New Year’s Eve Party is a glitzy affair in NYC, as with most parts of the world. The celebration in Times Square, for one, generally accommodates around 58,000 people in viewing areas. However, due to the pandemic, the figures will be scaled down among other prohibitions. But visitors can also enjoy New Year’s Eve ball drop from the comfort of their homes – in the metaverse.
New Year’s Eve on Metaverse
The global real estate firm and the owner of One Times Square in Manhattan, Jamestown, and the cryptocurrency giant Digital Currency Group (DCG) have partnered to recreate the iconic tower of the New Year’s Eve ball drop in the popular blockchain-based virtual world – Decentraland.
Interestingly, DCG is a long-time backer as well as one of the largest owners of digital real estate (“LAND”) in Decentraland.
The virtual space of One Times Square will be unveiled with the global party dubbed “MetaFest 2022 NYE Party” on December 31st. The virtual guests will be able to take part in immersive games, as well as enjoy music and entertainment acts, rooftop VIP lounges, NFT art galleries, and more.
According to the official announcement, official programming will commence at 11:00 PM. EST and will extend to the early hours of 2022.
The Construction of Virtual 26-story Tower and MetaFest’22
New Year’s Eve celebrations focused on Times Square have a century-long history. The MetaFest 2022 NYE Party contains a modern twist that depicts the need of the hour, especially with the rising COVID-19 cases. To construct and operate the iconic celebration on Decentraland, two metaverse firms – GrowYourBase and MetaVenture Studios – have joined forces.
Besides, the virtual One Times Square tower, which covers around 170 LAND parcels, will have five buildings, each with distinct exteriors and activated interiors.
Following the development, Michael Phillips, President of Jamestown, underscored the importance of metaverse with respect to the real estate evolution.
He spoke about the limitation of “physical real estate” constricted mainly to individuals with “geographic proximity.” According to Phillips, metaverse, on the other hand, can offer meaningful access to people to different places across the world with the help of “immersive virtual experiences.”
“Recreating One Times Square in the Decentraland metaverse is part of a larger digital asset strategy to evolve and enhance our physical real estate for Web 3.0 and open new pathways for our assets to existing in multiple metaverses in the future.” – he added.
Featured Image Courtesy of BillBoard