In the gaming space, much like other work areas in life, if you want to try and get something that could “change your future,” you need to work for it. In the case of some game developers, they don’t just want to make the best game possible; they want partners, collaborators, and more to invest their time and money in the game so that the team can profit off it even more. For the Roblox team, they have been on a singular mission recently to get as many big brands and properties into their title…while also receiving the monetary benefits of getting such a thing.
To be fair, the crew has had some big successes over the past year, including getting the MLB, PGA, certain movie properties, and more to invest in their games via dedicated branded content that players can enjoy, including enjoying them right now, should they wish. However, the team wants more, so, as noted by DigiDay, the dev team used a special event to showcase a study from which they recently got results.
The study in question was about how gamers reacted to advertising content in the game itself. They used special eye-tracking data and even monitored the sweat of gamers, which is meant to indicate stress or discomfort, to highlight the various emotions that one feels when they see ads in their video games.
“Brand recall” and other elements were also factored into things, and the full study was presented to potential investors. One marketing expert felt that this kind of study could help the Roblox team going forward:
“Brand recall and recognition frequently come up in conversation when discussing research studies, and since Dentsu does so much with the attention economy, I think this eye-tracking data is also good to keep in our back pocket. Depending on the teams involved, these may complement and help fuel their narrative.”
However, a different expert said the exact opposite, noting that this is just “one step” in making things happen:
“Attention scores are certainly important, but it’s a very small piece of the decision-making matrix. Brand recall, for my clients, is of almost no value.”
If you’re wondering why the team is pushing so hard on getting investors, it’s a multi-part answer. First, it’ll bring more attention to the game, which the team can use to bring in more players. Second, and arguably more importantly, that ad revenue could help make the game profitable, which the team desperately wants.