Today we launched a new platform for play with the world’s #1 toy brand – we launched a living, multi-player, virtual world for Hot Wheels on Roblox!

It’s a milestone for our company, and a milestone for me personally – a chance to innovate on and with one of the world’s coolest and most beloved pop culture franchises. But, it didn’t happen overnight; this project has been 10 years in the making.

After spending the better part of the last decade working across global brands including Assassin’s Creed, He-Man, Star Wars Rebels, Subway Surfers, and Crayola, I found myself executive producing a huge amount of Hot Wheels video game content. I worked for over 4 years as a consulting executive producer and strategist across Hot Wheels gaming initiatives, and I was thrilled every day at my good fortune to contribute to a best-in-class team at Mattel. We integrated Hot Wheels cars into more than 20 top video games, including a hit expansion pack with Microsoft’s Forza franchise and the only branded arena ever in Rocket League. Our Hot Wheels game projects eventually reached tens of millions of players a month.  

But, there was one project I had my eye on at Hot Wheels, one game that we dreamed of creating – a huge Hot Wheels virtual world where anything is possible!  

I’m sure you can see it, right? Orange tracks towering into the sky, thousands of epic Hot Wheels cars, each with different stats and handling, insane stunts to try and try until… you nail it!  

Even more, we dreamed of a Hot Wheels virtual world that embodied the competition, creativity, and experimentation that define this evergreen, mega-brand. We wanted a Hot Wheels virtual world to be as alive as the world’s #1 toyline, changing every week and every month; never knowing what amazing surprises await you when you play.

We had the dream, but not the platform.

No gaming platform could provide the combination of development scale, agility, and player-base we needed to make this dream a reality.  

That is, until today.

As we watched Roblox’s meteoric rise over the past 5 years, we began exploring if Roblox could be the platform for Hot Wheels to bring its entire world to life. We watched as Roblox became the #1 gaming platform for kids, tweens, and teens in the US, and continued to grow globally. And we watched as its technology grew powerful enough to create massive virtual worlds filled with hundreds of gamers at a time, while simultaneously giving developers the tools to live operate their games with the most rapid and responsive publishing system in gaming. 

And so, I’m happy to announce that our dream project is coming to life today as we release the closed beta of Hot Wheels Open World on Roblox!  

Inside Hot Wheels Open World Beta you’ll find a chance to digitally experience everything that has come to define Hot Wheels over its 50+ years of being the world’s #1 toy and collectible brand. Free-drive around a massive open world, race against friends, chase achievements, and go on story quests to earn rewards like more cars and customizations to show off your style.

We are honored to play a starring role in bringing Roblox and Hot Wheels together, and we couldn’t be prouder of what we’re building in Hot Wheels Open World.  

We’re just starting to open the curtain on this world. Amazing new features and expansions will be dropping each week and month as we roll the game out onto devices and platforms around the world!

You can view the trailer for Hot Wheels Open World Beta here: https://youtu.be/G-tXMRT91pk

You can play Hot Wheels Open World Beta here: https://www.roblox.com/games/5652023420/Hot-Wheels-Open-World-BETA?refPageId=49bb37d4-ad5e-46c4-84a8-d6a1dedf5ed6

Thanks for taking time to read – you can reach me here on LinkedIn and please follow me on Twitter @joeferencz. Would love to hear your thoughts!