• by Colin Kirkland , December 14, 2023

While Meta's metaverse vision was overtaken by hype around artificial intelligence (AI), virtual gamified experiences thrived in 2023 and are expected to keep expanding next year, according to a new report by leading metaverse game developer Gamefam.

Gen-Z users, for example, spent 43% more time on Roblox and Fortnite than YouTube and TikTok combined, presenting new opportunities for a wide range of participating brands.

“The time for metaverse marketing is here and now,” said Joe Ferencz, CEO and founder of Gamefam, a company that saw major growth and developed Roblox and Fortnite worlds in 2023 for brands like Barbie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cirque du Soleil, Bakugan, the NFL, Warner Music Group, and more.

In its first “State of Brands in Metaverse Gaming” report, Gamefam highlights an explosion in brand and user engagement across Roblox and Fortnite.

Roblox, for example, saw a 20% year-over-year increase in daily active users and a 50% increase in brand activations, from 80 branded events and worlds in 2022 to to 120 in 2023, with 1.8 billion visits. Compared to 2019, the number of branded experiences, according to Gamefam, increased by 2,300% on Roblox.

Gamefam was responsible for some of the top-rated games and events on Roblox, including Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon (the top branded game since launch), the Sonic Speed Simulator (the top branded game ever), and in partnership with Warner Music Group and the NFL, Saweetie’s Super Bowl concert, which marked the first Super Bowl concert in the metaverse and stands as Roblox's top-rated concert.

The most recent brand activation that Gamefam launched takes place in Warner Music's Roblox world Harmony Hills, where users can discover Cher’s new holiday album through a festive gamified journey.

Instead of creating stand-alone metaverse games, Gamefam says it suggested that brands integrate themselves into Roblox and Fortnite where millions of Gen-Z users are already hanging out with their friends, playing games, and purchasing virtual merchandise (Gamefam says it sold over 2.3 million items, a 100% increase from 2022).

In addition, Gamefam says it generated over 6.7 billion campaign engagements and 5.3 billion minutes of brand engagement across more than 20 branded integrations and ad campaigns in 2023.

The report shows that the company also delivered 113 million impressions via in-game native displays for brands like Disney, Sketcher, Paramount, Netflix and Universal.

Over the course of the year, Gamefam scaled to over 200 employees, seeing 35% year-over-year revenue growth and 7.5 billion gameplay sessions across its portfolio.

Gamefam predicts that metaverse gaming will hit a market size of $163.4 billion by 2030, with over 430 million metaverse gamers. 

“As we move beyond the providing out phase and brands understand the potential of marketing in the metaverse, Gamefam expects to see greater investment from major brand names and projects that new platforms will begin to gain momentum,” the company said in a statement. “Once seen as under the radar, metaverse gaming is set to become one of the top revenue segments in the media business over the next few years.”