Disney Star, the Indian arm of media conglomerate Walt Disney is all set to announce Starverse Metaverse

After a month-long and rigorous proof-of-concept testing, Walt Disney, a California-based media giant is all set to launch its metaverse platform in India.

The Starverse will bring Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 into an immersive 3D platform by offering real-time user interaction. Users will be able to enter the platform ‘at scale’ and this is the first metaverse initiative in India with an ‘always-on’ experience.

Commenting on the Starverse launch, Sanjog Gupta, the Head of Sports, Star & Disney India said

“Our metaverse is called the Starverse and the first iteration of this is an immersive 3D ecosystem for the sports fan. The sports genre organically lends itself to a multi-platform, multi-modal, and communal experience.”

Sanjog Gupta

Entering the Starverse

Before the year 2022, the company was known as Star India. After the rebranding as ‘Disney Star’, the media company got an astounding 790 million views per month across India. With Starverse, viewers will get an opportunity to experience the biggest cricket competition in India in the metaverse.

Disney Star is working with multiple agencies to develop the Starverse, said Gupta. “Three different agencies are working on the tech backend, 3D models & environments, and gamification of the experience”, as per Gupta.

The Starverse news came to the surface when Disney Star streamed its first-ever AR film, “Remembering” featuring Brie Larson. Viewers were able to enjoy the movie via smartphones on the Disney+TV app.

Disney is not a newcomer to the metaverse  

In September 2022, Disney CEO Bob Chapek revealed that

“Disney was planning to use data obtained from metaverse visits to create experiences for consumers with content from some of the company’s leading content producers including Marvel and Lucasfild studios.”

Bob Chapek, Disney CEO

Back in July 2022, the company also launched a startup accelerator program for NFTs. In January same year, Disney claimed a patent for ‘Virtual World Simulator’ an augmented reality platform without VR or AR headsets.

Conclusion

Sporting events can draw people’s attention better than any other avenue. For example, Australian Open recently streamed their 2^nd successive tournament in the metaverse space with greater success. With this in mind, it is expected that Disney’s move to the metaverse keeping IPL at the forefront, will be a successful venture.

The featured image is taken from eventpreneur