BBC - World's First Election in Roblox

Objective

The BBC sought to engage younger audiences (under 25s) with the UK General Election through a familiar gaming platform. By integrating election-themed content into its existing Roblox experience, the BBC aimed to make civic participation accessible and entertaining to a demographic often underrepresented in traditional political coverage.

Solution

The BBC added an election-themed update to its Wonder Chase experience on Roblox, featuring challenges set by Larry the Downing Street cat and hosted by BBC News personalities including Laura Kuenssberg, Clive Myrie, and Jeremy Vine. Players collected ballot boxes scattered across the game world, learning election facts from in-game characters; completing the challenge allowed players to unlock Larry the Cat as a digital pet. The experience was developed with Bristol-based games developer Mobile Pie and was available across PC, mobile, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms.

Results

BBC Wonder Chase reached over 1 million visits. The election update was launched in early July 2024, coinciding with the UK General Election on July 4, 2024.