Gamefam, a metaverse media firm for Gen Z and Alpha communities, mentioned in its second annual report that its branded campaigns on Roblox and Fortnite have exceeded 2.7 billion model engagements in 2024.
The State of Manufacturers on Roblox and Fortnite report famous that Gamefam, which makes video games on Roblox and Fortnite, is the No. 1 fastest-growing non-public firm within the media trade in 2024, in keeping with the Inc. 5,000 listing. And it’s sport portfolio has surpassed 45 billion gameplay classes to this point.
Gamefam continued to guide with their growth of fan-favorite standalone model video games, holding declare to 5 of the highest 15 model video games of all time on Roblox. Throughout the 12 months, Gamefam’s Sonic Velocity Simulator turned the primary model sport ever on Roblox to cross a billion visits, mentioned Joe Ferencz, CEO of GamesBeat, in an interview with GamesBeat.
“It was an enormous development 12 months for the corporate. Our portfolio is now at 64 million each day visits, together with both possession or unique partnerships with a set of the highest 25 video games on Roblox,” Ferencz mentioned. “In order that’s been actually thrilling to see that occur, and the rationale why is that our stay ops practices and our model partnerships enterprise are extraordinarily engaging to high Roblox builders to collaborate with.”
He added, “We’ve been in a position to join not solely our personal portfolio, but additionally a partnership portfolio that extends into the tens of tens of millions of each day visits and tens of tens of millions of DAU in order that’s been actually thrilling.”
With Roblox and Fortnite exploding in recognition and their corresponding rise in significant promoting and advertising and marketing alternatives, 2024 proved to be an important 12 months for manufacturers, Hollywood studios and expertise to assume strategically and leverage these platforms to have interaction youthful generations.
As model entrepreneurs turn into extra accustomed to activating on Roblox and Fortnite, Gamefam has led the cost in serving to them shift their pondering from simply displaying as much as constructing applications that generate measurable scale and influence.
On the identical time, Gamefam continued to generate return-on-investment for manufacturers with customized integrations and activations inside its portfolio of the most well-liked Roblox and Fortnite video games that keep huge participant bases, producing 2.7 billion model engagements in 2024 through this strategy.
Ferencz mentioned the integrations can take plenty of types. With Ubisoft, Gamefam partnered to place the French sport firm’s Brawlhalla into standard Gamefam video games. That ensures {that a} sure dimension of viewers will discover the model integraiton, compared to beginning a model new sport.
“We have now 5 of the highest 15 Roblox video games of all time, so we advise few manufacturers to make a standalone sport,” Ferencz mentioned. “Roblox continues to be a comparatively small income stream by international gaming requirements for particular person video games. Your complete payout pool for roadblocks will in all probability hit $1 billion to builders this 12 months. It’s extremely levered to the top-end video games, and with a $1 billion payout pool whole that’s nonetheless considerably smaller than any of the highest particular person cellular free to play video games.”
He added, “So we’re advising online game corporations: It is advisable be on Roblox, however you want right now to just remember to’re driving again to your core enterprise streams whereas beginning to consider how Roblox could be a income producing platform in its present setup for you over the following 5 years.”
Gamefam’s strategic imaginative and prescient for manufacturers and ensuing success have led to a sea change with over 400 manufacturers activating on Roblox to this point, practically doubling final 12 months’s whole and displaying a 560% enhance from 2022. Equally, Fortnite noticed huge model curiosity with a 330% enhance since 2022 within the variety of manufacturers that created video games or integrations on Fortnite.
“Roblox and Fortnite are the popular media platforms for Gen Z & Alpha, and types have to have a metaverse technique in an effort to retain and achieve cultural relevance with the youthful generations,” mentioned Ferencz. “With over half a billion month-to-month energetic customers throughout Roblox and Fortnite, the time for manufacturers to be on these platforms is now or they danger falling behind the opponents who’re transferring shortly to determine share of voice, thoughts and coronary heart with at present’s most respected customers and followers.”
Gamefam’s 2024 achievements
Topping the Charts and Reaching New Milestones with Hit Roblox Video games: Gamefam was the developer and operator behind 4 of the highest 10 model video games on Roblox (by whole visits in 2024) together with Mattel’s Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon (No. 1 model sport on Roblox in 2024), SEGA’s Sonic Velocity Simulator (No. 2 in 2024, No. 1 model sport on Roblox of all time), Paramount’s SpongeBob Simulator (No. 8 in 2024), and Paramount’s TMNT Battle Tycoon (No. 9 in 2024).
Maximizing Cultural Moments (just like the Tremendous Bowl) Via Roblox: Constructing on the Tremendous Bowl LVII success (No. 1 Roblox live performance of all time), Gamefam once more partnered with the NFL and introduced them along with Paramount to launch a five-game Tremendous Bowl LVIII quest on Roblox. The NFL and Paramount reached the following era of soccer followers as this 30-day activation turned the No. 1 multi-game model occasion on Roblox with over 75 million whole visits and 985 million minutes of brand name engagement.
