New Years Eve is a glitzy affair in New York City, as it is in most parts of the world. The celebration in Times Square, for its part, typically accommodates around 58,000 people in the viewing areas. However, due to the pandemic, the numbers will be reduced among other bans. But visitors can also enjoy the New Year’s ball drop from the comfort of their own 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 funder 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, the official programming will begin at 11:00 p.m. EST and will run until 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.
Additionally, the One Times Square Virtual Tower, which covers approximately 170 LAND plots, will feature five buildings, each with distinct exteriors and interiors enabled.
Following the development, Michael Phillips, President of Jamestown, underscored the importance of metaverse with respect to the real estate evolution.
He spoke of the limitation of “physical real estate” restricted primarily to people with “geographic proximity”. According to Phillips, the metaverse, on the other hand, can provide meaningful access to people in different parts of the world using “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.
