Game platform Roblox is edging into the video distribution business, carrying its first full-length episode of a TV series, an episode from the upcoming season of Spin Master Corp. anime bakugan.
Episode 317 from Season 3 of Bakugan: Geogan Rising will launch in what Spin Master calls an “all-new immersive viewing experience” within the Bakugan hub on Roblox. The September debut will come a week before the episode appears on Netflix, where Season One is already available.
“By merging our collective audiences, we are able to offer the Roblox community as well as Bakugan fans new and unique ways to connect and experience entertainment together within the Roblox metaverse,” said Roblox VP of Brand Partnerships Christina Wootton.
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It is designed to pull Bakugan fans onto a new platform, find new fans, and perhaps begin to to carve out a perch in the so-called Metaverse, a still hazily defined online future of interconnected and persistent online worlds and experiences.
Roblox is one of several tech companies, alongside Epic Games and its Fortnite game and Facebook’s Oculus virtual-reality ecosystem, that are explicitly trying to build the basis for the Metaverse.
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"We can’t wait to introduce another dimension of Bakugan storytelling within Roblox and deepen our fans’ connection to the Bakugan franchise with this immersive new virtual experience," said Spin Master marketing EVP MarketingLaura Henderson n a release.
Bakugan also has a toy line, card game, video game, and digital content, and is using the Roblox debut as a way to continue its transition to various forms of digital media delivery to its fan base, the Toronto-based Spin Master (TSX:TOY) said.
Roblox hosts millions of players and thousands of creators who develop multiplayer games and other online experiences that are particularly popular with tweens and teens. Some creators can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a month from revenues generated on the site.
Roblox (NYSE: RBLX) went public in early March, at a listed price of $64.50, then took off in the ensuing several weeks, hitting nearly $100 a share before a June swoon in prices that’s finally eased. Roblox’s second quarterly earnings release is scheduled after the market closes on Aug. 16.
Spin Master toy, game and media franchises include Paw Patrol, Air Hogs and Rubik’s Cube, along with online franchises Toca Boca and Sago Mini.
