The Australian Open might still be days away, but the tennis tournament’s new Roblox experience has already been visited more than 120,000 times, as the organisation attempts to integrate a sport steeped in tradition with a rapidly evolving online economy.
AO Adventure launched on the massively popular online gaming platform on Thursday, offering players the chance to explore a virtual playground modelled on the event’s Melbourne home ground.
Players can walk their avatars onto the bright blue courts of Rod Laver Arena, test their reflexes in a tennis mini-game, and complete a towering obstacle course, earning collectible in-game items.
An avatar based on real-world tennis star Nick Kyrgios, an avid gamer in his own right, also makes an appearance in AO Adventure.
Roblox is unlikely to enjoy the same name recognition among sporting fans as the Australian Open, one of the tennis world’s premiere events and a major money-spinner for Melbourne and the tournament’s business partners.
However, Roblox stands as one of the world’s most popular video game platforms, with a cultural cachet among children and teens more than capable of matching the Grand Slam’s global profile.
The sandbox-style game allows users to create their own challenges and experiences, with the ever-changing variety of games on offer drawing more than 200 million active monthly users, the company claims.
With that userbase comes big money. Roblox allows users to spend real money on ‘Robux’, a virtual currency used to access certain in-game experiences. Developers can also take a cut themselves, and AO Adventure offers its own ‘Tennis Pass’ for 299 Robux, the equivalent of around $2.50.
An influx of players in recent years— and the participation of brands looking to reach young audiences through in-game experiences — has turned Roblox into one of the most valuable gaming companies worldwide.
It listed on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2021 at a valuation of US$41 billion, although its share value has halved since, following other tech stocks in a brutal stock sell-off.
It is this mixture of cultural and commercial cut-through which attracted the Australian Open to the Roblox world, said Ridley Plummer, Senior Manager Metaverse, NFT’s, Web3 and Cryptocurrency at Tennis Australia.
“With more than 80% of users on the platform aged 25-and-under, it’s a great platform for us to connect with younger fans and engage them with the sport of tennis and the AO,” Plummer told SmartCompany.
“We hope the experience will familiarise these global gamers with the unique offerings available at the AO and in turn inspire them to visit the AO in person as a bucket list event.”
The Roblox event is not the first time Tennis Australia has launched a digital experience based on its most prestigious event, having launched a similar virtual realm on the competing Decentraland metaverse platform in 2022.
Plummer said it was hard to determine how many Decentraland users had bought a ticket to the real-life Australian Open afterwards, but maintained programs like AO Adventure are necessary to introduce a new generation of fans to the event.
“Although we can’t tell whether a Decentraland attendee has attended the AO in real life, we can start introducing an entirely new demographic and community into the sport of tennis, and hopefully engage them with our brand and our event at some point in the future,” he said.
Kyrgios, an avid gamer in his own right, echoed the sentiment.
“Roblox is such a huge platform and a great way to connect with a younger generation — some who may already be tennis fans and others who might discover it for the first time thanks to the game,” he said in a statement.
The Roblox experience is joined by Tennis Australia’s second run of AO Art Balls, an NFT project which sold out within minutes of its initial launch last year.
Speaking at NFT Fest in November, Plummer said projects like AO Art Ball will help the sport, whose fans skew older and more predominantly female than other codes, reach new fans.
Projects like AO Adventure may help keep the tournament in the minds of those new fans well after the champion is crowned, Plummer said Thursday.
“When the physical gates of the AO close on the 29th January, the virtual gates will remain open and allow fans to engage with the brand year-round.
“In a 24/7, 365 world, it’s important the AO is open and available whenever a consumer wants to play.”
Senior Business Journalist
Focused on the small business sector, David’s work covers the political, regulatory, and economic issues facing Australian entrepreneurs. Prior to joining SmartCompany, he was a reporter for Business Insider Australia. You can follow him on LinkedIn.
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