PacSun opens virtual space in Roblox

Retail brand PacSun has announced ‘Pacworld,’ its flagship activation in the metaverse. The brand’s virtual experience – designed in partnership with gaming studio Melon – will be hosted on Roblox, a gaming platform originally designed for young children that’s become one of the developmental hotspots in the expanding virtual retail space. Pacworld will have a distinctly ‘Mall Tycoon’ vibe: “Players are the owner and operators of a new mall, and it is their objective to make the mall as profitable and popular as possible,” the brand said in a statement. “Players will be able to create and remove shops, upgrade the shops that do well, decorate the mall to try and attract more customers, and even invite their friends to visit their mall.”

Like many brand activations in the metaverse, PacSun hopes that its new virtual reality (VR) experience will help to foster engagement among its gen Z audience. “As we are catering to a fully digital generation, we recognize that gen Z values community and accessibility more than any other generation, and we joined Roblox to further build that connectivity with our consumers,” Brie Olson, Pacsun president, said in a statement. “Considering that they leverage Roblox as a point of socialization, we knew that in order to further our strong emotional resonance as a brand, we needed to continue to build alongside them in the gaming world.” PacSun has also dropped a second wave of its ‘Pac Mall Rats’ non-fungible token (NFT) series as a part of the new campaign.