyond the brand itself, creating a space where community members can connect over common hobbies or activities. The platform offers tools that enable your brand advocates to gain access to the exact content they are inspired to discuss or absorb, with special community roles as rewards for participation. General Discussions Brand Updates & News Activation Promotion & Community Involvement Fan Art Your community then has opportunities to have stratified discussions in real-time, by voice or text: Live Discussions: Watch Parties: Livestreams: Using Discord for Your Brand: Brand Features & Marketing Benefits Discord should be used to a brand's advantage by creating long-lasting relationships vs. one-off engagements through likes and interactions on social platforms. Discord is a great platform option for brands since there are an infinite number of ways to utilize the platform. A brand can launch anytime, creating always-on conversations and topics for users, or they can use it to promote and start conversations around upcoming events or product releases. The more a brand uses the platform to welcome an audience and reward them with value, the stronger that community will become. The goal, of course, is once your server grows, there will always be an exchange organically through your brand advocates, so just like a social media platform, it is essential to have a marketing plan on how you plan to gain foot traffic to your server. Brand Features Members can join Discord for free–at no cost to you or your audience Ability to segment like-minded buyers with server channels Your brand can share pictures/posts and encourage interaction among your customers. Your server is a central location for all your audience members to stay connected to each other and your brand. Servers may be upgraded via Nitro, allowing for more enticing engagement like animated “Super Reactions” Marketing Benefits Optimize your audience engagement rate Share industry news and brand updates Share new products Answer customers’ questions Give customers more reasons to share branded content Host live events to engage with community members Analytics and Insights Discord provides server analytics and activity data, offering brands insights into user engagement, trends, and Country and age demographics. The populated data can help brands improve their marketing strategies and better optimize how they connect with their audiences. Examples of what can be measured include: Average Visitors Average Communicators Average New Members Average 1 Week Retention % Invite Statistics All numbers are plotted against Discord’s benchmark of 30% communicators as a goal. Brands should aim for about 50% of your members visiting, with 50% of those visitors being active communicators of your server. In addition to server logs, brands can host Q&As and put out polls to further enhance their marketing efforts on Discord. Conclusion The power of Discord allows your audience to have a 1:1 relationship with the brand and form relationships with other like-minded and passionate individuals with shared brand affinity. Unlike other social platforms, Discord offers a unique approach for brands to connect and grow their audience by starting and encouraging conversations that stretch far beyond a standard social post. Super League can help properly position your brand on Discord and leverage the platform to successfully consult on strategy and help launch your channel. Sources: Bank my Cell: “Discord Users: How Many People Use Discord?” Aug 2023) Influencer Marketing Hub June 2023 Movement Strategy: “How Can Brands Use Discord” June 2022 Peer-to-Peer Marketing; “Discord Marketing: How to Use Discord for Insane Growth” 2023 Business of Apps 2023 Influencer Marketing Hub June 2023 “Top 20 Servers” Workflow 2023 "Discord – Everything You Need to Know" Discord “Understanding Server Insights” Discord “341: Understanding Your Community Through Insights” About Discord | Our Mission and Values Discord surpasses 500M downloads, as engagement doubles Twitch, TikTok 2022 How Instagram, Discord, and other social media platforms balance teen attention 2023 The Latest Discord Statistics: Servers, Revenue, Data, and More, 2023 Twitch Statistics (2023) Twitter Digital Insights 2023 Reddit Statistics 2022 Discord Users by Country 2023

It’s been a groundbreaking week in the metaverse: From the Super Bowl tackling Roblox, to an EA Sports metaverse in the works. Lastly, Roblox sees its first TV adaptation! Let’s dive in: Super Bowl Makes a Touchdown in Roblox The Big Game may be happening on TV this Sunday, but it will also be in the metaverse! The NFL is launching Super Bowl events in collaboration with multiple games on Roblox like SpongeBob Simulator, TMNT Battle Tycoon and Easy Obby. They will have football themed challenges to celebrate and bring awareness of the Super Bowl to the younger generation. This expands upon the work they did last year - a massively successful Super Bowl concert hosted by Saweetie on Roblox. Along with the game events mentioned above, the NFL will livestream a SpongeBob themed Super Bowl on Nickelodeon. Read More EA Sports Metaverse in the Works Speaking of sports, it’s possible there will be an EA Sports metaverse in our near future. CEO, Andrew Wilson, was asked in an earnings call if they would consider merging all their properties into one metaverse. He said to “watch this space” voicing support for a potential hub to bring their over 700 million players together. This could be years away from becoming a reality but EA fans are psyched! Read More Roblox Game to be Adapted to TV Show The metaverse is crossing platforms again with the first TV show based on a Roblox game! The popular RPG, Momoguro, developed by Baobab Studios is being adapted to an animated children's series described as “Pokemon meets Voltron.” This marks an exciting step for IP made within Roblox coming to TV, movies and beyond. Read More Those are the biggest stories of the week, all of which involve crossing platforms - whether from virtual to television, or console to metaversal. It’s clear that spaces like Roblox are filled with multi-medial potential, generating IP that can be adapted into other formats. From the Super Bowl making synergistic gaming events to a game within Roblox becoming adapted to television. On the gaming side, EA Sports has dominated console gaming, but there is clearly interest in bringing it to the metaverse as well. Come back next week to hear about more developments like this!

