Peloton Has Been in Gaming For Years
Last week’s tech news was dominated by companies entering the gaming space. Peloton, Netflix [PDF] and Zoom each announced new plans to offer some degree of gaming on their platforms.
Peloton’s announcement seemed to surprise people the most.
Ashley Carman at the The Verge reported:
Peloton is entering the video game business. Today the company announced its latest idea to get people to exercise: an in-app video game tentatively called Lanebreak. The game, which will only be available for Peloton bike owners and subscribers, involves riders changing their cadence and resistance to meet various goals and control an on-screen rolling wheel. Players can choose a difficulty level, the type of music they want to hear, and the duration of the track before starting.
The idea is only a slight departure from Peloton’s winning formula.
Read Carman’s description again, but imagine she’s describing a typical Peloton class.
…will only be available for Peloton bike owners and subscribers…
Just like every other Peloton cycling class.
…involves riders changing their cadence and resistance to meet various goals…
Just like every other Peloton cycling class.
…Players can choose a difficulty level, the type of music they want to hear, and the duration.
Just like every other Peloton cycling class.
Or watch this trailer, also with Alex Toussaint, for his Ride to Greatness series, where team Activate and team Validate competed head to head in real time in a series of “games.”
The win for Peloton here is not the opportunity in gaming. The win is that they’ve earned the right to explore new ways to serve customers and ride new growth curves.
Peloton created a category and built a brand that stands for innovation, among other things. As long as the company maintains that brand pillar, adjacent opportunities in the connected fitness space are theirs to explore.
A few ideas:
Guest co-instructors (not celebrity-inspired classes)
Celebrity interview rides (a la late-night TV talk shows)
Episodic content (more entertainment than motivation)
Connected fitness apparel (a distinctive lifestyle brand with automated data capture)
Other wearables (more lifestyle brand elements, more data)
One of Peloton’s greatest advantages is the freedom their customers give them (want them) to innovate. Games quickly become just one of many ways for the company to drive growth and attract new customers.