Here’s what happened this week in metaverse-related news.

Facebook Gaming Is Buying Unit 2 Games

Facebook Gaming announced that it is buying Unit 2 Games, the gaming studio behind Crayta, a Roblox-like game creation platform. According to Crayta’s website, the company wants to grow the game and the community with Facebook's help and hopes to bring their game to as many people as possible so they can make, play and share games.

Coach Partners With Arlene To Present Signature City

Luxury American brand, Coach, and Arlene collaborated to create “Signature City,” an immersive shopping game experience that includes retro 3D designs, social interactions, purchasing products, and other interactive elements. “Signature City” was launched on TMall.

Khalid, The Killers, Grimes And Charli XCX To Headline Splendour XR Virtual Music Festival

Music festival Splendour XR virtual edition lets users create virtual characters, interact with other festivalgoers and roam around a simulation of the festival grounds. The event features live-stream performances from top names like Chvrches, Pink, The Killers and Grimes Metaverse (Super Beta). Set to take place on July 24 and 25, Splendour XR can be experienced on mobile devices, computers, or a virtual reality set for the full VR experience.

Neil Blomkamp’s New Film Includes Volumetric Video

Demonic, a supernatural horror film produced and directed by District 9 Director, Neill Blomkamp, incorporated volumetric video into the film. Blomkamp teamed up with  Volumetric Camera Systems, which participated in the production where dozens of different camera arrays caught over 400TB of footage. Some of the volumetric video can be seen at the beginning of the movie’s trailer and could signal interesting things to come in how Hollywood will incorporate volumetric capture and video into future productions. Demonic will be released in August.

Voice’s New NFT Residency Seeks To Empower Creators

Voice, an NFT Platform for emerging creators, announced a new NFT Residency. Voice collaborated with leaders in arts and culture, including Kimberly Drew, Alexander Gilkes, Misan Harriman, Brittany Kaiser, Chad Knight, and Azu Nwagbogu. The purpose is to join creators with true fans bringing them together to create and connect. The NFT Residency will collectively build and mint NFTs with the theme ‘Raise Our Voice.’

NTWRK To Launch Livestreaming Shopping of NFTs

NTWRK, a mobile video shopping platform that blends entertainment and commerce, will be introducing an NFT extension into its platform. According to the company, this extension happened because NTWRK studied its audience, finding out that 35% owns a digital wallet or crypto holdings, and 10% has already bought an NFT. NTWRK is hoping to match the digital NFTs with physical objects creating an added value experience.

Hour One Seeks To Optimize Customer Service Experience

Hour One announced its partnership with ALICE Receptionist on June 3rd. ALICE Receptionist, a visitors management solution technology, will use photoreal avatars and video technology to automatize receptionist duties, offering an optimized customer service experience with multiple languages and dialects suitable for different markets. The new avatars will also help businesses with Covid-19 health and safety policies for visitors entering an office or building. 

Jerri Ellsworth’s Tilt Five Pushes Forward

Tilt Five, a California-based company that engages players in tabletop and videogames in 3D shared holographic environments launched its Developer Program. The aim of the program is to lift qualified PC, mobile, and VR/AR game developers and bring games to the Tilt Five System. Anyone around the globe can apply to the program with Windows or Android-based games, both single and multiplayer games, ideally completed or shipped games, and other requirements. Here’s a preview video that the company shared this week announcing the program.

MLB Moves From Trading Cards To NFTs

Major League Baseball is launching NFTs with a new company, Candy Digital, led by Fanatics’ Chairman Michael Rubin. Candy Digital will mint the baseball NFTs in the Ethereum Blockchain, where fans will be able to purchase, collect, view, and trade MLB NFTs. On July 4th, it will be available for bidding the first MLB NFT: a Lou Gehrig collectible, honoring his “Luckiest Man” speech when he retired after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. 

Auroboros Innovates At London Fashion Week

Auroboros is a science/tech couture house creating for both the physical and digital worlds that will show at the London Fashion Week’s DiscoveryLAB on June 12. The company will show a digital-only ready-to-wear 14 piece Biomimicry Collection. Auroboros is planning a mixed reality experience with physical models wearing digital clothing and they are working with The Institute of Digital Fashion to create a London billboard introducing an AR try-on experience using Snapchat technology.

Rick Ross Breaks Into Cryptocurrency With World's First Automotive NFT

Rapper Rick Ross teamed up with abstract artist and luxury car designer Rich B. Caliente to customize a 2021 Porsche 911 Carrera. NFT management company Slash Dot launched the NFT that includes not only the digital asset but the real-world car. Porsche 911 NFT goes up for auction at the Bitcoin Conference in Miami starting June 4 with a portion of proceeds going to the South Florida-based Irie Foundation that supports the health and social needs of children in South Florida.

Sotheby's Introducing Digital Copy Of London Gallery In Decentraland

Sotheby's announced Friday it is working with the Decentraland metaverse on a virtual gallery. The gallery is a digital replica of Sotheby's London New Bond Street Galleries. Michael Bouhanna, head of sales at Sotheby's stated, "We see spaces like Decentraland as the next frontier for digital art where artists, collectors and viewers alike can engage with one another from anywhere in the world and showcase art that is fundamentally scarce and unique, but accessible to anyone for viewing".

This edition of Metaverse Weekly was created with the help of Rob Crasco.