Bringing the Field Workplace & Streaming to the Metaverse: Gamefam labored with studios behind motion pictures and exhibits to advertise their content material to tens of millions of gamers on Roblox and Fortnite earlier than, throughout and after their international premieres.
Particularly, Gamefam labored with Sony Photos to construct a 4-game takeover on Roblox for The Garfield Film, ensuing within the greatest multi-game film marketing campaign on Roblox with 31 million visits. Moreover, Gamefam partnered with Paramount to develop the primary playable story to advertise the brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles streaming sequence on Paramount+. Gamefam developed different distinctive integrations and experiences for all the high studios, for motion pictures together with Sony Photos’ Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Disney’s Inside Out 2 and Disney’s Moana 2.
Rocking on Roblox: Following final 12 months’s success with Saweetie’s Tremendous Bowl LVII live performance (No. 1 Roblox live performance of all time) and Cher’s vacation album launch activation, Gamefam continued to jam out with Gen Z & Alpha within the metaverse.
In 2024, Gamefam and Warner Music Group teamed up once more to carry seven-time Grammy winner Coldplay to Roblox for the primary time with a multi-game takeover to have a good time the launch of the band’s new album Moon Music. The marketing campaign resulted in 25+ million visits and 295 million minutes of brand name engagement, equal to listening to Moon Music 6.7 million occasions.
Serving to Manufacturers Obtain Scale on Roblox and Fortnite: In 2024, Gamefam labored on over 60+ campaigns and video games. Gamefam launched the primary official Roblox sport for Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants, teamed up with gaming icon and legendary streamer Ninja for his first-ever Fortnite sport takeover in Gamefam’s standard Infinite ZoneWars 2.0, and created integrations for numerous manufacturers together with Samsung, Moose Toys, Skechers, Lego, FIFA and Spin Grasp.
In recognition of the corporate’s trailblazing work, Gamefam was honored with 30+ prestigious awards in 2024. These included Nice Place to Work, Inc. 5000 (No. 1 fastest-growing non-public firm within the media trade), Quick Firm Finest Workplaces for Innovators, The Stevie Awards for Nice Employers and Deloitte Know-how Quick 500, amongst others.
In 2022, Gamefam confronted complaints about its pay and crunch from staff/contractors who had been sad, however Gamefam mentioned it has tried to handle points in bringing extra skilled practices to its workforce; it famous its Nice Place to Work survey confirmed 90% of staff mentioned this 12 months it was a terrific place to work, up from 81% the 12 months earlier than.
Gamefam and lots of of its companions had been named winners of promoting marketing campaign award applications together with the Clio Sports activities Awards (4x winner), Clio Leisure Awards (3x winner), The Drum Awards (5x winner), Webby Awards and Marketing campaign Tech Awards, amongst many others.
For the previous few years, Roblox and Fortnite have been solidified as the popular platform of selection for Gen Z and Alpha, with customers spending 144 minutes per day on Roblox in comparison with TikTok (112 minutes per day) and YouTube (70 minutes per day), in keeping with Qustodio.
This 12 months, Roblox exploded to greater than 89 million each day customers (29% enhance YoY) and was an instrumental instrument for manufacturers seeking to attain Gen Z and Alpha.
Model video games on Roblox collected over 1.4 billion visits with 15.8 billion minutes spent in these video games. That is particularly significant at a time when conventional youngsters’ TV rankings have collapsed as much as 90%.4
Whereas this house continues to be new, manufacturers are already studying about what’s working most successfully for them. In 2024, there was a shift in manufacturers constructing integrations slightly than standalone video games.
For all manufacturers, particularly IP that’s non-endemic to gaming, integrations enable them to achieve communities of tens of millions of gamers within the main video games on Roblox and Fortnite, delivering significant and energetic engagement at scale.
This 12 months, 57% of manufacturers constructed integrations, and 43% constructed standalone experiences whereas in 2023, 37% of manufacturers constructed integrations and 63% constructed standalone experiences. The 20 share level enhance in manufacturers constructing integrations proves entrepreneurs perceive activations inside standard video games ship instant worth.
Ricardo Briceno, chief enterprise officer at Gamefam, mentioned in an announcement, “The shift towards integrating into standard video games with tens of millions of each day customers, slightly than constructing standalone experiences, is sensible as a result of manufacturers are recognizing the worth of reaching gamers the place they already hang around. By embedding themselves into these vibrant communities, manufacturers not solely create significant, genuine engagement but additionally safe their long-term reference to the generations shaping at present’s tradition and tomorrow’s discretionary spend.”
Roblox had a variety of points this 12 months with mother and father complaining about baby security. By November, the corporate up to date its child-safety insurance policies and launched new tech. Ferencz mentioned his firm works to stick to all of Roblox is Phrases of Service and security compliance protocols. However he mentioned Gamefam goes farther than that by serving to the youngsters’s promoting evaluate unit so it could assist manufacturers perceive security protocols on Roblox. He’s additionally on the board of a neighborhood nonprofit in Los Angeles.
