Sony has had a busy CES 2023 so far. The gaming and tech giant has made plenty of new announcements, and one of those announcements was a new virtual stadium experience where you can hang out with your friends and watch soccer games in the metaverse.
Yesterday’s Sony CES 2023 presentation was absolutely packed. We were able to see the first images of the grand tourism movie, as well as getting a first look at the new Project Leonardo PS5 accessibility controller. On top of those innovations, Sony also gave us a look at an experience it’s currently calling “Virtual Fan Engagement.”
The idea behind this initiative is to recreate iconic sports venues and stadiums within the metaverse. Fans can hang out in these spaces, watch sporting events together, and watch game moments from different angles, including player views and more. You can view a trailer showcasing the Virtual Fan Engagement experience here.
(embed)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Ul0NqoSEE(/embed)
The trailer shows a complete recreation of the iconic Etihad Stadium, the venue of choice for English football team Manchester City (with whom Sony is collaborating on this venture). Fans are seen celebrating City goals, jumping for joy when the team wins and reliving epic moments from the game using an interface that allows them to see the action from the point of view of several different players.
at CES presentation itself (section starts around 7:39 p.m. in case the timestamp misses), Sony’s senior product planner Nami Iwamoto says part of the plan is to help fans who otherwise can’t travel to stadiums to “feel the atmosphere” and share the “excitement and excitement” of a match with others. Naturally, you’ll also be able to create avatars within this metaverse and interact with others using those avatars.
The presentation also features talking heads like Haven Studios’ Jade Raymond, musician Lil Nas X, and Bungie’s director of development Justin Truman, discussing what the metaverse (and continued live game development) can bring to the world. Players. It may not convince the skeptics, but it’s still interesting to hear about some of the accessibility applications for metaverse technology.
Sony seems to be throwing itself completely behind the Fortnite idea of a metaverse, that is, a virtual hangout space where you and your friends can attend events or do other things together. The company has yet to nail its NFT and blockchain colors to the mast. When asked if its PlayStation Stars program offered NFTs to gamers as a reward, Sony categorically stated that it did not, but a patent was discovered late last year that suggested some sort of NFT initiative from Sony might be in the works. We’ll have to wait and see.