McDonald’s Just Launched Its Own Metaverse—And Grimace NFT Owners Are VIPs

McDonald’s Singapore now has its own metaverse world called “My Happy Place,” offered through its official app in collaboration with Bandwagon Labs—and people who own official Grimace NFTs launched in 2023 get special perks in the digital locale.

The 3D online environment allows users to play games like Build-A-Burger, envision future McDonald’s restaurant designs, and participate in daily contests offering real-life food deals and prizes through the Wheel of Deals feature. My Happy Place runs on Bandwagon’s own BW.LAND tech, rather than in another metaverse platform or game.

“We’re excited to launch McDonald’s Singapore’s first digital experience. Our customers can dress their avatars in McDonald’s outfits, design their dream restaurant, and win daily phygital rewards, elevating how they experience McDonald’s,” said Drina Chee, Senior Director, Marketing & Digital Customer Experience at the fast food giant, in a release.

McDonald’s Singapore and Bandwagon Labs previously collaborated last year on a series of 2,000 NFTs based on the purple marketing character, Grimace.

Each was free to claim via the local McDonald’s app and featured a randomized design for Grimace—and the “soulbound” tokens also couldn’t be traded after the mint via Ethereum scaling network Polygon.

Now those holders will be able to access special features in My Happy Place, thanks to a token-gating feature. Grimace NFT owners can unlock exclusive wearable items in the game, explore a secret island in the world, and “display Grimace portraits in the Restaurant of the Future,” per a release.

Also in 2023, McDonald’s Hong Kong launched McNuggets Land, a limited-time experience in Ethereum metaverse game The Sandbox with NFT and token rewards for players.

Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.