Interest in the metaverse continues to grow, the latest major project on which Mark Zuckerberg and the giant Meta Platforms are focusing. Zuckerberg’s company is making a $ 10 billion investment in the virtual world that he believes will become the standard for social networking, gaming, and even work. One of the latest partnerships has been made with the National Basketball Association, the leading professional basketball league in the United States and Canada.
Sports, the NBA is visible on the metaverse
This collaboration will allow, through Oculus Quest 2 viewers, which cost $ 299, to watch matches as if you were directly inside an arena. Currently this is limited to those who reside in a geographic area where the game is not broadcast on TV and who have a subscription to League Pass, a sports television service offering all NBA games, operated by Turner Broadcasting System.
For now, this feature is only valid for some games, such as the one last January 10 between Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers. To be able to see the game it was also necessary to have Horizon Venues, the platform from which you can watch the events in the metaverse, downloadable for free for your viewer.
Sport, NBA: how vision works in the metaverse
The vision of the match was made possible by 6 cameras scattered around the TD Garden, which allowed users to be able to see the match from different angles. The user can also choose between two “zones”, one in which it is possible to interact and speak freely with other people who are watching the game in the metaverse at that moment, the other is a sort of private “balcony” and more calm.
However, there was no shortage of problems: Jabari Young, one of the CNBC reporters who attended the event, talked about some avatar-related bugs, especially in case of intermittent connection. Another problem encountered is the quality of the images, especially when compared with that of the latest generation televisions. The frame rate is not very stable, almost closer to that of a video game than a live event.
Young also spoke of poor interaction with the event commentators and moderators. The experience turned out to be positive overall and the potential is truly incredible, so much so that other matches have already been set in which it will be possible to repeat the experiment, such as today, January 17, 2022, between Oklahoma and Dallas.
Rob Shaw, Director of Sports Partnerships of Meta Platforms, has made it clear that this type of events will be more and more frequent and are working to improve their use, with the aim of making the vision available to an ever wider audience.
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