Wicked Movie Takes Over Roblox
- Stephen Dypiangco
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
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Over the past couple of years, Roblox has quietly become a must-use marketing platform for movie studios trying to reach younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences. In the past year or so, How to Train Your Dragon, Bad Guys 2, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Smurfs, Karate Kid Legends, Sonic 3, Jurassic World Rebirth, M3GAN 2.0, and KPop Demon Hunters have all launched activations on the popular UGC platform, which currently reaches 151 million daily active users.
Universal Pictures’ latest campaign for Wicked: For Good shows how far studios can go when they treat Roblox as a true marketing ecosystem, not just a one-off stunt.
Building a Persistent Wicked Presence on Roblox
Universal Pictures launched Wicked RP on Roblox in 2024, several weeks before the release of the first Wicked movie. Developed by Sawhorse, the experience immersed players in Shiz University, a core setting from the film, giving them the ability to roleplay as students in Oz.
Players could:
Attend classes at Shiz University and interact with NPCs of the movie characters
Complete quests to earn free UGC items and accessories
Watch the official movie trailer directly inside the experience
Purchase UGC and emotes inspired by the characters
Since launch, Wicked RP has reached 23 million lifetime visits, delivering regularly updated gameplay to fans for over a year now. Ahead of the sequel, Wicked: For Good, the experience grew to include Emerald City, giving players fresh reasons to return and roleplay in the expanding Oz setting.
Platform Domination: Integrations in Brookhaven and Dress to Impress
In the weeks leading up to the Wicked: For Good premiere, Universal orchestrated an impressive multi-game activation across two of Roblox’s most popular titles:
Brookhaven
Roblox’s #1 roleplay game, with 74 billion lifetime visits and around 45 million daily visits.
A two-week Wicked event, which started November 7th, featured a massive Emerald City hub positioned directly in front of the spawn point.
Key features included:
New Glinda and Elphaba-themed homes
11 props, 3 emotes, 4 songs, and multiple Emerald City landmarks (the Wizard’s chamber, Glinda’s apartment, Elphaba’s attic)
Themed roleplay tools like brooms, wands, and torches
Based on traffic trends, the event could see as many as 630 million total visits across its run.
Dress to Impress
A top fashion and social competition game with 8.6 billion visits since launching in 2023.
Known for collaborations with Charli XCX and Lady Gaga, it now adds Wicked to that same pop-culture list.
The Wicked crossover introduced three badges, the top one already claimed over 10 million times, a clear sign of incredible reach.
Roblox also featured Dress to Impress as a “Today’s Pick” over the weekend, giving the campaign valuable homepage amplification.
YouTube creators like Lana Rae and Kat Bruno helped spread awareness with Wicked-themed content. Their collab video has over 150,000 views and 700+ fan comments.
Together, these integrations reached both of Roblox’s largest lifestyle audiences: Brookhaven’s massively scaled player base and Dress to Impress’s fashion-forward female community, driving both top of funnel reach and cultural relevance.
Paid Media + Platform Visibility
Universal didn’t stop at organic reach via these integrations. The studio supported the campaign with:
Rewarded video ads promoting Wicked: For Good across Roblox
Feature placement in the Apple App Store’s Roblox section, giving the film exposure to millions of mobile players
Coordinated timing across updates, paid media, and integration events that made Wicked nearly impossible to miss during its pre-release push
Why This Campaign Stands Out
This campaign demonstrates a best-in-class multi-layered Roblox strategy:
Persistent branded world: Wicked RP with updates, quests, and free UGC
Top game integrations: Massive visibility inside Brookhaven and Dress to Impress
Cross-platform amplification: Paid ads, app store features, and creator content
Platform support: Home page featuring via “Today’s Pick”
By connecting all these elements, Universal effectively grabbed the spotlight on Roblox leading into the sequel’s release. Other brands looking to make a splash on Roblox will likely study and replicate this impressive rollout strategy.
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