From Manchester to the Metaverse: How United’s Roblox Rollout Could Help Drive Fan Engagement

If Gaz-ball (the often hard to watch “style” of Gareth Southgate’s England) did not hit the spot for Manchester United fans this summer, maybe Manchester United’s release of their 2024/25 home kit and their inspired collaboration with Roblox can go some way to spreading football fever amongst Red Devils worldwide.

Manchester United’s Director of Digital Innovation Ronan Joyce has spearheaded the club’s venture into the digital economy with aims to revolutionise fan engagement and provide a myriad of digital fan experiences like “Collect United” (in collaboration with blockchain partner Tezos) (elaborated on below). The club’s new collaboration with Roblox in the metaverse and partnership with new kit sponsor Snapdragon are deals that align with this ambitious aim.

This comes at a time where many football clubs are experimenting with emerging technology to increase brand awareness and deepen fan engagement to hopefully drive more revenue to the club. For example, PSG, AC Milan and many others have been experimenting with blockchain companies like Sorare and Socios to appeal the younger demographic via fan tokens. You can read more about the pros and cons of fan tokens powered by blockchain technology here.

Metaverse Integrations

There are many ways of defining the metaverse. In essence, it is an immersive, decentralised, three-dimensional virtual realm which merges with the physical world where people can work, play and socialise in real time. Gaming platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite are two of the most popular “metaverse” platforms we have right now, with over 400 million monthly combined active users between them. It is also commonly believed that any all-encompassing, decentralised and interoperable metaverse platform, if ever created, would most likely originate from a centralised online gaming platform initially due to the games industry’s success over the last few decades with Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs) where servers host large numbers of users at the same time. Successful examples of MMOs include Runescape, World of Warcraft and The Elder Scrolls Online. With Roblox capturing mainstream attention in the last few years and having a variety of successful intellectual property (IP) integrations with other sporting institutions like the International Cricket Council, FIFA, NHL and Wimbledon Tennis, it is not surprising Manchester United has licensed their IP for the opportunity to engage with Generation Z and Generation Alpha.

Roblox Rollout

In the club’s latest move, shirts, shorts and socks for the new strip will be available in a new Manchester United shop within the Adidas Outfit Creator experience on Roblox to dress up Roblox avatars. The launch will allow fans to showcase their support for United as they play, interact, and explore across the wider Roblox platform, engaging with their 77-million daily active users. The United shop within the Roblox platform will also display United products, feature the club’s honours board, and includes a wall-sized video charting United’s storied history.

Snapdragon Manchester United deal

Separately, United have negotiated a three-year, USD $225million contract with Qualcomm, a U.S. technology firm, for Snapdragon, a Qualcomm subsidiary, to be on the front of their new kit. As part of the unveiling, fans will be able to access an augmented reality (AR) experience by scanning the Snapdragon logo on the front of the kit. The experience, developed by Snapdragon via their processing chips, will bring fans onto the virtual pitch of Old Trafford and feature exclusive Manchester United content throughout the season. Jean-Claude Blanc, Chief Executive of Manchester United, alluded to the use of Snapdragon processors to deepen global engagement between the club and their 1.1 billion-strong fanbase.

Real World Impact

Generally, successful IP integrations with gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite have been run with entertainment brands to promote films (Kung Fu Panda X Roblox) and music artists (Travis Scott’s Fortnite concert). However, gaming collaborations have been seen as a new strategy within the sporting industry to create commotion and drive conversation, most recently evidenced by Erling Haaland’s IP collaboration with Clash of Clans – see here.

For the TikTok generation, print media does not go as far as it used to, with increasing brand awareness and capturing new audiences. By collaborating with Roblox, Manchester United will be counting on the regular interactions with the virtual kit to play on the minds of the younger demographic. The boundary-less nature of the internet and the Roblox gaming platform also makes it extremely easy to capture new fans from all corners of the globe. This could likely result in increased global shirt sales and increased brand recognition for the club. Moreover, and speaking more generally from a football club viewpoint, partnering with platforms such as Roblox can provide clubs with access to ever richer datasets and the different perspectives of their global fanbase – whereas historically, fan engagement has been largely limited to the match-going fans, those signing up for official club membership programmes and those watching broadcast streams.

Traditionally, fanbases of football clubs have grown due to success on the pitch, or a passing down of family tradition. Shirt sponsors, when they first proliferated, were largely seen as a revenue generation model for football clubs to gain access to increased funds to develop their stadium or buy expensive players. From the sponsors’ perspective, brands looked to capitalise on the broadcasting boom in football to capture audiences from further afield than ever before. Telecoms and electronic brands like O2 and Vodafone took centre stage in the 2000s, followed by airline companies like Emirates and Etihad in the 2010s. These brands relied on their team’s exposure to reach their own target audiences.

However, with the rise of emerging technology like artificial intelligence, AR, and blockchain technology, we are seeing more experimentation and a move towards more synergistic partnerships between brands and football clubs which could mobilise a new set of fans from the younger generation, regardless of success on the pitch. Snapdragon’s provision of AR Manchester United experiences throughout the season, and Collect United, Manchester United’s Web3 loyalty program with shirt sponsor and blockchain partner Tezos, could just be the start.

Metaverse Risks

It is important for brands to note that although there are some successful case studies for entering the metaverse, there are plenty of horror stories when done poorly. Brands who launch initiatives without sufficient knowledge of, experience with, or research into the gaming or Web3 audience they are trying to target can often be met with adverse publicity. Several renowned brands released collections of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) over the course of 2021-2023 as part of their foray into the metaverse but the prices of the NFTs quickly dropped drastically from their highs due to a lack of communication with their communities of holders, and the initiatives failing to engage new audiences. This can quickly create negative sentiment and cause dents in a company’s commercial reputation. It will therefore be important for football clubs to ensure that they understand their audience before launching metaverse campaigns, so that they can provide real value to their fanbase and drive genuine engagement.

With the increasing intersection between sport and emerging technology, we will likely see more football clubs interact with and grow their fanbase via collaborative IP integrations and new technological mediums. Time will tell whether Manchester United’s recent metaverse integrations are worth the investments they have made.