Is a new immersive 'Ready Player One' experience coming soon?

The film "Ready Player One," directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tye Sheridan as the hero Wade Watts, took in over $580 million at the global box office. Image: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved©

A virtual universe based on the novel and film "Ready Player One" is about to see the light of day. This innovative project could mark a turning point for the metaverse as experienced by the mainstream, offering audiences a new level of immersion.

Readyverse Studios, an offshoot of Futureverse, a company that specializes in innovative technologies related to artificial intelligence and the metaverse, is set to launch in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery an ambitious project: a virtual world inspired by Ernest Cline's famous novel "Ready Player One" and Steven Spielberg's film of the same name. This collaboration marks a giant step forward in the exploration of virtual universes and the convergence of fiction and reality.

The project, set to go live in 2024, aims to create an interactive multi-world metaverse that is accessible to everyone, with the company promising an unprecedented immersive experience for the general public. "Readyverse Studios is laying the groundwork to bring the promise of the open metaverse depicted in Cline's Ready Player One novel and the blockbuster film adaptation into a tangible reality; a multi-world, multi-IP, interoperable open metaverse experience for mass consumers," the company outlined in a press release.

A cinematic crossover?

This aims to create a new space and approach for digital entertainment, and the company hopes it will open up new creative and interactive possibilities for Hollywood studios, talent and brands.

Ernest Cline, co-founder of Readyverse Studios, expressed his hopes for the project to be the beginning of a new way to experience the metaverse: "The future has arrived even more quickly than I imagined .... we have the opportunity to leverage the revolutionary technology Futureverse has been building for several years to bring to life the best possible version of the metaverse. I'm confident with this team, we have the brightest minds and biggest hearts in place to lead us into the next chapter of our collective future."

Also read: From the metaverse to the universe: How technology and education are unifying human exploration of different worlds and realities

Discovery underlines the cultural impact of "Ready Player One" and its potential in the metaverse: "'Ready Player One' has become a cultural touchstone, inspiring technology innovators, creators, and visionaries and we're excited to be partnering with Readyverse Studios to introduce these unique characters, immersive environments and more, to the metaverse across web3."

Published in 2011, the novel "Ready Player One" is set in 2045 in a dystopia. To escape their daily lives, people take refuge in the OASIS, a virtual world, a kind of metaverse before its time. Cline's work was adapted for the big screen in 2018 by Steven Spielberg.

Studios have already drawn on their most successful programs to launch immersive experiences such as interactive exhibitions themed around "Stranger Things," "Batman" and "Harry Potter."

Recently, Netflix also announced the opening of immersive stores inspired by the universes of its biggest hits.