'Walmart Unlimited' Launches as Retailer Deepens 'Adaptive Retail' Gamification Strategy

Gamers, grab your mouse, keyboard, or controller. And your credit card.

Walmart is set to zero in on its "adaptive retail" strategy with the imminent launch of "Walmart Unlimited," a three-part shoppable gaming series. The miniseries was produced in collaboration with game engine Unity, the Spatial gamified media platform, game developers Pigiama Kasama, and animation studio Martian Blueberry — the latter was co-founded by Carl Jones, producer of hit shows "The Boondocks" and "Black Dynamite."

"Walmart Unlimited" was released on Feb. 26.

As Retail TouchPoints detailed in expansive coverage related to both "Walmart Unlimited" as well as the blue-and-yellow brand's larger commitment to its adaptive retail strategy, the game series represents a novel attempt to bring gamification and retail sales together in a relatively frictionless (and enjoyable) experience.

Walmart Expands Upon Its Adaptive Retail Philosophy

In 2024, Walmart released its first adaptive retail report, defining the term as "an evolved form of retail that brings shopping to the customer in exactly the way they want and need. It goes beyond blending the best of online and offline to adapting experiences based on an understanding of the deeper context behind the purchase, all to meet unique consumer habits and preferences."

"Walmart Unlimited" appears to be a significant step in that direction, with more than one-third of the world's population gaming on a regular basis. Beyond that, as Retail TouchPoints senior editor Nicole Silberstein underscored, gaming is the fastest-growing segment of entertainment — yet commerce opportunities remain few and far between.

Walmart is attempting to change that by setting foot into the gaming pool, looking to capture consumer interest in an increasingly fast-paced cultural environment. Justin Breton, head of brand marketing innovation at Walmart, laid out the company's intentions in an interview with the outlet.

“We live in an attention economy. The next generation of consumer is scrolling on social platforms, they’re binge-watching on streaming platforms, they’re spending their time playing games — Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite, Spatial. It is incredibly important for us to be creating experiences that allow for us to be a part of their attention span," he said.

“What’s so exciting about this medium and why we’re continuing to invest in immersion platforms and new technologies is that these types of experiences allow us to meet the expectations of the next generation of consumers. They no longer exclusively want to rely on a brand website. They want the opportunity to discover products where they are, and [this gaming experience on Spatial] is allowing us to drive product discovery with new brands, plus there’s a whole commerce component where you can actually buy the products," Breton added.

Unity Partnership With Walmart via Software Development Kit Allows Commerce Integration Across Variety of Games

The importance of Walmart's partnership with Unity is apparent, with buyers being able to access the product lineup primarily featured in the first episode of "Walmart Unlimited," ready-to-eat food brand A Dozen Cousins, through a single click within the Spatial platform — provided they're logged into their Walmart account.

And while A Dozen Cousins founder and CEO Ibraheem Basir is a featured character in the game, alongside his brand's products, there is very little blatant advertising taking place to disrupt the enjoyment and narrative of the experience. That's important, according to multiple experts.

“Historically in the gaming world, ads are all about the promotion of a [another] game,” Alex Blum, COO at Unity, told Retail TouchPoints.

“The industry has tried to market other stuff to players within games, but it hasn’t worked for two fundamental reasons. First, we just took ad formats from the web and tried to force them into a game experience, which feels unnatural. Second, when there was a transactional opportunity, it required you to disrupt the game experience and leave to go shop somewhere else. That’s just too disruptive to work,” Blum added.

Beyond the Spatial platform not requiring a console or a specific gaming account, offering maximum flexibility to those curious, the upcoming distribution of the Unity software development kit allowing for Walmart commerce integration means that any game developer on the platform could potentially link gamers to Walmart sales directly during a gaming session. "Walmart Unlimited" allows gamers to purchase A Dozen Cousins products from the retailer at this time, for example, via a linked Commerce Hub.

According to a 2024 press release from Unity, more than 5 million active Unity developers were delivering 342 billion advertising views as of March of last year.

Walmart's Commerce Hub Allows Players To 'Shop the Episode,' Likened to Affiliate Marketing

With "Walmart Unlimited" allowing players to "shop the episode" by browsing through promoted products, it appears that the second and third episodes of the game are set to highlight entirely new brand experiences.

Although the Commerce Hub itself is still in its infancy, players are invited to have conversations with game characters and virtual displays. Purchases can be made instantly, as well, without ever leaving Spatial for another website or shopping portal.

Silberstein described the relationship between game developers and merchants featured in the game (or via Commerce Hubs) as something akin to affiliate marketing transactions, where developers receive a percentage of sales they are responsible for directing players toward. Walmart's Breton expanded upon this notion.

“Everyone talks about the affiliate marketing landscape as being inclusive of publishers, content creators, social media influencers, but what’s missing is gaming developers,” said Breton.

“Gaming developers have millions of people that are part of their communities, playing their games daily. As we start to scale the Unity SDK, in partnership with Unity, we’ll start to reach millions more people," he added.

“These types of experiences with emerging platforms really allow us to drive brand engagement at scale. It allows us to facilitate product discovery and drive commerce — it’s a true full-funnel activation and it really can shift the hearts and minds of the next generation in some instances," Breton concluded.

The second and third installments of "Walmart Unlimited" are slated for release in April and May, respectively, although featured brands or products associated with these episodes have yet to be announced.

For Breton — as well as Gianna Valintina, global head of strategic partnerships at Spatial — this project is setting a high bar to clear in terms of quality and production value.

"As a gamer, when you come into this, it will feel familiar to AAA titles,” Breton said.

“We created a game to tell the story of our suppliers and invite the community to be part of it, but we didn’t hold back in terms of making a true game. You have to defend your progression in the game [there is some challenge to the gameplay]. The whole thing is very thoughtful and intentional," he added.

“We decided that if we were going to use this medium [to tell a brand story], we should be trying to set the best standards in gameplay, in storytelling and in art. Some of the best games are built around storytelling, and that’s why the art is so important. Sometimes when we see advertising, it’s just copy and the ad treatment. But someone like Ibraheem is a leader in his community, and [through this game] you can fall in love with his values and the meaning behind the product," Valentina offered.