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."
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. "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.
William White, chief marketing officer at Walmart, said that business cases will eventually include online purchases, encouraging people to visit real-world stores and product placement for other brands in its immersive experiences. For now, the company focusing on content that drives relevance in cultural conversation, developing community and engagement and moving the needle on brand favourability.
Walmart is among several companies making pushes into the metaverse. Others like Disney have 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 decentralised finance," or DeFi, alongside Disney+'s release of an Augmented Reality-centric film.