Showtime Pictures, a leading operator of photography concessions at major tourist attractions, has announced a new technology product designed to help diversify attractions into the world of the metaverse.
The innovative company, which recently celebrated 30 years in the industry, is driving progress in the photography concession market with its latest trend-led service.
Guests using the service now have the instant ability to create their own avatars, which can be used in the metaverse and over 100 different games. A term that has risen to prominence in a relatively short period of time, the Oxford English Dictionary defines a metaverse as “a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users”.
Showtime Pictures’ hybrid gallery user experience and kiosk systems are currently being integrated to offer the instant avatar creation service.
Virtual gifts present real opportunity
As a brand new revenue generator for attractions in an area barely touched upon by attractions, the metaverse provides an opportunity to create and sell virtual products in an online gift shop-like setting.
Branded products such as shirts, hats and sunglasses will be made available for all avatars to purchase, meeting the rising interest for virtual property and creating new marketing avenues to create additional brand awareness.
Showtime Pictures is utilising its existing facial recognition and artificial intelligence technologies, collaborating with readyplayer.me and Wolf3D to help bring the metaverse to the attraction industry.
Company CEO Kemal Arin comments “This is the first time ever in our industry a photography concession company has used its photo capture systems to enter the Metaverse. Like anything we do, we seek progress and innovation at all levels.
“Our “Create Your Avatar for Metaverse” product performed so well in test markets that we experienced over 90% engagement from our guests. In fact, its success has led to it becoming a standalone event at some of our test locations.”
Showtime Pictures recently announced a new collaboration resulting in the creation of BrickArt Studios, an innovative and immersive consumer experience for attraction operators.
