Walmart thinks it’s a good idea to let kids buy IRL items on Roblox

Walmart’s Discovered experience has begun last year as a way for kids to buy virtual Roblox items in the game. But today, that partnership is testing an expanded pilot program that will allow teenagers to buy real-life goods stocked on digital shelves before being shipped to your door.

Available to children 13 and older in the US, the last addition to Walmart Discovered is an IRL retail store featuring items created by creators of user-generated content, including MD17_RBLX, Junozy, and Sarabxlla. Customers can browse and try on items in virtual stores, after which the game will open a browser window to Walmart’s online store (displayed on an in-game laptop) to view and purchase physical items.

Additionally, anyone who purchases a real-world item from Discovered will receive a free digital twin so they can have a matching virtual representation of what they purchased. Some examples of the first products getting the dual IRL and virtual treatment are a crochet bag from Without limitsa Stainless steel TAL cup and Bluetooth headset included.

According to Digidaeus, during this initial pilot phase (which will take place throughout May), Roblox will not take a share of any of the physical sales made as part of Walmart’s Discovered experience as it seeks to determine people’s level of interest. However, the parameters of the partnership may change in the future as Roblox collects more data on how people accept buying real goods in virtual stores.

Unfortunately, while Roblux’s latest test may seem like an oddly exploitative way to squeeze even more money out of teenagers (or more realistically, their parents’ money), it’s actually another small step in the company’s efforts to make the game universal online market. Last year, Roblox made a big push in digital marketing when it launched new ways to sell and serve in-game ads before later removing requirements for advertisers to create individual virtual experiences for each product.

So, in case you needed another reason not to save payment information in the game’s virtual store, now instead of wasting money on virtual items, kids can waste money on junk that will clutter up their rooms.

This article contains affiliate links; if you click on such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.