Home-Grown Tech Start-Up AiR METAVERSE Takes The City by Storm
- Written by The Chronicle
AiR completed its first round of virtual building NFT pre-sale with 100 iconic infrastructures which generated over 10 million Hong Kong dollars in revenue. On top of that, the Metaverse plans with Times Square and Plaza Hollywood were met with unprecedented success. Meanwhile, AiR is preparing for the launch of Metaverse Season 0 in collaboration with numerous local brands, celebrities and influencers. It creates an easy gateway for SMEs to step foot in the AiR Metaverse. With the largest online and offline gaming ecosystem on the horizon, more unique adventures await!
First NFT Collection Landed Record Number Sales
In the first round of the invite-only pre-sale, over 100 available buildings NFTS were sold. It attracts multiple shopping malls, real estate developers, retail brands, celebrities and artists who are now a part of AiR's growing portfolio, despite the recent poor performance of the crypto and NFT market. BBB (BullBullBear), a local NFT brand, put in an offer of over 1 million Hong Kong Dollars for the virtual space of Central Harbourfront Event Space, where they are considering holding a virtual carnival. AiR users will have access to all kinds of games with digital and physical rewards to win. BBB also successfully resold another building NFT to a local enterprise with triple the original value. It marked the first secondary transaction of any AiR building NFTs. Currently, Zenecom International Group Limited, the largest property NFT holder in AiR, has acquired over 30 virtual buildings for a record of several million Hong Kong Dollars, including numerous virtual properties along Canton Road. Zenecom will gamify their product promotions, e-commerce and customer experiences through these virtual properties to build a Web3 network for their business units within the group.
Many real estate developers have expressed keen interest in the concept of AiR virtual buildings. Kai Long Group, which owns the property right of Hennessy Road 333, collaborates with AiR to not only tokenize the physical property into a building NFT, but also fragmentize the NFT into Unit NFTs. The fragmented tokens are given to property owners as "Utility tokens" for a possible upcoming DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). Terence Chow, CEO of Air World Limited expressed that, "We were surprised by the sales of the buildings NFTs. Within a week, we recorded a total sale of over 4 million Hong Kong Dollars. Every NFT was sold in the second week of the private sale. We slowed down the sale of building NFTs because we did not aim for a short-term profit. We are going to launch Utility NFTs in the long run. Soon, we will announce AiR Citizen NFTs, which will carry out game plays and move into virtual buildings for Play-to-Earn".
An Unprecedented Success of AiR Metaverse with Two Shopping Malls In Hong Kong
Over the past two months, AiR collaborated with Times Square and Plaza Hollywood which was very well-received by the general public. Together with Times Square and local NFT collection "Bunny Warriors", AiR leveraged O2O (Offline to Online) gamification to connect the virtual reality with Bunny Warriors Exhibition and the NFT pop-up store. To enter and enjoy adventurous games in the Bunny Warriors Metaverse, customers had to download the AiR Metaverse app and scan in-mall QR codes. NFTs were also available for purchase in cash at the pop-up store. AiR and Hollywood Plaza collaborated on the first ever Metaverse themed shopping mall loyalty program gamification titled "MetaGreen Village Adventure", where players can scan in-mall QR codes and be connected to three eco-game zones with interactive missions to complete, motivating spending and also VIC registration.
After its launch in April, AiR recorded over 300,000 players entering one of the Metaverse scenes. In total, more than 4 million virtual items were acquired by players and over 20,000 prizes were given out. This goes to show that the O2O Metaverse model created by AiR is going to be a big hit in the near future. Terence is satisfied with the progress so far, he added, "Our success with AiR within two months of its launch has reaffirmed our belief in the O2O Metaverse model. Undoubtedly, the possibilities of online experiences are limitless. In addition, Web3 technology brings about a never-seen-before unique experience for everyone. But we believe in building offline connections through real-life interactive experiences to boost sales and loyalty for businesses. For example, we are designing an interactive experience for a medium-sized restaurant chain. Players can learn to make virtual Hong Kong-style milk tea in our Metaverse. Upon completion of the virtual milk tea, players can get a physical milk tea for free at the restaurant. It does not matter how fun the game is in the Metaverse, allowing players to enjoy a cup of nice milk tea in real life at a restaurant is still more fulfilling afterall."
