Short video platform Triller Inc is the latest company to bet on the metaverse with the launch of a new platform called Metaverz on Monday.
Triller said its Metaverz offers virtual spaces where users can gather to watch live music and sporting events, such as the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship or Triller Fight Club, and interact with artists and other fans.
Their first event takes place on October 22 with DJ Sam Feldt performing an electronic set from the Netherlands and then entering the Metaverz virtual nightclub as an avatar to mingle with guests. The virtual presentation is one of 2,000 events that Triller and its subsidiaries plan to host in the coming year, most of which will take place in the real world and on Metaverz.
“We are carefully selecting all our events and experiences so that people understand what they are doing”, Christopher Taurosa, director of Metaverz. “It’s not like you’re walking around aimlessly… You have the opportunity to participate in an event.”
Triller’s Metaverz will compete with more resourceful rivals like Meta Platforms Inc, which has spent billions of dollars to create an immersive digital environment where people socialize, play games and work. Its flagship game, Horizon Worlds, has struggled to gain a foothold, attracting just 200,000 users, according to documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
In a preview, Triller showed off the virtual environments the company has been building for the past two years, including a sports stadium, beach houses surrounded by water and palm trees, and a nightclub with projection screens, laser lights, and marble floors. . Group seating areas provide places for users to talk to each other, either as avatars or through live video that appears in an on-screen dialog.
Metaverz can be accessed through any device connected to the Internet, through a browser.
The company is working with Epik to create games within its Metaverz. Players can earn digital currency, called Illr Bucks, which can be used to purchase virtual clothing, customize their avatars, or purchase tickets to events hosted by Triller or its creators.
Video-sharing app Triller launched in its current form in October 2019 and has been looking to take on bigger rival TikTok. The company added new content and features to the platform with the acquisitions of live music streaming platform Verzuz, founded by Grammy-winning producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, combat sports brands Bare Knuckle Fighting and Fite.tv, and Fangage, Julius and Amplify. ai, whose technologies help creators connect with and monetize their fan base.
Triller recently raised $310 million from Global Emerging Markets, a Luxembourg-based private investment group, in anticipation of going public next month.
Triller CEO Mahi de Silva said the company is losing money but expects to reach profitability by 2023.
It has come into conflict with one of the world’s largest music companies, Sony Music Entertainment, which filed a lawsuit against Triller in New York’s federal district court in August, seeking millions of dollars in damages after the video-sharing app will reportedly stop paying license fees. March 22nd. De Silva described the lawsuit as a ploy in license negotiations.
The Washington Post also reported this summer that black influencers, who had been recruited to the platform a year ago with promises of $4,000 a month, say those payments have been erratic and, in some cases, non-existent.
“We had some setbacks at the beginning of the year,” de Silva said. “But we are 100% up to date.”
