Ready Player One author Ernest Cline and producer of its film adaptation Dan Farah have teamed up with Futureverse to create a digital universe for the story.
Ready Player One is a story whose setting is in the future—in 2045—where “people enter into virtual-reality simulations to escape the real world.”
Birth of a Readyverse
Cline and Farah, together with Futureverse co-founders Shara Senderoff and Aaron McDonald, will, according to their plan, introduce an entity called Readyverse Studios. Readyverse Studios will be responsible for launching the Readyverse platform.
They have described it as a “platform of interconnected digital experiences.”
According to Futureverse, Readyverse Studios will work with Warner Bros. Discovery for the project. The company explained that Readyverse Studios got exclusive rights from Warner Bros. Discovery to showcase the story on the virtual platform across web3.
Readyverse also has rights to Cline’s other works, for instance, Ready Player Two, and exclusive web3 rights to his future IP, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The company has reportedly already started negotiating with intellectual property (IP) holders.
“We’ve already begun conversations quietly with a few major studios and significant rights holders of beloved IP, and they are all leaning into figuring out collaborations with us,” said Farah.
“Everyone is really excited about this being the way to bring their IP to the metaverse.”
We couldn’t be more excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with @readyplayerone creator and producer to launch Readyverse Studios to bring leading IP and brands to the metaverse. pic.twitter.com/6sU6FpOSdE
— Futureverse (@futureverse) January 4, 2024
An open metaverse
Ready Player One is expected to launch this year and aims present an open metaverse experience to customers.
The duo of Senderoff and McDonald outlined their vision for the Readyverse, promising to implement the open metaverse although finer details of the project are still sketchy.
“Ernie (Cline) in the wildest way, I mean, he mapped this out and he mapped it out with a real focus on openness at heart,” said Senderoff in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“The Readyverse will champion the principles of the open metaverse, which are provable digital ownership, community-owned infrastructure, decentralization, security and inter-operability.”
According to Variety, Cline also thinks the partnership between Readyverse Studios and Futureverse’s technology will “bring some of the best possibilities in the metaverse world.”
“I’m confident with this team, we have the brightest minds and biggest hearts in place to lead us into the next chapter of our collective future, a future that would make Wade Watts and James Halliday proud” said Cline.
Farah also weighed in saying the Readyverse will “bring opportunities to Hollywood studios,” while allowing the market to “enjoy the promise of the open metaverse.”
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“A cultural touchstone”
Josh Hackbarth, franchise development senior vice president at Warner Bros. Discovery, is upbeat about the partnership.
He said Ready Player One is now a “cultural touchstone” that inspires the sector’s developers and trend-setters.
“We’re excited to be partnering with Readyverse Studios to introduce these unique characters, immersive environments, and more to the metaverse across web3,” he said.
Warner Bros. released the film adaptation of the novel, grossing $583 million globally.
Missing the plot
While the creators are upbeat about the project, some critics think bringing the story to the metaverse is “a bit odd” and that it goes against “the point of the original story,” given that it is “set in a dystopian society.”
The story’s key message is to show that VR can’t replace real life. In the end, players understand that it is crucial to remain connected to the real world through real-life relationships.
The creators of the story now want to turn it into the same world they warned about in Ready Player One.
Senderoff said: “Obviously, the movie opened in a dystopian world, which was the catalyst of the movie itself, but Ernie’s view is all about the openness of the technology. And he has a fundamental understanding of how these things need to work.”
However, it also appears that making dystopian worlds real is the latest trend, according to The Mary Sue article.
Netflix recently caused controversy after they made Squid Game into a reality show, “completely missing the point of the original show’s anti-capitalist themes.”
Ernest Cline is bringing 'Ready Player One' to the metaverse this year in a deal with WB & Futureverse
The Readyverse will be "a multi-world, multi-IP, interoperable open metaverse experience"
(via @GamesBeat | https://t.co/0aiSQH3Ceh) pic.twitter.com/mEcVytLkXs
— Fandom (@getFANDOM) January 4, 2024
and then