How Virtua is poised to take a giant leap into the metaverse

When Virtua chairman Gary Bracey and I first discussed the concept of Virtua, it was in a coffee shop in 2017. We were there to discuss potentially working together, combining our skill-sets and backgrounds in technology, gaming, licencing and interactive entertainment.

My background is in creating, building gaming and technology businesses. Bracey was part of Ocean Software, the gaming company that pioneered movie and game licencing crossovers from RoboCop to Batman and Jurassic Park.

The convergence of these different elements met in an ambition to create a pioneering business that would be a significant player in the metaverse. Bracey was hoping to provide some consultation on a project, but I’d convinced him to join me and Virtua was born.

Fast forward to 2018, we launched Virtua at a Screening of Ready Player One. We introduced the film as a two-hour trailer, showcasing the company’s ambitions in the metaverse. We were joined by peers and colleagues from various industries who shared our interest in the space, including Epic Games.

Later that year, we were prepared to launch our fully interactive virtual environments, a precursor to the metaverse. But industry’s enthusiasm for expansive virtual worlds had diminished, and the hardware had not been adopted nor developed at the same pace as the software.

We focused on digital collectables, the items that would become the building blocks and objects audiences would take into the metaverse. Our long-term vision to build a metaverse remained the same. We made sure to build premium 3D assets with credible partners and original IPs, poised to enter the metaverse at a later stage.

Virtua officially entered the business in 2020, and we collaborated with partners, including Paramount Pictures and Legendary Entertainment – successfully launching projects in art, entertainment and sport.

In 2021, when Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta, the world suddenly realised the potential of the metaverse. The technology had been developing for some time, but expectations had also become more realistic regarding what the metaverse would be in its initial stages.

We’d also grown to understand that the wider audience is not as interested in a decentralised metaverse and hardcore industry enthusiasts believe this is the only way forward. However, we believe that the metaverse needs to be a controlled and regulated space for mass adoption.

We also believe that a safe environment will ensure that people are protected, a place where brands are happy to do business, encourage interoperability, create community and give NFTs utility.

At Virtua, we’ve continued working on our digital collectables and items while developing virtual environments. We’ve also been developing games designed for the metaverse, where digital items retain value through NFTs.

As of 2022, we’ve completed the first deed sale for our metaverse. Cardano Island is launched, and we’re poised to meet the deed claim event in the coming days.

We’ve also entered into several new partnerships, notably Williams Racing, as their official metaverse partner and collaborated with Kevin Hart. These elements will come together as part of Virtua Prime, our home planet in the Virtua metaverse, which is due to launch in the coming months.

From the humble beginnings of the coffee shop in 2017, Virtua is now poised to take another giant leap into the metaverse.

Jawad Ashraf is the CEO at Virtua

Read: Why is the world moving towards the metaverse?