Sony launches FavoriteSpace™, a new service to activate sports fan communities
“Manchester City Area” released as first content in the app
TOKYO, 16 August 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Group Corporation (Sony) today launched FavoriteSpace™, a new service that offers sports fan communities new ways to enjoy sports. FavoriteSpace leverages Sony’s technology and entertainment expertise to deliver new sports content and create a social entertainment space where fans can share their passion for their favorites.
As part of the new service, Sony today released the smartphone app FavoriteSpace.*1 This first offering in the App is a dedicated virtual space (a “Space”) where users can enjoy Manchester City Football Club content in a variety of ways.
With FavoriteSpace, Sony provides fans who share the same “favorites” with a platform to interact and connect with teams and players. By enriching sports fans’ activities in both physical and virtual spaces, Sony aims to create new experiences that increase engagement among existing fans and also help attract new fans.
The app allows users to visit virtual “areas” with their avatars that showcase the history and philosophy of their favorite sports teams, and enjoy team-specific content and interactions with other fans. Fans can experience the same fervor and excitement they would in the physical world in a uniquely virtual way by watching immersive 3DCG content that leverages technology such as the tracking system from Hawk-Eye Innovations, a Sony Group company. In developing the Manchester City Area, the first team area to be launched, Sony has worked with Manchester City since 2021 as the club’s official Virtual Fan Engagement Partner to conduct a proof of concept (PoC) and incorporate feedback from fans. In the future, Sony will expand the experience by providing more areas and content for different teams and other sports.
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The FavoriteSpace app is now available in a trial version limited to free features, as a preview of the official version, which will include paid features and launch in October. The app is now available in three countries: Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. |
- Key Greater Manchester City Experiences from the FavoriteSpace App （”Manchester City’s Virtual Etihad Stadium“）
1. A new way to enjoy sport, beyond space and time
The Etihad Stadium, home of Manchester City, has been faithfully recreated in virtual space and fans can visit it at any time with their avatars. In the virtual stadium, fans can enjoy immersive virtual content that is only possible in virtual space, such as Immersive Highlights, which allows them to freely view highlights of past home games in 3DCG from any angle.
2. Bringing fans, players and team together
Fans gathering as avatars in the virtual space can share their thoughts and passion for their team beyond nationality and language by communicating through emoticons, stamps, and interactions such as hugging each other. In addition, fans can express their support for the team in a variety of ways, such as participating in events held in the virtual space on actual game days, customizing their avatars with uniforms and items, and creating fan banners. By responding to fans’ support in this way, the team and players can also interact with the fan community, creating even more cohesion between fans and their team.
About Sony Group Corporation
Sony Group Corporation is a creative entertainment company with a solid technological foundation. Through its six business segments – Games & Network Services, Music, Pictures, Entertainment, Technology & Services, Imaging & Sensor Solutions, and Financial Services – Sony’s goal is to fill the world with emotion through the power of creativity and technology.
For more information, visit: https://www.sony.com/en/
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“FavoriteSpace” is a registered trademark or trademark of Sony Group Corporation or its subsidiaries. |
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