“We’re doing all the things we are able to, each in collaboration with Roblox and with our model companions to make sure we’re on the highest requirements of kids’s security,” he mentioned.
Extra Manufacturers Will Flip to Roblox and Fortnite in 2025
With greater than 1,000 whole model video games and campaigns from 500+ distinctive manufacturers showing on Roblox and Fortnite to this point, expectations for 2025 are larger than they’ve ever been. As entrepreneurs now perceive their audience-building and engagement potential, Gamefam expects to see a much bigger inflow of funding from manufacturers on these platforms.
2025 will provide a breakout alternative for sports activities properties and types which might be non-endemic to gaming throughout areas like shopper packaged items, meals and beverage, eating places and expertise, amongst others. Early predictions for the remainder of the last decade proceed to be extremely constructive, with the metaverse as a complete projected to have over 2.6 billion customers by 2030.
The recognition of Roblox and Fortnite with younger demographics imply difficulties for manufacturers in conventional areas. Ferencz mentioned that younger people are actually type of residing in inside these worlds, and so they’re not popping out for streaming movies and issues like that.
“That’s the propellant for for the manufacturers right here. In the event that they’re not participating with the brand new era, that’s that’s doom for them as a result of their model will disappear as these folks become old. For those who’re not gaining relevancy on Roblox and Fornite, you might be shedding relevancy on Roblox and Fortnite,” he mentioned.
The Roblox and Fortnite generations are essentially taking part in console video games or cellular video games as a lot. That may very well be a complete era of followers that multi-generational manufacturers like Disney are lacking out on.
“They’re watching video content material on YouTube and TikTok, and so they’re in a closed loop of UGC gaming tradition. And so we now have been captivated with serving to the manufacturers and characters and gaming corporations that we love begin to navigate and seize worth on this house,” Ferencz mentioned.
With TMNT, Gamefam made a playable cutscene and the marketing campaign generated 37 million visits. Brawlhalla was built-in with the favored TMNT sport, permitting Brawlhalla to get much more views/performs (and rewards for gamers) than it in any other case would with a model new sport.
In a marketing campaign that mixed SpongeBob with the NFL and Paramount within the first quarter of 2024, Gamefam delivered a five-game cross-platform quest that generated 350 million validated model engagements for a billion minutes of face time with Roblox gamers, Ferencz mentioned.
“We received three Golden Cleos simply this month for this marketing campaign,” he mentioned.
Expertise search
As for the expertise, Ferencz mentioned the corporate has a variety of management from sport corporations like Digital Arts and Zynga whereas it additionally has a variety of Roblox natives who grew up making Roblox video games. There are greater than 100 folks on the firm, however Ferencz doesn’t share the precise quantity.
Gamefam additionally has its new Gamefam Creator Fund that’s investing in indie Roblox growth groups. The investments from the previous six months have resulted in video games with about 8,000 concurrent gamers to this point, Ferencz mentioned.
“I feel we actually consider that with regards to authentic IP on Roblox, you can not compete with the Roblox developer group. There are simply too many sensible, motivated builders working around the globe to make issues that you’d by no means have thought to make, and that’s what powers Roblox,” he mentioned.
And if he can’t beat them, Ferencz will be part of them, typically by buying promising video games and matching them up with a model. Battle Tycoon is an effective instance of that, as Gamefam acquired it just a few years in the past and it has grown income round 800% for the reason that deal.
Predictions for 2025
Listed here are Ferencz’s scorching take predictions on how the Roblox and Fortnite will influence the advertising and marketing and media world in addition to broader tradition:
“Roblox will turn into equally essential to YouTube and TikTok for Hollywood film advertising and marketing, particularly as in-game integrations like Fandango begin providing a direct buy funnel with robust measurable influence.”
“2025 will probably be when in-game promoting on Roblox turns into vital piece of the media plan for each Fortune 100 model seeking to attain Gen Z and Gen Alpha customers.”
“Roblox will break 500 million month-to-month energetic customers in 2025, on its technique to 1+ billion by 2030.”
“In 2025, a number of of the large 4 US sports activities leagues (NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL) will use Roblox or Fortnite to interrupt main information in regards to the league, its groups and/or gamers.”
“By 2026, Fortnite’s Disney platform will turn into a high three digital leisure expertise for six to 12 12 months olds.”
“An authentic IP born from Roblox will turn into a blockbuster animated movie by 2030, alongside attire, toys and different IRL spinoffs.”
“Entrepreneurs are realizing Roblox and Fortnite methods are mandatory to achieve new, younger audiences in energetic methods, which is far more efficient than the passive advertising and marketing we’re used to seeing,” he added. “Metaverse gaming isn’t a fad, and it’s not going to cease with Roblox and Fortnite… we now have our eyes on platforms like All over the place and Horizon Worlds as the following frontier for Gen Z and Alpha engagement. With Gamefam’s experience and high portfolio in metaverse gaming, we’re in one of the best place to ship distinctive and fascinating model experiences with huge scale and groundbreaking IP collaborations.”
