BENTONVILLE, Ark., Jan. 4, 2024 — Walmart and Unity, the world’s leading platform for creating and growing real-time 3D (RT3D) content, today announced plans to give Unity developers the ability to integrate Walmart’s commerce APIs directly into their games and apps. This enables creators to sell physical items in RT3D experiences across 20+ platforms, unlocking new ways to connect customers' virtual and physical lifestyles and establishing new monetization channels in games and experiences made with Unity.
This partnership brings the retail power of Walmart to Unity’s game and app development community, with more than 1.1 million developers using the Unity editor monthly, powering an average of 3.6 billion downloads each month of Made With Unity apps worldwide.
“We have an opportunity to connect the physical and digital realms in a way that only Walmart can, meeting our customers and members with authentic experiences where they already are,” said Tom Kang, vice president and general manager, Metaverse Commerce, Walmart's Store No. 8. “By opening up Walmart’s commerce APIs to the Unity development community, we’re empowering developers to offer a new mechanism to further drive user engagement while making it easy and convenient for players to complete a transaction for physical products without leaving the game, virtual world or app.”
“This announcement paves the way for new innovation in commerce for games and other virtual experiences,” said Marc Whitten, president, Create, Unity. “We’re excited to be able to give Unity developers the option of another new revenue stream while keeping players within their games and experiences.”
Over the past year, Walmart has tested immersive commerce in online worlds, building a connection between the virtual and physical. Three of these experiences were made with Unity and integrate Walmart commerce APIs:
- House Flip, developed by fun-gi: Players of this mobile game, which allows you to renovate, decorate and sell virtual homes, can purchase the real-life counterparts of items they use in the game. This includes everything from Glidden paint to décor items from Mainstays and Better Homes and Gardens and even a Christmas tree from Holiday Time.
- Avakin Life, developed by Lockwood Publishing: Walmart gave players the ability to purchase virtual twins of their latest apparel or receive the virtual item free with the purchase of the physical item. Walmart also released their first virtual clothing line, CoreMood Collective, into the virtual world.
- ZEPETO, Naver Z's flagship platform: Walmart has launched both its Scoop and virtual-first CoreMood Collective brands in this rapidly growing 3D avatar-based social platform by contextually integrating them into social spaces in ZEPETO. As the next step to connect the virtual and real worlds, Walmart and ZEPETO are working on integrating immersive commerce capabilities into select spaces on the platform for future brand integrations.
How it will work
Walmart’s official Unity Software-Development Kit (SDK) will enable creators to natively integrate Walmart’s Commerce APIs into their projects, allowing players to buy physical goods within their games and applications without ever leaving the game.
By keeping players in their games, creators can maintain their immersive experiences, extending session engagement. Creators will also be able to increase their monetization capabilities by receiving affiliate commissions from certain physical purchases powered by Walmart.
Visit the Walmart Developer Platform website for more information or to sign up for access once it's available.
About Walmart
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is a people-led, tech-powered omnichannel retailer helping people save money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, approximately 240 million customers and members visit approximately 10,500 stores and numerous eCommerce websites in 19 countries. With fiscal year 2023 revenue of $611 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.1 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy, and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/walmart, on X (formerly known as Twitter) at twitter.com/walmart, and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/walmart.
About Unity
Unity is the world’s leading platform for creating and growing interactive, real-time 3D ("RT3D") content and experiences. Our comprehensive set of software and AI solutions supports content creators of all sizes through the entire development lifecycle as they build, run, and grow immersive, real-time 2D and 3D content and experiences for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles, and augmented and virtual reality devices. For more information, visit Unity.com.
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