NBA Team Launches 3d Virtual ‘netaverse’ To Engage Fans
The Brooklyn Nets NBA basketball franchise has created its own virtual world that has been dubbed the ‘Netaverse’, becoming the first professional sports team to embark on such a high-profile endeavour in the space.
The Nets’ move into the virtual world builds on the concept of the metaverse – a virtual world that has been championed by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, who changed the name of Facebook’s parent company to Meta late last year.
The initiative will essentially enable 3D lifelike renderings of players to be created for fans to view in virtual reality within seconds of the action taking place on the court.
The Netaverse utilises more than 100 high-resolution cameras that capture a 360-degree virtual-reality experience at home games.
The images are fed into Canon’s Free Viewpoint System, which then generates the 3D models and images of every player. Fans can position themselves anywhere along the court’s sidelines, or even in the middle of the court, to consume the action at every possible angle.
The Nets tested out the new technology for its fans on 15th January when the team hosted the New Orleans Pelicans on Brooklyn’s home court, the Barclays Center.
The franchise has not commented publicly about the development, but did retweet a post by YES Network about the innovation.
However, there have been previous indications of the Nets’ interest in the metaverse and the technology that supports the concept.
In October, the franchise agreed a partnership with blockchain-based fan engagement platform Socios.com and said that it was seeking “new and unique ways to engage with our fans”.
Image credit: Erik Cleves Kristensen – CC BY 2.0 – Edited for size
