Metaverse – Latest Event Updates

Due to the surge of the pandemic, the world was unable to organize and attend major events. From family and leisure events to launches, exhibitions, and even corporate events, everything came to a hold. However, the event industry experts found a technological way out to fight the situation and pivoted to the concept of virtual events. Now, the industry has found another excellent technology to host diverse events in the virtual world called the Metaverse!

In this blog, we will keep you updated with all the latest events being hosted in the metaverse from time to time!

Samsung Launches the Latest Galaxy S22 in the Metaverse- 9th February

Walking ahead from the traditional way, Samsung chose to spice things up by organizing a launch event for its latest Galaxy smartphone in the metaverse. However, the creative idea didn’t work out for the good as many attendees struggled to access the virtual metaverse venue and underwent various technical difficulties.

The event took place on Wednesday, 9th February on Decentraland, a cryptocurrency-powered virtual space that users can seamlessly build, customize, explore, and trade in. To launch the Galaxy S22 series, Samsung created an immersive 3D replica of Samsung 837, its flagship New York City experience center that the users could explore virtually in the metaverse. The virtual version of the experience center was named Samsung 837X in the metaverse that featured the following engaging aspects:

• Quests
• NFT Prizes
• Limited Supply Collection of Avatar Costumes
• Product Reveal Events
• Live Performances
• Tradeable Digital Assets like Lands & Wearables

Here’s How Everything Was Meant to Work

The interior space of Samsung 837X included the Customization stage, Sustainability Forest, and Connectivity Theater.

The users had to participate in a virtual scavenger hunt within the venue where a digital character would tell them how to embark on the quest. Basically, the event participants had to hunt for ten recyclable product boxes throughout the building that would further be upcycled into something magical. The users further get a seed that will be planted in the Sustainability Forest. However, the last phase of the quest could only be finished on 14th February, where the seed will get users a special NFT Badge representing their love for the forest. Clearly, Samsung tried to mix the unboxing event with everything possible like environmental initiatives, metaverse, NFT, and even Valentine’s Day.

And Here’s How the Samsung Metaverse Launch Executed –The Product Launch or Unpacked Event of Samsung turned out to be full of difficulties and confusion for the users.

Key Highlights of Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Metaverse Event

• Accessibility through VR headsets was barely functional, requiring extra technical knowledge.
• After entering the metaverse, users could create and modify their animated avatars.
• Around a thousand users were waiting outside the virtual building entrance for the doors to open.
• Decentraland runs over 10 servers and in many servers, the door to the event venue did not open on time.
• Challenges followed the users further as they found it difficult to find the unpacked event location.
• Inside Samsung 837X’s connectivity theater, a curved screen represented the real launch event live stream.
• During the launch video streaming, animated characters kept dancing and jumping around, making it difficult to focus on the product launch.
• The event became more about participating in the quest, further leading to the modification of avatar costumes and social initiatives at the sustainability forest.

As experienced by the users, the event failed to pull user focus on the product launch and instead made it more about other metaverse elements.

Asia’s First Metaverse Wedding Reception – 6th February 2022

A young couple from India’s Tamil Nadu brought tradition and technology together to host their wedding reception in the metaverse with their digital replicas or avatars present in the venue. Groom Dinesh SP and bride Janganandhini Ramaswamy organized a virtual reception on 6th February 2022, making it accessible for their friends and family.

Key Highlights of Asia’s First Metaverse Wedding Reception

• The wedding reception took place on a mixed reality based metaverse startup named TardiVerse, the platform took a month to create the virtual event venue.
• The potterhead couple created a Harry-Potter theme for their Metaverse event venue.
• This event had special-edition NFTs introduced by GuardianLink.
• A digital avatar of the bride’s late father was created to be present at the venue and bless the couple.

Being into the Crypto & Blockchain Technology, Groom Dinesh came up with the exceptional idea to take his wedding reception virtual on the metaverse.

The World’s First Metaverse Wedding – 5th February 2022

Ryan and Candice Hurley from Phoenix, Arizona, have become the world’s first couple to get married in the Metaverse. The couple decided to take their big wedding day virtual and tied the knot with their virtual identities in what was the first meta-marriage. The exceptionally immersive wedding ceremony took place in the Rose Law Group’s estate in the Decentraland. The event took place in the presence of witnesses, more than a couple of thousand guests, and also a Supreme Court Justice officiant Clint Bolick.

How was the legal framework followed in the first meta-marriage?

For their wedding day, the bride and the groom chose the Rose Law Group to legally hold and formalize their ceremony. Jordan Rose, the head of the legal group stated how this is the first virtual wedding that is taking place on a blockchain-based metaverse platform. Rose also added that as the Metaverse is still in its infancy, the firm has created a legal paradigm for a legally identified marriage. Also, the essential model for executing the wedding has been determined by the Group, assuring the recognition.

The ceremony took place in a decentralized marriage framework. In this context, the prenuptial agreement is created that specifies all the couple’s digital assets. Not just this but the meta-marriage license also digitally identified, recorded, and tokenized the identities of the couple and the virtual marriage venue on the blockchain as NFT.

