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EXCLUSIVE: PixelMax and Verse Digital formed a partnership

The Immersive Wire - 20 March 2023 (Monday Briefing)

Author

Tom Ffiske
March 20, 2023

Executive summary

Welcome to your weekly briefing on the metaverse. Here are your snippets to sound smarter in meetings this week:

  • Exclusive: PixelMax and Verse Digital formed a partnership to help brands adopt web3 capabilities (analysis below).

  • Headline: Google Glass Enterprise has been discontinued (analysis below).

  • Stat of the week: First-quarter investments into generative AI outstripped the metaverse by $1.7bn.

  • Conversation-starter: Fatboy Slim (yes, that Fatboy Slim) will perform on the ENGAGE platform.

  • Other stories: FitXR announced new app integration with Strava, Runiverse announced a collaboration with Polygon, and Lamina1 announced partners to develop an open metaverse (more below).

I moved house over the weekend, and my home is a complete and utter mess. It is like someone set off a box and clothing bomb in my living room, and the casualty is my free time this weekend. I also spoke to Finextra about digital identity in the metaverse.

Tom Ffiske, Editor of the Immersive Wire

Analysis

EXCLUSIVE: PixelMax and Verse Digital formed a partnership to help brands adopt web3 capabilities.

  • Who are they? PixelMax is a metaverse streaming platform designed around delivering high-fidelity content, while Verse Digital is a metaverse consultancy and creative development studio helmed by two Decentraland veterans. The former recently announced a partnership with Hadean, while the latter is working with Metacom.

  • What are they doing? The partnership will help brands and organisations create a photorealistic standalone presence, in line with their goals. “We can't wait to grow our relationship and build amazing activations for our clients," said Justin Edwards, CEO and founder of Verse Digital.

  • Why PixelMax? Experience, primarily. “Over the last two years we have streamed over 182,000 hours of metaverse experiences,” said Andy Sands, Co-Founder of PixelMax. “So we are in a great position to support Verse on major global applications.”

  • Thoughts on capabilities: We are seeing a fair few partnerships come out of the metaverse space, joining capabilities with clients who are interested in exploring more. Companies do this to cover each other’s backs, or to draw in more work - though I am curious to hear how partnerships themselves evolve as an industry shifts with the times.

Google announced that it would no longer sell Glass Enterprise Edition.

  • In a short statement, the company thanked readers for 'over a decade of innovation and partnership[s].' It ends the journey from a consumer-version in 2013, to a more enterprise focus in 2017. This may not be the end of its smart glasses line, but it does nip one bud that was birthed from its history.

  • Does that mean Google is doing no more AR? Not quite, and it would be inaccurate to say to. Google Lens is still running, as is the (great) AR and VR team at Google. It is better to think that it is refocusing its items, while depositing another item into the Google Graveyard.

Other notable stories

Got any stories? Let me know at tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com.

  • AIXR and the VR Awards will return to Immersive Tech Week at de Doelen in Rotterdam.

  • Dubai parents believe that AI, VR and the metaverse will impact their children’s future the most.

  • FitXR announced new app integration with Strava.

  • Lamina1 announced partners to develop an open metaverse.

  • Maestro: The Masterclass is now available for free on VIVE XR Elite.

  • Recto VRso, a digital art festival, will happen between 12-16 April.

  • Runiverse announced a collaboration with Polygon.

  • Second Life is getting a mobile version of the game. 

    • (The game reported 900,000 active users during the pandemic - not bad for a 20-year-old game that didn’t feel the need to shove web3 capabilities into its services).

  • Pimax is launching the #PimaxStreamer campaign to help promote their channels as well as the VR industry.

Help corner

Need some assistance from other readers? Let me know at tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com.

  • Headonists, a UK-based XR community, is looking to compile XR-related events within a single calendar. The calendar itself can be found here, and the submission is here.

That's all for this week! Want to have a chat, let me know about a news story, or talk business? Contact tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com. Have an excellent day!