The metaverse consistently demonstrates that it’s a place for reaching milestones, and this week was no different. From The Littlest Pet Shop joining Roblox with great success, to Epic games making a triumphant return to iOS. Last but not least, we check in with Fortnite’s rapidly growing creator community. Let’s get into it: The Littlest Pet Shop in Roblox Pet games tend to do very well on Roblox, like Pet Simulator and Adopt Me. Now a new game is joining the fray. Ahead of popular toy brand Littlest Pet Shop’s relaunch, they built an experience of the same name in Roblox. In just a month, the game has had over 2 million unique visits and a 91% approval rating. This success has translated to sold out pre-sales of their physical Generation 7 toy line. Players seem to love collecting their bobble headed animal pals so be sure to try it out now! Read More Epic Games Coming Back to iOS Epic Games has announced plans to relaunch their store in iOS, which means Fortnite will become available on the iPhone! Until now, Apple’s strict rules have made it difficult for third parties to sell their games on the App store. For over three years, Epic Games was banned by Apple for sneaking third-party in-app payments which was against their rules. All of this is changing due to the Digital Markets Act put into effect by the European Union. This piece of legislation should limit top tech companies like Apple and Meta from having a monopoly on social media platforms and app stores. While this change is only occurring in the E.U. for now, we could see this happening stateside as companies like Epic battle Apple for the right to sell on their devices. Read More Fortnite Creative Sees Massive Growth with UEFN Continuing with Fortnite news, it’s been less than a year since Fortnite launched UEFN - its updated tools for Fortnite Creative Islands. The amount of growth since then has been massive. In just 7 months, Fortnite went from having around 2000 creators to over 17,000. On average 400-500 maps are being built every single day. Of these maps, the most popular are combat based; so brands who are planning on building islands in the game should take that into consideration. Overall, the introduction of UEFN has encouraged major engagement from creators, but are there enough players to support the ecosystem? Read More Those are the highlights of this week in the metaverse: Roblox continues to be a great place for toy brands and animal based content. Epic Games’ reach will only grow more as its app store becomes available to iPhone users in the E.U. And finally, Fortnite’s creator base expanded exponentially since the launch of UEFN. If that growth was from just seven months, imagine the growth we’ll see by the end of the year! Make sure to keep checking in so we can share these exciting updates with you every week.

We’re thrilled to introduce Super League’s latest product, now available to all of our partners - a pioneering Loyalty and Reward platform for gamers! Launched initially for the Roblox community of 70mm Daily Active Users, brands and IP owners can now build deeper engagement and affinity programs by offering exclusive benefits and rewards connected to user activity and gameplay. We’re grateful to our partners at Hamilton for supporting the platform’s launch as part of our keynote at the 2024 Seg3 conference in Los Angeles on Monday. By completing interactive tasks connected to Hamilton Simulator on Roblox, event attendees were entered into a raffle for a chance to win tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway. Tying Roblox actions to real-world rewards through a turnkey platform is another exciting extension of Super League’s leading product suite, in this case, originating with our acquisition in 2023 of Melon Studios. Melon developed the first - and still largest ever - on-to-off Roblox solution through a ground-breaking partnership with Chipotle. The Chipotle Boortio campaign achieved 130,000 free burrito loyalty code redemptions from Roblox users in just 24 hours, leading to at the time the largest day of mobile app downloads in Chipotle’s history. Super League’s President and CCO, Matt Edelman, introduced our latest innovation to Seg3 attendees, “Roblox is the largest immersive platform in the world where young consumers spend the largest amount of average daily time. For brands and IP owners, the Roblox user base represents an incredible source of potential advocates and new customers. Our loyalty and reward solution ensures that companies who choose to invest in their presence on Roblox have an even greater opportunity to achieve a measurable, real-world business outcome from that investment.” Continued Success on Roblox The Hamilton Rewards page comes off of the successful launch of the Hamilton Simulator in Roblox, which has racked up an impressive 4.3 Million visits since its launch last April. The Hamilton Rewards page comes off of the successful launch of the Hamilton Simulator in Roblox, which has racked up an impressive 4.3 Million visits since its launch last April. The game has hooked players since its launch, maintaining a 96% rating, and most recently, earned itself a Silver Clio in the experiential category of live entertainment!

