TL;DR Breakdown
- Australian Open has created a virtual world on Decentraland.
- Fans can interact with their favorite players in the metaverse.
- AO has also launched its own dedicated NFT collections.
The Australian Open, one of the biggest annual tennis tournaments has also stepped into the metaverse and NFT space with this years edition. Earlier this month, the competition announced a partnership with Decentraland promising to bring a virtual version of the event on the 3D platform. The AO virtual world was launched yesterday on Decentraland, and It’s FUN and MASSIVE!
You can enter the AO metaverse by following the link and instructions on its official Twitter feed or the official Discord server. There’s so much to do in this virtual world. You can interact with other fans, play mini-games including obvious tennis, roam around Melbourne and witness some beautiful 3D buildings, and so much more.
There is historic information overlaid on these 3D buildings, including real-time replays of the AO matches. There will also be player drop-ins from time to time, so fans can actually interact with their favorite players inside the virtual world. There are also live virtual fashion shows and after-parties.
These events of course aren’t available all the time. You’ll have to check the AO metaverse event schedule to see when these activities will take place. Otherwise, the vast 3D world of the AO is always open to exploring on Decentraland.
The metaverse is heating up in 2022
The Australian Open is just one of the latest names to join in on the metaverse trend. Just last week, Samsung had also opened a flagship store on Decentraland, allowing users to connect with each other and view the company’s latest products inside the virtual world. Big-name retailers like Walmart is also planning to join the metaverse and launch their own digital space.
The Australian Open is also launching its own NFT collections with tokenized versions of the tournament’s iconic moments over the years. Earlier last year, MotoGP also launched and sold out its first NFT collections. As the trend is heating up, we’ll surely see more brands and sports events enter this space and introduce more creative ideas.
