When people first read Ernest Cline’s metaverse-focused novel Ready Player One, it wasn’t received well by the readers. But when Steven Spielberg took charge and brought the novel to life, people went bananas, in a positive way. Now the franchise is expanding to the real world with artificial intelligence (AI) and metaverse company Futureverse through a number of collaborators associated with the franchise.
Readyverse Getting Ready For A Launch
Other than Ernest Cline, Futureverse co-founders Shara Senderoff and Aaron McDonald, and Ready Player One movie producer Dan Farah joined the ranks to form Readyverse Studios. The initiative will leverage technologies including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), web3, and more.
They are calling this metaverse The Readyverse, “a dynamic interactive platform of interconnected digital experiences.” Moreover, it will be an open metaverse. Only Roblox and Fortnite have come close to such a definition, although there’s no permanent definition for the metaverse yet. It is believed to be a mesh of virtual worlds connected to each other.
“Readyverse Studios has partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to exclusively bring the Ready Player One franchise to the metaverse across web3,” the announcement notes. “In addition, Readyverse Studios maintains exclusive web3 rights to all future IPs from the legendary futurist, Ernest Cline. Additional brands and franchises joining The Readyverse will be announced soon.”
Dan Farah hinted at this initiative providing new “opportunities for Hollywood studios, talent, and brands to create new revenue streams and creative outlets for brand expansion.” While everyone should get excited about getting into the feel of what they witnessed back in the 2018 sci-fi action film, they must remember the scarcity of technologies in the real world to access a world like Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation (OASIS).
Virtual worlds are defined by gaming at its heart initially, but real-world use cases of digital worlds have shifted the focus to new utilities. People can socialize on virtual beaches giving off the vibes similar to Praia do Cassino, shop in virtual malls, sit with a therapist, and more. All this sounds interesting but it must carry realism to it, or people may not be able to differentiate between a game and a ‘world.’
Steven Spielberg’s movie showcased an omnidirectional treadmill to run around in the digital twin freely. The technology currently exists and few companies have actually manufactured it. Yet, the crux of the matter is the availability to the general public. Even the basic requirement to access virtual worlds, head-mounted displays (HMDs), are priced at around $500 each. Then there are HMDs like Apple Vision Pro that will cost $3,500 per piece.
Ready Player One depicts a metaverse fueled by a desire to escape the harsh dystopian reality through a digital entertainment universe created by Gregarious Simulation Systems. The details of Readyverse are sparse at the time, but the amalgamation of web3 and the metaverse would spring out speculations in what many have declared a dead space.