The metaverse is a wonderful place for integrating IP and engaging players new and old. This week we saw examples of this with SpongeBob launching a game on Roblox, a new platform for NFTs called Nifty Island, and the expansion of Fortnite into open world mode. Read on for more details: SpongeBob Now On Roblox A pineapple just appeared under the sea in Roblox…that’s right, everyone’s favorite sponge has arrived! In honor of the 25th anniversary of Spongebob Squarepants the television show, Gamefam and Paramount are launching a game experience on January 26th. “SpongeBob Simulator” is a collecting game where players can explore Bikini Bottom and transform into characters like SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward! While several console games based on SpongeBob’s IP have launched over the years, this is the first official foray the show has made into Roblox. Read More Fortnite Open World Mode Coming Soon In Fortnite news, a new leak released sharing details about an upcoming open world mode. While rumors of this mode have been swirling around since 2021, it’s looking closer to a reality. Currently codenamed “Arnold,” the world will feature new biomes, wildlife and vehicles! There will also be plenty of characters to interact with from friendly NPCs to henchmen to bosses. Still no word on the official release date but the code suggests we could see this mode as early as the end of this season! Read More New NFT Platform Nifty Island Launches A new platform is joining the metaverse called Nifty Island! It’s a web3 gaming platform for NFT users so they can interact in a communal space similar to Roblox. Partnering with popular NFT projects like Azuki, Moonbirds, and Bored Ape Yacht Club, it should be an accessible hub for all enthusiasts. Players will be able to use their NFT avatars to participate in blockchain games and construct their own islands. The open beta just went live on January 17th so if you’re into NFTs, check it out! In time, we’ll have to see if Nifty Island can draw as much engagement as Roblox. Read More As you can see, the metaverse is a perfect space to introduce existing IP like SpongeBob Squarepants having a game experience on Roblox. It can also be a space where you can take IP like NFTs and give them more functionality and personality. Lastly, Fortnite is the king of integrating IP from LEGO to My Hero Academia, by developing an open world mode there will be countless more opportunities to bring other IP in.

There was a lot of exciting news out of CES last weekend, let’s go over some of the biggest developments in the metaverse! From a new musical VR platform, to Tripadvisor’s virtual tourist destinations and last but not least, Sony’s new mixed reality headset. Let’s go over the details: Soundscape to Release New Music Platform Soundscape debuted a VR music platform allowing fans to experience performances from their favorite artists and DJs like Deadmau5, Slash and Evanescence. With worlds built using Unreal Engine 5, users will feel like they are attending a virtual music festival. They’ll be able to explore, interact, and dance using their own avatar. Soundscape will be available on Steam for VR and PC on January 23rd so be sure to try it out for yourself! Read More Tripadvisor Taking On Virtual Tourism Tripadvisor is one of the latest companies entering the metaverse, with plans to release their own experience later this year. Booking a trip to an unknown destination can be stressful, but what if you could “try-before-you-buy”? In partnership with developer MeetKai, they will build virtual replicas of popular destinations across the world like Paris, Dubai, New York City, Chicago, and the Bahamas. The hope is to democratize travel for everyone allowing people to experience international attractions like the Eiffel Tower first in the metaverse. The project should launch later this year. Read More Sony Announces First Mixed-Reality Headset Sony debuted a new standalone mixed-reality headset to rival the Apple Vision Pro. Like the latter, Sony’s focus is geared toward content creators and professionals. The headset features micro-OLED displays, 4K resolution per eye and a convenient flip-top design. The gadget won’t be available until later this year and so far there’s no word on the price. Here’s hoping they can beat Apple’s astronomic $3499 price point! Read More Based on these developments at CES, we’ve noticed several trends: It looks like music is increasingly being used as a way to attract people to the metaverse, from Fortnite Festival to Soundscape. Travel and hospitality-based companies like Tripadvisor and Marriott Bonvoy are dipping their toes into the metaverse by creating virtual twins of real-world locations. Lastly, Sony and Apple are designing gadgets to help build in the 3D internet, encouraging more innovation in the space. Come back next week for more news from the metaverse!

