Wimbledon serves up Fortnite experience for younger fans

The All England Lawn Tennis Club, home of the Wimbledon Championships, is adding another venue inside popular gaming platform Fortnite in a bid to attract younger audiences.

The club has also announced a rebrand of its mobile gaming app, now known as “Wimbledon Smash”, as well as the addition of new content to “WimbleWorld”, its themed gaming experience currently running on Roblox.

“Race to Wimbledon”, created by Swedish developer studio The Gang and produced in partnership with American Express, launched on Fortnite this week. It will also be available to play on-site at the American Express Fan Experience, located in London’s Southern Village.

Players must “run, drive, parkour and fly” through Wimbledon Village to make it to Centre Court in the fastest time, all while passing by London landmarks (such as Big Ben, the London Eye and Andy Murray’s “golden letterbox”) and dodging various obstacles, such as giant strawberries and tennis rackets. Users are also challenged to beat Murray’s score and post their results on social media.

“Wimbledon Smash”, available for both iOS and Android, will enable players to “break as many bricks as possible” using an in-game tennis racket, with rain, wind and other “surprise items” affecting the gameplay. 

A championships mode will be added to the mobile game on 3 July, giving the top 10 best-scoring players the chance to win prizes (such as semi-final tickets to the 2024 Championships and merchandise from the Wimbledon Shop).

New content will also be added to the club’s Roblox activation, “WimbleWorld”, which launched on the platform last year. It will include "Lawn of Champions", a game where players can use their avatars to prepare the famous grass courts of SW19 by mowing and painting its lines.

According to the club, “WimbleWorld” has received more than 12 million visits to date and remains “one of the most-visited official sports experiences” on the gaming platform, with 80% of users aged under 24.

Usama Al-Qassab, marketing and commercial director at the All England Club, 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."

Wimbledon’s wider ambitions to target gamers and enter Fortnite, which currently has around 400 million users worldwide, is part of its bid to attract younger audiences and build more fans across the globe, including those in the US.

Chris Clements, digital products lead at the All England Club, said: “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.”

(This article first appeared on CampaignLive.co.uk)