Mine It. Make It. Flaunt It.
Samsung · We Are Social · 2022 · Role: Executive Creative Director · Awards: iF Design Award 2023, IDEA Featured Finalist 2023
Clocked 16 million visits, with 5.9 million in the first few days alone. While the average Roblox session sits around five minutes, our most dedicated players stayed for over three hours.
See the experience: SpaceTycoon.com
How do you advertise to a generation that skips ads in three seconds?
Gen Z doesn’t watch ads. They play. So instead of making another product spot they’d skip, we built them somewhere to hang out.
The idea
Space Tycoon is a Samsung game on Roblox where players stop being an audience and start making things. They mine rare resources on an alien planet, build their own Samsung products, and compete to run the busiest space station in the galaxy. Nobody watches a commercial. Everybody plays.
How It Works
1. Mine. Players drop onto the planet and head into three distinct zones: the Pink Desert, the Green Forest, and the Cosmic Cave. Common materials like copper and crystal are easy to find. The rare resources, like Fantastic Emerald and Cosmic Cobalt, only start appearing after you level up.
2. Make. Back at the Lab, an alien crew transforms your mined resources into recognizable Samsung hardware: Galaxy Z Flip, Galaxy Z Fold, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Tab, The Sero, and Jet Bot. Rainbow Stones decide the final finish at random, rolling Bespoke (70%), Gold (20%), or Platinum (10%), so every build carries a slight element of chance.
3. Show Off. Players display up to 20 of their custom creations on the YouMake Stage to earn Star Points. The top player becomes Manager of Samsung Station and earns the right to distribute gifts. The title changes hands every five minutes, keeping the competition active.
4. Level Up. Star Coins unlock upgrades that speed up the whole operation. Lemonade from the Greenhouse keeps the alien workforce energized. Inside the shop, hardware turns into usable gear: the Z Flip converts into a backpack, Jet Bot becomes a hoverboard, and The Sero TV turns into a helicopter.
The result
Space Tycoon launched on July 12, 2022, in 14 languages at once, with more than 20 Samsung products and a steady stream of updates. It put Samsung in front of Gen Z on their terms. Not in a store or on a TV, but in their hands.
What I did
Ran Samsung creative at We Are Social, leading a 22-person department.
We’d already been testing game mechanics on Roblox, so we hit the ground running when the brief landed.
Gave the team one rule: build a game people actually want to play. If the branding gets in the way of the fun, players leave.
The average Roblox visit lasts five minutes. Our best players stayed three hours.
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