It’s a brand new year, let’s see what exciting things are in store for the metaverse in 2024. The popular fictional metaverse, Ready Player One will soon become a reality. Walmart expands its ecommerce functionality, and Fortnite decides to embrace cozy gaming! Let’s dive in: A Ready Player One Metaverse Ready Player One was a massively successful book and movie in the 2010s, introducing the idea of the metaverse to a global audience. Now the developer, Futureverse, along with Warner Brothers Discovery, are taking it out of 2D and making your virtual dreams a reality! With the backing of a major studio behind it, the possibilities for IP integration are endless. The Readyverse won’t be available until later this year so details are sparse, but fingers crossed it comes with a Delorean! Read More You Can Buy From Walmart Anywhere You’ll soon be able to shop for real physical items from Walmart in over 20 games and platforms! This is a groundbreaking development in ecommerce because it’ll allow people to make purchases within the immersive experience without having to leave. In partnership with game engine maker Unity, developers will be able to integrate the shopping tool with their future projects. So far Walmart has tested this functionality in three games: House Flip, Avakin Life and Zepeto. Players were able to order items for pickup or delivery within the game ecosystem. Read More Fortnite Ventures Into Cozy Gaming Fortnite continues to expand its platform with games like Fortnite Festival, Rocket Racing and Lego Fortnite! In a TechCrunch interview with Saxs Persson, the VP of Epic Games, he alluded to branching out even more to offer experiences for every player out there. This includes stepping out of its Battle Royale stereotype to cozy games like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. With the advent of UEFN, we may see more user-generated content in that vein as well. It seems Fortnite is ready to dominate the gaming space by fitting every genre and play experience possible. Read More Conclusion: Already, it’s shaping up to be an exciting, boundary breaking year for the metaverse. With Ready Player One taking its fictional metaverse into the real virtual world, players have another platform to look forward to exploring. Walmart’s new ecommerce integration opens up the possibility for brands outside of Walmart to sell physical merchandise virtually. Lastly, Fortnite is expanding its universe by stretching its platform to fit numerous types of games and playstyles. It will be interesting to see how these platforms look by the end of the year. Come back next week for another installment of Metaburst!

The partnership between Super League, Roblox, and Samsung led to the highly successful Samsung Superstar Galaxy event, headlined by Charli XCX's groundbreaking concert. Roblox's inclusive platform attracted millions, while Samsung's strategic showcase connected with tech-savvy audiences. Charli XCX's virtual concert, drawing 9.7 million visits, crowned the event's success, highlighting Roblox and Samsung's immersive experience. This achievement solidifies Super League's leadership in impactful livestreams, setting a high standard for future collaborations in the metaverse. The collaboration among Super League, Roblox, and Samsung culminated in the highly successful Samsung Superstar Galaxy event, featuring a groundbreaking concert by pop sensation Charli XCX. Super League's expertise in livestreaming and broadcast services, spanning nearly a decade, ensured a visually captivating and globally engaging experience. Roblox, known for its user-generated content and diverse gameplay, provided the perfect stage for this event. Its inclusive platform attracted millions, fostering social interaction and community engagement, setting the scene for an unforgettable digital spectacle. Samsung's strategic alignment with the esports industry found resonance in this collaboration. Through showcasing their cutting-edge gaming products on Roblox's vibrant stage, Samsung connected with tech-savvy audiences, achieving brand exposure and recognition. Janet Lee, Senior Vice President of Mobile eXperience at Samsung Electronics America, encapsulated the event's essence, stating, "We're offering fans a social experience that brings together creativity, music, and entertainment in a way that's unique for Samsung and Roblox." The crowning achievement of this collaboration was the virtual concert by Charli XCX, drawing over 9.7 million visits, 17,000 upvotes, and 65,000 favorites. The event reached its peak with Charli XCX's virtual concert, embodying the event's appeal. Her words resonated with millions, recognizing Roblox and Samsung for providing an immersive experience: "The partnership is one that will give my community the access and ability to experience me in ways they previously have not been able to, which is extremely exciting!" The event's groundbreaking nature and Charli XCX's mesmerizing virtual concert drew widespread acclaim, propelling it to a nomination for the "Best Metaverse Performance" category in the prestigious MTV Music Awards. This success solidifies Super League's position as a leader in delivering impactful livestreams with trusted brands. Their expertise in guiding, executing, and analyzing metaverse experiences sets a benchmark for future collaborations.

