Roblox Eyes Partnerships In Football

Gaming platform Roblox is building partnerships with global football organisations as it seeks to cement a bigger role in the sport’s ecosystem.

Since FIFA’s divorce from EA Sports—triggered by the global football body’s to double the US$150m annual licensing fee EA Sports paid for the naming rights of the organisation and the coveted World Cup in its sensationally successful game series—it has been scouring for fruitful partnerships in the gaming world to engage young audiences.  

Speaking at trade conference DMXECO in September, FIFA’s Senior Business Development & Gaming manager Georgi Stoimenov, echoed the importance of the gaming vertical, “You can really reach young audiences and inspire them to fall in love with the game in a way that makes sense for them via gaming channels.”  

In essence, gaming plays a pivotal role in drawing attention in an overstimulated landscape and is one of the first points in unlocking football fandom for life amongst Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences.  

Before last year’s World Cup in Qatar, FIFA launched a branded experience – FIFA World – on Roblox. “We basically use this as an evolving platform to extend on important competitions or activities that are taking place,” Stoimenov explained.

Ahead of the recent Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, “the important message to communicate [was] that the audience for women’s football is equally important to men’s – and basically the Roblox experience allows us to do that.”

Stoimenov also claimed FIFA World is the largest branded sports experience on the platform with over 20m+ visits. 

The German Football Association (DFB) is also leveraging on a Roblox partnership, viewing it as an easy way of developing a virtual experience – and on a global platform that is particularly strong in the country hosting the next Men’s World Cup in 2026. 

With over 66 million daily active users and an audience that’s goes beyond children – the 17+ demographic now makes up more than 40% of the audience – Roblox believes its engaged users make it a prime choice for sports brands seeking eyeballs and nurturing lifelong fans in an authentic, bottoms-up grassroots community fashion.

Besides FIFA, Roblox also has ties with the National Hockey League (NHL) and Wimbledon, creating games, competitions and digital recreations on the popular gaming platform. 

Beyond the sporting landscape, it has also increasingly collaborated with an array of big brands from various industries, including the likes of L’Oreal, Kellogg’s, Vans, Nike, Chipotle and Gucci.  

According to ASN data, football (29%, ~US$3.9b) still has the biggest pull for sponsorship in Asia since Q121, however, the first three quarters of 2023 saw investment going south as it teetered from US$248.5m to US$274.5m, below the quarterly average of US$342.5m. But it is set for an uplift in Q423, as our forecast tips investment to reach US$420.3m.