MTN today has announced that it has become the first African company to enter the metaverse by purchasing land in Africarare, one of Africa’s first virtual reality metaverses.
Africarare which made its debut in South Africa in October 2021, is the first African Virtual Reality metaverse featuring digital land. This purchase will see MTN owning 144 plots of virtual land with an overall area of 12x12m.
“This is an exciting moment for us as we lead businesses on the continent to enter the metaverse marketplace. This is exactly what our Ambition 2025 strategy is premised on – leveraging trends that amplify consumer’s digital experiences and engagement. We have always been at the forefront of technological and digital changes and we remain alive to the exciting opportunities the metaverse presents for us and our customers,” says Bernice Samuels, MTN’s Group Executive for Marketing.
According to a statement from the Group, MTN Is the first company on the continent to support an initiative of this kind.
Through its presence in the metaverse, MTN intends to increase its customer attractiveness through a series of experiences merged with consumer passion points, like gaming and music.
What is the Metaverse?
The Metaverse is likewise a technology and a concept or idea – broadly speaking it is a form of virtual reality tech that allows users to enter a persistent virtual world, a world that runs even when the user isn’t within it. The Metaverse also includes alternate reality technology that is integrated into the physical world.
According to Wired, it also translates to a “digital economy,” where users can create, buy and sell goods. In MTN’s case, the company has bought digital “land” but other things like cars and clothes can also be purchased on the metaverse through certain companies.
While persistent virtual worlds already exist to a sense, for example, the always-online virtual game world of World of Warcraft can be seen as ‘metaversal’ – the Metaverse seems to be geared more towards the corporate sphere, at least in the communications from Meta, formerly Facebook, the loudest name in Metaverses, currently.
Edited by Luis Monzon
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