Move over, Hogwarts Legacy: There’s a new way for fantasy fans to immerse themselves in a franchise’s scholastic setting. A Roblox world called The Academy lets players explore the school that will appear in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
At The Academy, Roblox players can enroll in classes, which will be taught and attended by characters from Songbirds & Snakes. The interactive experience is designed to resemble the set from the upcoming film, which will arrive in theaters on November 17. The cast of Songbirds & Snakes includes Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, and Rachel Zegler, and the film is set 64 years before the events of the first Hunger Games book.
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
Virtual classes will begin on October 1, with new challenges launching every two weeks. Roblox players who enroll as students can score exclusive items and watch Songbirds & Snakes content in The Academy’s broadcast room.
The Academy Adventures initiative will excite the Hunger Games fans who have longed for a video game based on the dystopian franchise. Though Suzanne Collins’ books have arguably influenced the rise of battle royale games, first-party Hunger Games titles have been few and far between.
Fanmade versions of The Hunger Games are common within Roblox, but this is the first time that distributor Lionsgate has sanctioned an official Roblox tie-in for its blockbuster film series. More than 25,000 students have already enrolled in The Academy.
Lionsgate is not the first company to use Roblox as a marketing tool. The sandbox platform, sometimes described as a gateway to the metaverse, has hosted campaigns from Spotify and Chipotle, among others.
