Ryan’s World Will Soon be a Virtual Theme Park In Roblox

Struggling to keep your Tamagotchi alive? Not to make you feel bad, but nine-year-old Ryan Kaji has a multimillion dollar empire built off his massively popular YouTube channel, “Ryan’s World.” And today, he’s launching an entire virtual theme park inside the gaming platform Roblox.

The park will feature a racetrack, school, city center, and an obstacle course-filled “fun zone,” where players can walk among characters from Ryan’s show and, occasionally, with Ryan himself.

• Instead of buying light-up roses and kettle corn, Ryan’s World visitors will trade IRL money (and/or complete gameplay milestones) in exchange for an in-game currency called “gems.” They can use gems to purchase virtual items—similar to how free-to-play Fortnite generates revenue.

There’s also an IRL merch angle: For instance, race cars at the race track are available to buy as physical toys from FAO Schwarz.

Zoom out: Virtual theme parks are just one piece of managing company Pocketwatch’s plan to turn digitally native franchises like Ryan’s into Sesame Street-sized enterprises. As for Roblox, it’s gearing up for a mega-IPO this month.