Zuru has announced its latest gaming endeavour with the launch of Rainbocorns on Roblox from March 2024.
Expanding the Rainboville universe beyond the best-selling Rainbocorns plush range, popular webisode content and a full-licensed programme, the Rainbocorns Roblox experience promises to take children on an immersive adventure, building the world of Rainboville by completing different quests while raising and caring for their very own Rainbocorns.
Rainbocorns has become an evergreen plush staple within Zuru’s portfolio and is currently positioned as the No. 3 property in the UK’s Traditional Plush subclass in value sales for the full year 2024, according to Circana.
Popular webisode content continues to support and run alongside the toy launches, offering children the opportunity to connect with their plush friends both on screen and off. The webisodes allow children to foster deeper engagement with the characters and experience the magic world of Rainboville for themselves. The English channel has driven more than 230m impressions alone for the 2023 period, further demonstrating the pull of the brand and its correlation between physical play and digital storytelling.
The introduction of the new Roblox game will grow the Rainbocorns universe further into the digital space, connecting products, webisodes and soundtrack into one playable experience, and extending the brand journey alongside positive brand awareness and recognition.
The initial release will see the introduction of six unlockable areas aligned with Zuru’s Rainboville map and webisodes, which feature rainbow berries for the Rainbocorn characters to feed on, special accessories, 30 different Rainbocorns to hatch and grow from baby to full-grown, quests with special item rewards and random lucky events. In addition, players will also be able to accessorise their Rainbocorns and their own avatars in matching outfits, grow them while offline by taking them to daycare and climb up the leaderboards to have their avatar and Rainbocorns featured in-game.
“Rainbocorns continues on an upward trajectory with both consumers and for the business,” said Will Collinson, general manager, UK & Ireland, Zuru. “The brand has been a massive hit since launching eight years ago, and we’ve seen it go from strength to strength, year-on-year. Unrivalled play value combined with classic, nurturing themes, favourite animals, fantasy characters and an exciting unboxing experience has led to double-digit growth for the brand year-on-year, and thus far, 32m Rainbocorns eggs hatched since launch.”
Music from the Rainbocorns album will be played during the gameplay, and the brand jingle has been integrated as an accompaniment when players receive a reward.
Will added: “Roblox provides the opportunity to broaden the Rainbocorns experience and for children to enjoy it in an engaged and safe environment that we know appeals to them. Kids are engaging with brands they already know within the Roblox universe, and we’re seeing how the platform drives purchasing decisions in the same way that animated content can. We’re excited to see players’ reactions to the game, and already have planned future iterations lined up and ready to go.”
Before launch, the game is being tested in demo mode to ensure the best player experience and Zuru has reported that unique players joining to ‘Raise a Rainbocorn’, the number of average players playing daily and time spent within the game are well above industry benchmarks.
