Hey there!

Welcome to Edition #16 of The SEG3 Report.

Our first back after a hugely successful SEG3 London. I got the chance to meet a number of you IRL for the first time, which was a tonne of fun - so thanks for taking the time to join us if you did & I hope to see many of you for the next one in Los Angeles later this year (details to be announced shortly!).

Back to this week’s edition, which will give a flavour of some of the innovations three of our speakers at last week's event have recently launched that you need to be across:

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

• Manchester United launch 2024/25 kit on Roblox

• The R&A tees off with ‘Just Swing’ Roblox Experience

• Markerless Motion Capture just became easier

Let’s dive in…

Manchester United launch 2024/25 kit on Roblox

Adidas and Man United have launched their 2024/25 home kit on Roblox, allowing users to dress their avatars in the new kit (featuring the club's new sponsors, Snapdragon and DXC), as well as purchase other Manchester United apparel and accessories within a bespoke virtual shop on Roblox, designed to showcase the club's history and achievements.

Why you should care?

Kit launches. Player Transfers. They’re about the biggest launches clubs have across the season and drive an incredible amount of conversation between its fanbase.

These launches are eagerly anticipated, and in recent years, clubs have really upped the production value and drama of these launches, which has driven a tonne of engagement & positive sentiment. I give you Burnley’s infamous Lyle Foster launch for example…

But despite the furore around kit launches, I don’t think I’ve previously seen a kit launch simultaneously IRL as well as in Roblox or other UGC environments, so kudos to Man United - it’s cool to see them weave this into their wider launch strategy.

Although a new strategy within sports, it’s been a go-to for a lot of entertainment brands over the past 12/18 months in a different context - launching a film.

We’ve seen this become the new go-to market for a lot of studios, whether that be for Kung Fu Panda, Inside Out 2 or Godzilla x Kong, with incredible success - many of the top films in 2024 have been accompanied/preceded by Roblox experience to help drive conversation & interest beforehand.

I saw a Universal Pictures executive coin it ‘the nag factor’, which feels like the perfect way to phrase it. And Man United will be hoping to drive their young, global fanbase to nag their parents to purchase the IRL kit after they’ve been interacting with it on Roblox over the coming weeks.

This feels like a win-win for Man United as it enables them to activate their new partners (Snapdragon & DXC) in a way that’ll drive eyeballs to their sponsorship and the shirt launch, whilst also integrating into a current partners experience in Adidas (so no/low dev costs to get this to market).

Ronan Joyce, Director of Digital Innovation (who joined us at SEG3 London last week) said: “We’re collaborating closely with adidas to ensure a best-in-class experience for United fans. We will be releasing multiple products over the coming months, replicating our real-world products with adidas. All designed to help United fans show the world what they’re made of.”

Of course Walmart are currently testing out the ecommerce capabilities on Roblox, but it’s easy to see how sports brands could (and will eventually) leverage this to drive purchases of IRL merch too.

Without getting too in the weeds today, there’s undoubtedly a tonne of opportunity for co-creation with the Man United IP, so am interested to see what UGC items they make available to the community (outside of what they’ve currently released), what creators they may partner with to deliver fashionable/innovative items and whether any of those UGC items will catch the imagination of Roblox’s global audience, and help Man United to drive revenue from the release.

The R&A and The Gang tee off with ‘Just Swing’

The R&A and The Gang have launched "Just Swing," a virtual golf experience on Roblox, aimed at attracting new, diverse audiences to golf. The game features a Club Hub and a 9-hole adventure with unique settings like underwater realms and Wild West landscapes. Players engage in daily challenges, earn in-game currency, and can buy items from a virtual Pro Shop.

Why it matters?

The R&A, home of the Open Championship, are fairly unique in their approach to Roblox. Their approach is driven more by wanting to get players into the game of golf and make the sport more accessible than an immediate commercial focus.

And as such, the creative around the experience they have built has a real emphasis on bridging the gap from digital engagement to holding a physical club and playing the game.

We were lucky enough to be joined at SEG3 London last week by Gavin Forrester, Manager of Golf Education, who talked through how players will complete challenges within the experience to earn codes, which they can redeem to access physical golf activities near them.

Driving players out of the Roblox ecosystem and to engage IRL is the holy grail for a lot of traditional brands (especially across sports & entertainment where their product is physical), so I’m really intrigued to see how the redemptions of codes go.

Either way, I applaud The R&A for thinking outside the box - as we’ve talked about on this newsletter many times before, the battle to grab attention and get the next-generation into your sport is starting younger and younger, so if you can capture their interest early through UGC gaming and turn that interest into action through codes for physical activities, you’re onto a winner.

Markerless Motion Capture just became easier…

Move AI's launch of Move Live introduces a markerless motion capture solution that enhances real-time 3D digital experiences in various industries like virtual production, sports, and gaming.

Why should you take note?

Reducing the barriers to entry for 3D experiences feels like a game-changer.

Although putting a suit on looks cool, it’s also cumbersome and expensive, so bringing 3D experiences to life over the last few years has been for the minority.

And with the general trend being that brands want to replicate the physical experience in immersive environments, alongside global fans craving more realism in the digital experiences they interact with, having more accessible mo-cap will only simplify and accelerate the 3D animation process that studios and brands need to service those demands.

As a sidebar - the innovation necessary to make this possible is pretty impressive. The technology works by extracting natural human motion from video using advanced AI, computer vision, biomechanics, and physics to automatically retarget the data to a character rig, and create a virtual character that can mirror human motion in real-time. 

I won’t pretend to be an expert in physics (my A-Level teacher can attest to that…), but with the direction of travel being that brands need to engage with global audiences in more authentic and innovative ways, leveraging mo-cap to deliver next-generation experiences feels like a route many more people will be taking now it’s just become that much more accessible.

In other news…

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

• Sony owns a crypto exchange…

• Six Flags launches Roblox experience

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!