Recently, Six Flags announced their “groundbreaking metaverse experience” on Roblox, an online user-generated gaming platform. For those unfamiliar with Roblox, it’s an online video game platform that can be played on almost any device, from a web browser to a VR headset. To the casual observer, it can look a lot like Fortnite. Below the surface, however, it’s an entire virtual world.

Roblox has almost 80 million daily active users across over 5 million experiences developed by 2.6 million creators. Anyone can build an experience on Roblox. One 16-year-old has earned over $1 million on Roblox. There’s much debate about Roblox taking advantage of minors, as most never make any money. But they’re developing valuable skills that will become a requirement for success as humanity moves further into virtual reality.

Brands have been using Roblox to engage with younger consumers. In 2019, a Stockholm-based gaming studio, The Gang, started developing experiences for fashion brands on Roblox. Its Vans World skateboarding game has seen over 100 million visitors. But getting it right takes knowledge of the platform and the audience.

“Roblox users are not after a PR campaign. That’s like watching the commercials instead of the movie,” Marcus Holmström, CEO and co-founder says in an interview with Vogue Business. “Brands may believe that people are just going to come to their Roblox world because they are iconic as a brand. But even if that happens, if it’s not a good experience, they’re going to leave the area and leave a negative review.”

Many successful brand activations on Roblox are fashion-related, where users can customize their avatars with branded items like Vans sneakers, Gucci bags, or, God forbid, Crocs. Ikea recently posted ten jobs for employees to staff its Roblox store, helping customers select furniture and even serve up virtual Swedish meatballs.

Netflix just announced its Digital Theme Park dubbed “Nextworld” featuring immersive games like ‘Stranger Things: Escape from Hawkins High,’ ‘One Piece: East Blue Brawls,’ and ‘Rebel Moon: Outskirts Battles.’

Netflix’s 3D interactive spaces in “Nextworld” on Roblox feature minigames, including one inspired by competition series “Is It Cake?” and one where you can test your karate skills within the Cobra Kai Dojo. Users can go to the “Streamship” within the Roblox world to attend online events like premieres and viewing parties, including the May 17 “Jurassic World: Chaos Theory” preview, and watch daily content bites at the “Tudum Theater.”

All these brands have a significant online presence. Whether they offer their products through their own branded platforms or online stores like Amazon, consumers can purchase them from the comfort of their homes, which brings us back to Six Flags.

Six Flags has a different challenge as a location-based entertainment brand: trying to use Roblox to drive traffic to their parks. Kids these days (I sound like my grandfather) are more inclined to hang out at home and spend virtual Robux with friends online than spend a hundred real bucks to stand in line for hours to ride a few rides at an amusement park.

Six Flags partnered with DigitalTwin Studio, the creators of Coastercoin. Users can collect these virtual coins (think Mario) while running around the Roblox experience and redeem them in real parks. DigitalTwin has built a large virtual Six Flags park containing multiple roller coasters, a haunted maze, multiple food vendors like Funnel Cake Factory and Milkshake Wonderland, and a half dozen gift and souvenir shops.

Each month, a different collection of virtual merchandise or “user-generated content” (UGC) is available to purchase for your Roblox avatar. The park is in Early Access Days, with a scheduled Grand Opening on July 30, 2024.

The challenge for Six Flags and Coastercoin is first to build a Roblox gaming experience that people want to play. This requires more than a digital couponing strategy but a real understanding of game design, the Roblox ecosystem, and its audience. It took The Gang several attempts before they figured out how to make Vans World popular.

Ultimately, Six Flags must engage a large enough audience to increase park admissions through their in-game incentives. It will likely take a multi-year consistent effort of trial and error to get it right. But the payoffs can be massive.

Connecting with a younger audience that prefers virtual gaming to real-world experiences holds the promise of increased attendance. Offering earned incentives instead of discounting and couponing could reduce their reliance on these methods. And driving Roblox users into the park to purchase branded goods, even at a discount, could increase per-cap spending, which has been under pressure.

Time will tell if Six Flags and Coastercoin have what it takes to succeed in the virtual world game. Connecting in-home gaming audiences with location-based entertainment has been a holy grail for years. I’ve heard lots of company executives talk about it but have yet to see a successful implementation.

Will the Downloadable Theme Park be in the living room, or is it the future of location-based entertainment? My bet is the latter. Join me in Dallas on August 6th to demo the latest technology and experiences that will turn any empty space into an immersive playground worthy putting on pants.