In an unprecedented convergence of gaming prowess, three industry titans - Super League Gaming, Hyundai, and APEX Legends - orchestrated a trilogy of esports spectacles known as the Super League Arena. This groundbreaking all-pro tournament not only redefined Super League Gaming's trajectory but also enraptured audiences with its high-stakes clashes and enthralling narratives. With juggernaut teams like Team Liquid and Cloud 9 in the fray, the Arena mesmerized legions of viewers, keeping them on the edge of their seats throughout the thrilling contests. Hyundai's enthusiastic sponsorship served as a testament to the triumph of this exhilarating event, signaling a promising future for gaming's grand extravaganzas! In the wake of three exhilarating months, Super League Arena, a groundbreaking collaboration among three prominent companies, concluded its triumphant trilogy of livestreamed events sponsored by Hyundai. Seamlessly merging the prowess of Super League Gaming with the allure of APEX Legends, this tournament etched itself into esports history as a beacon of thrilling competition and strategic excellence. Super League Gaming, renowned for orchestrating amateur and semi-pro tournaments, ventured into uncharted territory with Super League Arena, a groundbreaking all-pro competition. Under the patronage of Hyundai, the tournament showcased the gaming industry's elite, captivating audiences with intense matches and riveting narratives. Andy Babb, Chief Gaming Officer at Super League Gaming, echoed palpable excitement, underscoring the significance of hosting such a colossal event. “Our collaboration with Hyundai brought together the world's premier esports teams,” he affirmed. “This tournament not only celebrates the gaming community at large but also creates unparalleled opportunities for global gameplay content.” Super League Arena, conceived to spotlight the journeys of its participants, delivered an unprecedented level of storytelling and broadcast quality. Evolving from its roots a year prior, the tournament initially catered to semi-pros before attracting the attention of professional teams, prompting an expansion into the realm of pro gaming. Hyundai's sponsorship further underscored the event's prestige, solidifying its stature as a platform for exceptional storytelling and exhilarating competition. Dominic Kallas, VP of Esports for TSM, expressed anticipation for the tournament and the involvement of their team, stating, “The Super League Arena tournament will be another great event for us. Our guys have been working hard, and I'm looking forward to seeing them continue to add to their wins.” The tournament boasted an impressive lineup of teams, featuring industry giants like Team Liquid, Spacestation Gaming, Cloud 9, 100 Thieves, and NRG. Ultimately, ESA emerged triumphant, claiming the grand prize with an outstanding 74 points. The Super League Arena captured the hearts of tens of thousands of viewers, drawing widespread acclaim and affirming Hyundai's pride in sponsoring an event that electrified APEX Legends enthusiasts worldwide. For future videogame companies and brands seeking to leverage the power of livestreams, Super League Gaming stands as a paragon of success. With a track record of delivering captivating broadcasts alongside esteemed brands like Hyundai, Super League promises an unparalleled platform to showcase thrilling gameplay, engage audiences, and forge lasting partnerships that resonate with gaming enthusiasts globally. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, Super League Gaming remains a trailblazer, offering a blueprint for unparalleled success in the realm of esports and livestreamed events.

