Sony has completed the acquisition of Beyond Sports, a 3D animation business that specializes in utilizing real-world data. With this acquisition, the company is purportedly now able to deliver a comprehensive metaverse experience for sporting events, including technologies from other companies already in its portfolio.
Sony’s Purchase of Beyond Sports Brings It Closer to the Sports Metaverse
Sony is now entering the field of sports metaverses. The company recently completed the acquisition of Beyond Sports, a 3D image and animation company with the ability to convert real-world data from a sporting event into a metaverse depiction. Nikkei estimates place the price of the transaction at as much as $70 million, despite the fact that exact figures have not been disclosed.
This acquisition, together with the technology of the conglomerate’s other subsidiary, Hawk-Eye Innovations, will enable the corporation to provide real-time content for basketball, baseball, tennis, and football games. The National Football League (NFL) and the National Hockey League (NHL) have utilized technology developed by Hawk-Eye Innovations, which was bought in 2011 and allows identifying the position of the ball at any time.
Virtual Sports Industry
To get these experiences to audiences, another Sony-owned entity may fill the distribution void. Pulselive, a company that maintains multiple sites for sports teams and organizations, might integrate these metaverse experiences on these sites, so providing a new revenue stream and attempting to popularize this new approach to sports.
Sony may also be able to distribute metaverse matches through its Playstation consoles. The business is building a dedicated virtual reality (VR) headset for its system, dubbed Playstation VR 2, which is slated for release in February 2023 and could be used to enjoy metaverse experiences in an immersive manner.
Sony has already experimented with metaverse and NFT (non-fungible token) technologies, filing a series of patents to trace the history and ownership of in-game assets using NFTs. Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has previously indicated that Sony’s primary aim is to develop an entertainment-centered metaverse using all of the brand’s available resources.
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