In its newest foray into the metaverse, tech giant Samsung is bringing “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” to Fortnite in an effort to engage with Gen Z.
The “Tonight at the Rock—Powered by Samsung” playable Fortnite experience is a mix of gaming and Samsung commercials. The digital product agency Beyond constructed the game while it was created by Momentum.
Players will discover themselves in a somewhat accurate recreation of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, complete with a miniature Times Square and even a subway stop.
Giant Pong, a race to the top of the Rockefeller building, a taxi race, and a “escape the room”-style game to escape Studio 6B, where the “Tonight Show” is recorded, are some of the single and multiplayer minigames available to players.
Samsung’s smartphones, watches, and tablets are employed as in-game boosters throughout the games.
The game is the most recent development in Samsung and NBCUniversal’s collaboration. The “Tonight Show” Film Festival and an episode dedicated to the five boroughs of New York City were initially sponsored by Samsung.
Samsung has designed its own Roblox experience with Charli XCX and has organized Fortnite battle cups that are only accessible to Android users.
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Many other businesses have developed Roblox experiences to appeal to younger players, but Fortnite appears to be more popular with a somewhat older group, the one that would stay up to watch late-night talk shows.
The experience will go live today, and on Wednesday, fans of “The Tonight Show” will be able to play one of the minigames live on-air.
Sari Feinberg, NBCUniversal’s senior VP of marketing, creative partnerships, advertising & partnerships, stated “We’re bringing an entirely new, interactive gaming experience to fans in the metaverse, and at the same time providing a great platform to showcase Samsung in a new creative way.”
NBCU has the ability to link companies with video game ad inventory thanks to a partnership it made with the startup video game ad tech company Anzu earlier this year.
Janet Lee, senior VP of mobile experience at Samsung Electronics America, noted “With this initiative, our goal is simple: To drive awareness for the Samsung brand with Gen Z while delivering an experience that remains true to our core of customization and personalization.”
Most of the tech giants and media behemoths are trying to attract Gen Z by using metaverse and other digital experiences. Last month, MTV VMAs introduced the metaverse category to draw younger audiences and Kpop group BlackPink bagged the Best Metaverse Performance Award at the VMAs.
