The New Year’s Eve Ball Drop Celebration at One Times Square is returning to the metaverse with two immersive, virtual experiences: Virtual New Year’s Eve (VNYE) and MetaFest 2023.
“Virtual experiences like VNYE and MetaFest add a new, immersive dimension to the iconic celebration that is New Year’s Eve in Times Square and is a glimpse of what’s to come at One Times Square.We believe the future will be defined by the thoughtful integration of the virtual and physical worlds, optimized for user experience. We continue to reimagine how spaces and events like New Year’s Eve can be experienced by leveraging the power of AR/VR technologies, web3, and virtual activations,” said Jamestown president One Times Square owner Michael Phillips.
“Times Square New Year’s Eve is a global celebration that connects the world as we collectively say goodbye to the year past and look with hope to the year ahead.Jamestown has deepened those connections through these VNYE and MetaFest experiences, adding new layers and dimensions to this iconic celebration in ways that we never could have imagined,” said Times Square Alliance president Tom Harris.
VNYE
Through the VNYE app and website, people from across the globe can explore the virtual world of Times Square, play games, and livestream New Year’s Eve celebrations in Times Square and around the world. The experience will include Wonderama’s live family-friendly broadcast and livestreams of New Year’s Eve festivities from countries around the world, culminating with the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop Celebration in Times Square at midnight.
Users can create personalized avatars, explore the Times Square Plazas, collect confetti to earn points for additional avatar customizations, and visit the observation deck at One Times Square to view the virtual world of Times Square from above.
Inside One Times Square, users can discover three unique and immersive games: Dance World, where users show off their dance skills; Nature World, where users can take in various nature landscapes and engage in a scavenger hunt to collect pieces of the iconic New Year’s Eve Ball; and Zero G, where users can travel around the globe through a slide experience, visiting an array of the world’s landmarks while earning power-ups and points along the way.
At midnight on New Year’s Eve, users can ring in the new year in the Times Square metaverse with a virtual Ball Drop Celebration and fireworks show. VNYE will offer nine live camera feeds in Times Square and two EarthCam live streams of New Year’s Eve celebrations from around the globe.
Jamestown, the owner of One Times Square, launched VNYE in 2020 as a new way to celebrate New Year’s Eve amid the pandemic and cancelation of in-person celebrations. The VNYE app is available for download in app stores now, with livestreams starting 31December 2022.
MetaFest
The virtual One Times Square (-111, -113) in Decentraland will host MetaFest 2023, a global party featuring live DJ sets, interactive games, exclusive New Year’s Eve wearables, and countdown to midnight. The virtual party, now in its second iteration, starts at 11:00 p.m. ET.
In 2021, Jamestown partnered with Digital Currency Group to recreate One Times Square in Decentraland. The virtual space hosted the inaugural MetaFest global party for New Year’s Eve 2022.
Background
VNYE and MetaFest are part of a broader digital integration at One Times Square. In April, Jamestown announced the $500 million redevelopment of One Times Square as a 21st century visitor center for New York City. In addition to a new viewing deck and museum experience, the redevelopment will also include a next generation brand experience offering brands the added ability to connect with their customers in Times Square through immersive, technology-enabled activations. The interactive experiences will encompass 12 floors and include digital, virtual, and augmented reality integrations.
In August, One Times Square launched Concrete Jungle AR, a large-scale, app-based augmented reality experience that brought an AR safari to Times Square, transforming Times Square’s plazas into a digital playground.