Welcome to Edition #10 of The SEG3 Report.

We made it to double figures folks!

Today’s newsletter dives into Disney allowing creators to use its IP in Fortnite, Toikido’s UEFA 2024 Partnership & Pudgy Penguins taking over the world, one department store at a time.

So, here’s what you need to know this week:

• Disney IP is coming to Fortnite

• Toikido & UEFA team up for the Euro’s

• Pudgy Penguins now in Target

Let’s get into it…

Disney IP is coming to Fortnite

In a move that could redefine digital entertainment, Disney is opening its IP vault to Fortnite creators to create custom games.

Why should you care?

This has felt slightly inevitable since the $1.5bn investment, but nonetheless, Pocket Gamer is reporting that Disney is allowing creators to use their IP in Fortnite, which would be BIG news.

They are an absolute treasure trove of IP; whether it be Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars etc - it is some of the most recognisable, historic IP there is. So bringing them all into one place is about to unlock some never-seen-before crossover opportunities that I’m sure a lot of creators are drooling at the possibility of.

And there’s good reason for Disney to be doing this. By opening up that IP to creators, Disney is about to find out which of their IP resonates with Gen Z / A pretty quickly. This is a powerful tool because it unlocks two things:

1. ‘Hands Off’ Marketing & Revenue Generation

2. Insight into Crossovers & The Big Screen Implications

‘Hands Off’ Marketing & Revenue Generation

For the avid reader amongst you, you may recall our coverage of LEGO integrations with Fortnite as part of Edition #2, which dives into the marketing & revenue implications in a deeper way.

In a very simplified way, the beauty of UGC is that once all the assets have been created and the IP integrated into the platform, the power can be with the creators to do a lot of the heavy lifting in marketing the IP and building the experiences that can eventually drive revenue for your brand.

It’s a win-win. Low-lift, large reach, and quick feedback on what’s resonating, and what’s not.

And on that note, onto the second point…

Insight into Crossovers & The Big Screen Implications

Disney has such diverse IP that it attracts audiences from Gen A to Baby Boomers. It knows what levers to pull to get those audiences to engage across a number of different media channels.

And we’ve definitely seen a trend over the last few years of entertainment brands trying to combine their IPs on the big screen (Godzilla x Kong, Captain America x Spiderman, Batman x Superman etc etc) to broaden the appeal of their franchises.

With Fortnite about to play home to a concoction of these IP, it’ll provide invaluable (and real-time) feedback on which of their IPs are resonating the most with Fortnite’s audience, and what crossovers are most popular.

You’d imagine this insight will be helping to advise decisions at Disney around which of their IPs are worth funding for future films and crossovers on the big screen so they get the most bang for their buck.

It’s undoubted in my eyes that immersive 3D environments that allow users to interact on a deeper level with their favourite IP & brands are going to be a vital part in the storytelling flywheel.

And there aren’t many better storytellers than Disney, so I’m excited to see how they’ll weave everything together.

Be alongside leaders from Epic & Disney next month at SEG3 London on June 27-28

Join the likes of Disney, Google, Amazon, the NBA, Napster, Liberty Global, Unilever and more who have registered over the past two days alone.

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Toikido & UEFA team up for the Euro’s

Toikido, in partnership with UEFA, is bringing Euro 2024 to Piñata Smashlings. From May 15 to July 14, the game will feature UEFA's mascot Albärt and a special Football Island, offering football-themed games and in-game rewards. The initiative aims to inspire children to be active, aligning with UEFA's "Make Moves" campaign.

Why should you care? 

UEFA are reaching both the physical & digital playground with this collab, aimed at inspiring children to be active.

Guy-Laurent Epstein, Marketing Director at UEFA, said: “Euro 2024 has the potential to inspire millions of girls and boys to play football and live healthy and active lifestyles, so it is important for us to take the tournament to the platforms and spaces they already occupy.

“Together with Toikido and Piñata Smashlings we have created a captivating football experience that bridges the virtual and the physical which we hope will attract young audiences to our sport.”

This hits on a few very important themes:

• Attracting a Gen Z / A audiences to football at an early age

• The wider mission

Attracting a Gen Z / A audiences to football at an early age

Now, it’s not revolutionary to say that it’s a battleground out there, with so many different brands, sports, games and activities vying for people’s attention and money.

This means it’s even more important to get your brand, or on this occasion, sport, in the faces of a young audience early if you’re going to have any chance of them building an affiliation with it. UEFA understands that & is going where that audience is. Roblox.

By partnering with the popular Pinata Smashlings, UEFA gets to jump the ramping up stage, and benefits from their already built loyal following. Given the activation is focused around the Euro’s, and therefore time sensitive, this approach makes sense.

It’ll be interesting to see how/if Toikido/UEFA plan to evolve the football island into an evergreen space post-tournament, or whether it’ll just be used for the duration of the Euro’s and then reserved for future tournaments.

The Mission

UEFA’s mission behind this launch of inspiring children to be active is commendable, and clearly it’s caught the attention of one of their key sponsors, Adidas.

Adidas launched their own store in Roblox a couple of months back, with varying levels of visitors thus far. By integrating into UEFA’s experience with a pop-up store and mini-games focused on some of their most iconic boots (long time Copa Mundial wearer here!), the objective seems to be to drive some footfall back to their own experience/store.

It’s certainly a very different way to be activating their sponsorship vs UEFA’s other partners, so we’ll be intrigued to see if they’re able to be successful in driving an uptick in visitors to their own experience.

You guessed it, Toikido are also joining SEG3 London in 5 weeks time…

Get the low-down on how they’ve developed the Smashlings IP and built a brand using gaming-first strategies, and how you can do the same.

Pudgy Penguins are taking over the world, one department store at a time.

After taking on Walmart, Pudgy Penguins is bringing their plushy toy collection to Target. Having sold over 1 million toys that unlock special features in the online game Pudgy World, Pudgy continues to take onboarding to the next level.

Why should you care?

Web3 and frictionless onboarding haven’t necessarily been words you’ve seen next to each other all that often.

There’s often been a focus on the technology vs a focus the user experience.

I will stick my neck out and say that has however largely been amended throughout the bear market (past 12-18 months), with a number of tools and solutions now being readily available that abstract once laborious processes like setting up wallets.

Pudgy, working alongside their blockchain partner zkSync, have been extremely smart in their approach to mass market and focused on ease of access.

Take a look at Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins, talking through the 60 second process they’ve designed to get any plushy toy purchaser on-chain here.

Onboarding like this, where the emphasis isn’t on the fact that you’re setting up a web3 wallet, but more on what you’re getting (in this case, a kid getting some funky traits to attach to their pengu and use in a game, Pudgy World) is far more of a value exchange for the purchaser.

By prioritising this, Pudgy is successfully growing the global appeal of its IP to a non-crypto native audience, whilst continuing to add value to the NFT collection holders as they franchise out through various channels.

Focusing on the product & experience over the technology powering it will never be a bad move…

In other news…

A quick round-up of other stories we found interesting this week!

• Formula E team Envision & Cartoon Network partner up in CN’s GameOn Experience

• Lamborghini, Sawhorse & Voldex team up to release Urus SE into Roblox

Working on anything cool, or have a press release you would like us to cover? Send it in for the chance for it to be covered in next week’s edition!