The Wimbledon Championship tennis grand slam’s tournament organizer, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), has expanded its video gaming strategy.
The tournament has announced an array of digital expansions including launching a Fortnite experience, a rebrand of its Wimbledon Smash game, a collaboration with Tennis Clash, and new features on its ROBLOX experience WimbleWorld.
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The Fortnite experience is called Race to Wimbledon, which is presented in partnership with American Express and will be a racing and parkour game.
It involves running, driving, parkouring, and flying past London landmarks such as Big Ben and the London Eye, through Wimbledon village and past Andy Murray’s golden letterbox, past obstacles such as giant strawberries and tennis rackets, all to make it to Wimbledon’s Centre Court in the fastest time.
Race to Wimbledon will also be available to play on-site at the American Express fan experience in the Southern Village. As part of the experience, players will be challenged to beat Andy Murray’s time and post their time on social media.
Chris Clements, digital products lead at the AELTC, said: “The magic of Wimbledon has reached many generations of fans in every corner of the world.
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By GlobalData“With changes in the way people consume content and interact with sports events, it is important that we find new ways to reach them and convey what makes Wimbledon so special. We believe this range of initiatives, including Race to Wimbledon, will help us achieve this ambition.”
In 2022, AELTC launched WimbleWorld on children’s metaverse platform Roblox, claiming to have received more than 12 million visits, with more than 80% of users aged under 24.
Additions will be made to WimbleWorld, including the Lawn of Champions minigame, where players can mow and paint lines on the courts. There will also be a treasure hunt where players can earn a hawk to sit on the shoulder of their avatar across all Roblox experiences. Live scores will feature within the experience.
Wimbledon has also rebranded and updated its own tennis game mobile app, now known as Wimbledon Smash. The Wimbledon Smash game sees players control a racket to use a tennis ball to break as many bricks as possible.
On July 3, a championships mode will be launched in line with the commencement of the Wimbledon fortnight. Those who reach the top 10 on the leaderboard will be eligible to win prizes such as semi-final tickets for Wimbledon next year and a range of items from the Wimbledon Shop.
The Wimbledon Smash leaderboard will be shown on screens around the grounds during the Championship's dates of July 3 to 16.
During the Championships, fans can also take part in the Wimbledon season on the mobile game Tennis Clash. Players will be dressed in a special white match kit and be able to play on Centre Court.
Usama Al-Qassab, marketing and commercial director at the AELTC, said: "The scale of Fortnite and Roblox with more than 200 million players each, and the enjoyment these players experience through digital initiatives like Race to Wimbledon and WimbleWorld, will help Wimbledon reach new audiences in even more immersive ways than ever before."