Ahead of the holidays, it’s been a very musical week in the metaverse! The beat goes on with Cher making an appearance in Roblox! And Universal Music Group launched a new rhythm-game called Beat Galaxy. Another big story this week has Netflix expanding its gaming library! Read on for more details: Cher Believes In Roblox It may be hard to “believe” but Cher is making her metaverse debut in Roblox! Are you “strong enough” to listen to her new Christmas hits in the experience Harmony Hills? Harmony Hills has proven to be a great launching pad for artists, with previous concerts held by Saweetie and Bebe Rexha. No need to turn back time, simply visit the world for the chance to win exclusive merch based on Cher’s iconic looks! Read More New Musical Game “Beat Galaxy” The jams don’t stop there, another music based experience launched on Roblox called “Beat Galaxy”! Built off of Universal Music Group’s vast library, Beat Galaxy will be a fun way for players to discover new tunes while dashing to rhythm based games. Players will be able to interact with each other and share their favorite music. This will be another great venue for future artist takeovers! Read More Netflix Growing Its Games The metaverse may be growing with Netflix adding 86 new games to its platform. The streaming giant has been exploring the gaming space the last two years and clearly feels confident in expanding. They are also testing their games’ accessibility on television and PC, not just on mobile. With titles like Hades, Cozy Grove and Sonic Mania, could this be a new arena for brands and IP owners to play in the metaverse? We’ll see as time goes on if Netflix can compare to the likes of Roblox and Fortnite. Read More That’s the news out of the metaverse this week! It’s certainly encouraging to see big name talent like Cher putting their faith in these immersive platforms. More and more musicians are seeing how they can amplify their art to virtual audiences. It will be interesting to see how Beat Galaxy broadens those opportunities. On a more global level, Netflix growing its gaming efforts offers great potential for the metaverse as a whole. We’ll be taking the week off next week for the holiday but be sure to come back in the new year to see what the metaverse has in store!

Exciting developments are afoot this week for big toy and clothing brands, not to mention the future of shopping online! LEGO Fortnite Soars in Popularity. Lego Fortnite has quickly become the dominant game mode within Fortnite, attracting double the players of the game’s signature Battle Royale mode.  Over the weekend the sponsored title boasted 2.45 million concurrent players according to tracking site Fortnite.gg.  This number surpasses concurrent player records on Steam, excluding PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, making it a standout achievement in the gaming world, let alone the marketing realm. Read More Adidas Joins ROBLOX! Adidas has launched its iconic three-stripes sports clothing brand on the global platform Roblox, featuring pop-up stores with officially licensed digital clothing and unique outfits. Users can dress their avatars in iconic Adidas UGC, including firebird tracksuits, purchased through the Roblox Marketplace as well as several partner experiences including “Princess Dress Up Obby” and “Noob Train.”  A further Adidas collaboration with top Roblox creator Rush Bogin will see exclusive UGC collections, released weekly throughout December. Read More Worldline Launching Metaverse Shopping Hub! Worldline, a payments services provider, is expanding its virtual shopping program with the launch of the Worldline Metaverse Shopping Hub on the Spatial platform. The extension aims to provide online shops with easy entry into the metaverse marketplace. The platform, accessible through various methods, including virtual reality headsets and smartphones, offers 150 payment methods, including digital wallets, mobile payments, cards, and buy now, pay later services.  Worldline anticipates the metaverse eCommerce market to reach $2.6 trillion by the end of the decade. Read More

This week we have some electrifying stories about the latest developments in the metaverse. Eminem performs to millions in Fortnite, YouTube offers premium members some Playables, and NBA drops a new game in Roblox! Let’s dive in to the top stories: Eminem Breaks Records in Fortnite In celebration of Fortnite’s new chapter, their live “The Big Bang Event” had Eminem's virtual avatar spit fire as he performed his monster hit "Godzilla." The game’s servers were overloaded with so many players that 2.5 million moved to Twitch to watch the concert! It was an exciting moment for Fortnite and a glimpse into the future of the game. Players can look forward to LEGO, racing rockets, and musical minigames! Read More YouTube Gets Into Gaming YouTube is giving premium subscribers access to a collection of 37 arcade games! Called “Playables”, users will be able to dive into games like Angry Birds Showdown or Daily Crossword without downloads or installs. They’re testing out this feature until March 2024 and time will tell if they make it permanent. Similar platforms attempted cloud based gaming like Google’s Stadia and Amazon’s free game division to diminishing returns, but perhaps it will work better with Youtube’s consumer base. Read More NBA Dropping A New Game on Roblox NBA has partnered with Saber Interactive to bring arcade style basketball game NBA Playgrounds to Roblox! Players can take to the court for some 2-on-2 and 1-on-1 action. A tipoff for those looking to get into the game, expect to earn item boosts, new avatars, and don NBA-licensed gear from all 30 teams. Read More Those are the exciting developments out of the metaverse this week. We’re noticing a trend with Fortnite expanding its platform and the ways players can interact with it. Truly becoming a formidable rival to the likes of Roblox and Minecraft. With Youtube’s new foray into gaming, it’s possible we could see a new competitor in the ring. And Roblox, as always, stays in the game with its new branded experiences with the NBA. Check back in next week for more news out of the metaverse!