In advance of next month’s World Cup, FIFA has partnered with Roblox to create a free-to-access digital environment, FIFA World, that will host video content, social spaces and activities for users to earn rewards and collectibles.
FIFA World is intended to be a communal gathering space in the metaverse for experiencing events like the men’s World Cup in Qatar and the 2023 women’s World Cup, which will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand beginning in July. The new FIFA+ library will provide the video used within the digital space, and updates for new content are promised, such as virtual kits from participating national teams.
Two young stars — 19-year-old Pedro "Pedri" González, who plays for Barcelona FC and Spain, as well as 20-year-old Lena Oberdorf of VfL Wolfsburg and the German women’s national team — will be ambassadors of FIFA World and make appearances.
At SBJ’s Brand Innovation Summit in June, Roblox head of sports partnerships Hayden Walling said that the platform had more than 50 million monthly active users and that 44% of experiences are played with a friend, describing sports leagues’ opportunity within Roblox as “almost blue sky in the fact that you can almost build anything. You have an out-of-the box social network that's 3D with a very engaged audience that wants to discover things.”
In a recent study from Momentum Worldwide, sports fan surveyed cited video games Roblox and Fortnite as being the "metaverse" platforms they're most likely to have used over the past month. The NFL, Wimbledon tennis, Nike, and Dick’s Sporting Goods have all launched virtual worlds on Roblox over the past year where users can access digital merchandise for their avatars.
