Walmart, a worldwide retail powerhouse, and Unity, a top game engine developer, have joined forces to change the way we shop in the digital era. This novel collaboration introduces the concept of buying Walmart’s physical products directly within video games and apps.
Revolutionizing Online Shopping
Players will now be able to purchase real-world items from Walmart while they play their favorite games. This is good news for game developers and creators because they now have a unique way to monetize their games while also enhancing the user experience. By integrating immersive commerce into over 20 gaming and interactive platforms, Walmart and Unity are leading the way in combining the digital and physical consumer worlds.
Unity, renowned for its vast developer community, offers its 1.1 million monthly users the Unity editor. The upcoming CES 2024 in Las Vegas will witness the introduction of Walmart’s Unity Software Development Kit (SDK). This tool is essential for developers aiming to incorporate immersive commerce into their gaming projects. The partnership strategically places commerce in the heart of gaming activities, a space where millions of users already spend significant time.
“It is really about meeting customers where they’re spending a lot a lot of their time. I don’t have to tell you there are over 3 billion people playing games, and they’re doing digital commerce. They’ve been buying digital goods in those spaces for years and years. Walmart, as a commerce company with over 11,000 physical locations, believes it’s an opportunity to invent a new type of experience for our customers that evolves the physical to digital, with ecommerce to social and now immersive — we’re calling it immersive commerce, which is the virtual worlds, games and apps and connecting the physical and virtual lives.”
Tom Kang, Vice President and General Manager of Metaverse Commerce for Walmart.
The collaboration allows gamers to make in-game purchases of Walmart merchandise, which they can later collect from physical stores. This integration ensures that players remain within their gaming environment, enhancing their engagement while providing the convenience of shopping. Such activations within games have been shown to increase user engagement, a win-win for both Walmart and the gaming community.