AiR Season 0 to Include Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and Plans to Expand Internationally
AiR is preparing for the launch of AiR Metaverse Season 0, which will bring in business partners from all walks of life. Apart from Times Square and Plaza Hollywood, AiR has reached collaboration agreements with one of the biggest Hong Kong outdoor advertising platforms Focus Media HK Ltd, Hong Kong's largest MPF product provider BCT Group, CGA eSports Stadium, Ani-com & Games Hong Kong 2022, LOST Escape Room, City University of Hong Kong, MegaBox, Hong Kong's No. 1 power bank sharing service provider ChargeSpot, fitness influencer Coffee Lam, home-grown IP "Hong Kong Machines", local basketball comic UBL and more. Together with NFT partners such as Bunny Warriors, BullBullBear (BBB), Blue Ark, BeastFromFeast (BFF) & QR8, AiR will roll out more O2O experiences that will take over the city's Metaverse ecosystem this year.
Details of Highlighted Metaverse Plans:
| Focus Media HK Ltd | Launching the first ever "Outdoor Advertisement" in Metaverse, and gamifying outdoor advertisement with O2O to bring about a brand new "Play-to-Earn" immersive advertising experience. |
| BCT Group | Crossing over with the gamification platform of BCT Group to carry out Play-to-Earn games where users can win prizes and virtual items from games across the two platforms. |
| Ani-Com & Games 2022 | Working with CGA eSports Stadium to gamify and enrich the event, from waiting in line to getting in the event, Ani-Com will become a large-scale Play-to-Earn adventure game for all attendees. |
| LOST | Launching the first ever O2O escape room games where players have to solve puzzles both physically and virtually with a plan to hold a large-scale citywide O2O scavenger hunt. |
| MegaBox | Partnering with MegaBox to launch O2O gamification through in-mall virtual interactive games connecting mall events and tenants, delivering a brand new shopping experience with an array of special rewards to MegaClub members. |
| ChargeSpot | Building a Charge-to-Earn gamification network at over 4000 charging bank rental spots in Hong Kong. |
| Bunny Warriors | Working to launch Bunny Warriors Gen 2.0 and rivalry Fox NFT collection to gamify their story in AiR. |
| Blue Ark | Launching several O2O collaborative activities and NFT Gamification at Blue Ark's gallery at the Peninsula Hotel where players have a chance to win NFTs and cryptocurrencies. |
| Coffee Lam | Setting up a virtual yoga studio in her two virtual buildings in the Metaverse that connects Coffee's personal yoga wear brand and interactive games with fans. |
| Hong Kong Machines | Turning the characters of the IP into all kinds of Play-to-Earn games in the Metaverse, where players can collect virtual components throughout Hong Kong to build the ultimate virtual robots. |
| BFF | Building a Metaverse gallery to showcase the NFTs in AiR and to invite renowned chefs and restaurants to be a part of the gamified experience at the Metaverse venue. |
Make Metaverse Accessible to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Among the many brands and businesses that are in negotiation with AiR now, some of them are home-grown small and medium sized enterprises. AiR firmly believes that Metaverse should consist of more than just the big enterprises with large capital and manpower. Take Sam's Tailor as an example, it is a local bespoke tailor shop that has been around for 65 years. Founded in 1957, the home-grown tailor shop made uniforms for British soldiers stationed in Hong Kong. It has built a reputation by providing bespoke suits to world-famous celebrities and world leaders including President George W. Bush, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher and more. Even though they were only in Hong Kong for a couple of days, they still made time to stop at Sam's Tailor. Yuk Tse, Co-Founder of Air World Limited said, "when we received an email from Roshan of Sam's Tailor, we were very flattered. They have a longstanding history in Hong Kong and they were frequented by countless international celebrities and artists. Although Roshan did not know exactly what Web3 and Metaverse are, he would still like to be a part of AiR. This gives us the idea to include SMEs and local heritage in the Metaverse."
AiR is in talks with a platform that connects a great many of SMES, in hopes that this will bring thousands of businesses to AiR by the end of the year. Looking to create a more accessible Metaverse experience, Yuk added, "a month ago, Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association released the result of the 2021-2022 survey across the mobile app industry. 75% of the interviewed local enterprises, many of which are SMEs that have no plans to be a part of Metaverse, mainly because they do not have the manpower and capital. This result prompts us to simplify and make Metaverse more accessible and practical for businesses and the general public, so more people can experience the strength of Web 3.0 technology." Yuk also revealed that AiR is planning to expand internationally to Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand to create a metaverse ecosystem in Asia.
About AiR
AiR stands for Adventure in Reality, in which mobile games merges with reality. Users embark on unique adventures in the real world through applications on their phone. With a mobile device, internet, modem and VR device, the access to various game zones in AiR is simply a QR code scan away. Users can build, explore, venture and trade in the virtual reality to earn different types of cryptocurrency, NFTs and even physical rewards. The possibilities for users and enterprises in AiR Metaverse is limitless.
Website: https://www.air-world.io/