Walmart Hosts Roblox Concert as Part of Metaverse Expansion

Walmart is continuing its excursions into the metaverse with “Electric Fest,” a virtual event the retail giant said is inspired by “the world’s greatest music festivals.”

Kicking off Friday (Oct. 7), the event comes on the heels of Walmart’s announcement last week that it had set up two new spaces in Roblox, a non-blockchain metaverse game which boasts 52 million daily active users.

See also: Walmart Extends Run of Digital Expansion With New Roblox Pact

“Walmart Land” and “Walmart’s Universe of Play” will be a proving ground for future expansion into the virtual reality worlds, the company said.

“For the first time on Roblox, Walmart will be hosting a music festival experience featuring three of the world’s top musicians, Madison Beer, Kane Brown, and YUNGBLUD, to offer users an immersive concert experience from the comfort of home,” the company said in a news release emailed to PYMNTS.

The motion-capture concert will begin at 7 p.m. EST Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Walmart Land, the release said.

“Roblox is one of the fastest growing and largest platforms in the metaverse, and we know our customers are spending loads of time there,” William White, chief marketing officer at Walmart, said last month. “We’re focusing on creating new and innovative experiences that excite them.”

White has said business cases will eventually include online purchases, encouraging people to visit real-world stores and product placement for other brands in its “immersive experiences.”

But he added that for now, the company is content focusing on “driving relevance in cultural conversation … developing community and engagement … [and] moving the needle [on] brand favorability” as it determines what works.

Related: Walmart, Disney, Nike Push Further Into Metaverse

Walmart is among several companies making pushes into the metaverse. Disney recently revealed extensive plans for a virtual world, putting out a call for a senior attorney “to work on transactions involving emerging technologies, including NFTs, blockchain, metaverse and decentralized finance,” or DeFi.

That move came after CEO Bob Chapek declared himself “blown away” by company teams’ experimenting with the metaverse, calling it “the next great storytelling frontier.”