However, their no legal explanation of the marriage in the metaverse, and hence, it is yet not possible to say if this marriage will hold a legal status or not. Also, as per American Marriage Ministries, concerned parties should appear as their physical selves and not as their virtual counterparts to proceed with their legal wedding ceremony. Also, most U.S. states don’t even permit couples to marry by an officiant in their remote presence through a video conference.

The Big Day of the Arizona Couple

The couple, Ryan and Candice hosted their dream wedding by bringing various digital aspects to life over an immersive 3D venue in the Metaverse. They also invited a large number of 2000 guests and arranged gifts that were paid in the form of NFT. However, although the event was one of its kind it had its own difficulties and drawbacks.

What Went Wrong?

• Even after Rose’s assurances about the legal aspects of the wedding, many legal experts are still unconvinced with the concept.
• Although the event was held over innovative & advanced blockchain technology, the wedding ceremony faced technical issues.
• Decentraland struggled to handle the number of guests on the platform.
• Depending on the event attendees’ server type, the bride’s digital character was either wearing a dress, a hoodie, or in some instances, was not even visible.
• Many guests had to go to the Rose Group’s Instagram handle where the couple live-streamed their wedding.

India’s First Virtual Concert in the Metaverse – 26th January 2022

The legendary singer of Bollywood, Daler Mehndi has become the first Indian celebrity to perform in a metaverse concert on 26th January 2022, the 73rd Republic Day of India. It was a great treat for fans to see their favorite singer Daler Mehndi, digitally singing and grooving at his super-engaging virtual metaverse concert.

Key Highlights of the Daler Mehndi Metaverse Concert

• The platform named PartyNite.io hosted this event using the latest technology.
• An Avatar of singer Daler Mehndi performing on the virtual venue
• Fans joined the event with their resembling Avatars.
• Users could create, sway, and access their avatar’s actions, like dance moves, jump, and explore the entire metaverse event venue.
• The event was a record-breaker as 200k fans logged in and 20 million people viewed the livestream globally.

This virtual metaverse event witnessed global success with singer Daler Mehndi’s mantra of focus, clear intent, and a happy heart. The singer made the global event attendees and viewers happy by performing in a 3D virtual space using the latest Metaverse technology.

Virtual Concerts in the Metaverse

The world is moving ahead, exploring next level possibilities with the different interactive features of the Metaverse. Artists from across the world have hosted virtual concerts in the metaverse. Let’s take a closer look at the most prominent concerts that took place in the metaverse.

Marshmallow’s Fortnite Concert

Marshmallow remained ahead of time as he organized a highly immersive virtual concert in the Fortnite platform on 2nd February 2019. The viewers came to the virtual concert stage in their digital avatar form. The event was exceptional as experienced by the users. For instance, the beat drop during the concert would throw the audience up in the air, disabling the gravity and creating a whole new virtual experience. The event turned out to be a game changing experience for both the attendees and Fortnite as 10.7 million players turned up to participate in DJ Marshmallow’s virtual concert.

Travis Scott’s Fortnite Concert

Rapper Travis Scott organized an in-game virtual concert in the Fortnite Metaverse titled ‘Astronomical.’ The immersive gaming platform spent a week creating a stage amidst an island chain. During the metaverse event, a big planet consisting of an amusement park and blasting speakers came from the sky with a comet orbiting around it. The idea was absolutely a treat for viewers’ eyes. Mentioned below are the key highlights of the event:

– Travis Scott created a 200ft tall virtual avatar for his virtual concert.

– The interactive venue enabled the users to control their players to a specific extent as their avatars could bounce, float, fly in the outer space or even swim when the entire concert venue was submerged in water.

– The singer performed songs while stomping around the virtual stage, concluding the event with a cameo of Fortnite’ crystal butterfly.

– The concert only lasted for around ten minutes but was attended by tens of millions of fans.

Ariana Grande’s Virtual Metaverse Concert

Epic Games’ Fortnite created yet another live music event experience in the metaverse for singer Ariana Grande from 6th to 8th August 2021. The concert was a multi-day affair and integrated various aspects of the gaming platform like iconic moments & imagery. Similar to previous events, the platform created a virtual avatar of the singer. The venue was a black room lit by stars, floating bubbles in the sky, and the virtual avatar of the singer with a bejeweled hammer.  The event made the players experience a truly engaging virtual world.

Justin Bieber’s First Metaverse Concert

On 19th November 2021, famous American singer Justin Bieber held a 30-minute metaverse concert on Wave, a virtual music platform. During the concert, Bieber sang his then latest album Justice. Here’s the key highlights of Justin Bieber’s Wave concert:

– The virtual concert venue had beautiful golden wheat fields, sunlight, and fireflies floating from the gross, building a connection between the venue & the music.

– Bieber’s real visual appeared in the lower right corner of the users’ screen. The singer was in complete sync with his virtual avatar.

– The concert created a unique audience interaction by enabling them to appear live on the virtual platform alongside the singer and influence his performance & environment in the real time.

– Also, while viewing the live broadcast, the fans could send flowing golden light to the singer based on the scene, doing this, the grass would grow in red, yellow and blue flowers. Get in touch with us to know more about virtual events in the metaverse!