January 09, 2023
By Anjali Kochhar
Electronics and communications giant Sony has displayed a brief look at the metaverse experience it is building with the football club Manchester City at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023.
Sony and Manchester City are calling this experience a “proof of concept” (PoC), which will allow players to participate in activities at a virtual version of the team’s Etihad Stadium with their own custom avatars, according to a report by The Verge.
In an official video posted by ‘Sony-Global’, virtual avatars are running around the stadium and field, dancing and celebrating together.
Avatars, 3D images and “other expressions unique to the metaverse” will allow players to communicate “in a new way,” Nami Iwamoto, a senior product planner at Sony, said during the tech giant’s CES 2023 keynote.
Another video demonstrated how Sony used “just seven sensors” to record footage and volumetric data of Manchester City players in order to digitally recreate them in this metaverse space.
According to a tech giant’s spokesperson, the “app” will be released this year, but it is still not clear if the avatar creation, virtual stadium and highlights will all be included in that application.
The partnership was first announced in November 2021. At the time, both Sony and Manchester City used the term “metaverse” and described the effort as a PoC, the report said.
About the author
Anjali Kochhar covers cryptocurrency stories in India as well as globally. Having been in the field of media and journalism for over three years now, she has developed a sharp news sense and works hard to present information that goes beyond the obvious. She is an avid reader and loves writing on a wide range of subjects.
