Sony Acquires Beyond Sports to Expand Metaverse Solutions
Entertainment and electronics giant Sony has recently completed the acquisition of Beyond Sports, a company specializing in using real-world data to produce 3D animation. The buyout will enable Sony to offer a full metaverse experience for sporting events.
Sony Moves Closer to the Sports Metaverse
Sony has moved closer to the sports metaverse segment. The
company recently closed the acquisition of Beyond Sports, a 3D imaging and
animation company that possesses the technology to transform real information from
a sporting event into a metaverse representation. Although the acquisition
costs were not released, they are believed to be as high as USD 70 million,
according to Nikkei estimations.
The acquisition of Beyond Sports, along with the technology of
Hawk-Eye Innovations, another company owned by the group, will allow the
company to produce, in real-time, content relating to basketball, baseball,
tennis, and football matches. Hawk-Eye Innovations, acquired in 2011, produces
the technology that allows pinpointing the ball at any time and has been used
by the National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL).
Combining the two technologies enables Sony to create a digital,
accurate representation of a field or a court, featuring realistic ball and
player movement.
The Virtual Sports Market
Sony can fill the distribution gap by using another group
company to transmit the experiences to audiences. Pulselive, a company that
operates several sites for sports teams, will be able to include the metaverse
experiences, creating a new line of revenue while popularizing the sporting
events.
Sony can also provide metaverse matches by utilizing its
Playstation console line as a distribution device. The company is developing a
virtual reality (VR) headset exclusively for its console, dubbed Playstation VR
2 that is set for release in February 2023 and could be used to enjoy the metaverse
experiences in an immersive manner.
Sony has experimented with the metaverse and NFT (non-fungible token) technology. It has also filed a set of patents to use NFTs as a way of tracking the history and ownership of in-game assets. Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has also stated before that Sony’s "priority is to create a metaverse around entertainment," using all of the tools that the brand has for this purpose.
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