The UK Company Striving to Bring Live-Streamed Events to the Metaverse

Back in July 2022, a new startup in the UK made waves for the amount of backing it received to make its vision a reality. At the time, the metaverse was all the rage. It was around ten months after Mark Zuckerberg put forth his new hopes for his Metaverse.

It’d soon emerge just how much the company was pumping into the development of associated technology – multiple billions of dollars. So, being able to promote a British company in this new arena for much less was very appealing. Condense Reality was a big benefactor of this and has since been advancing its live streaming tech.

Enhancing Live Streaming Immersion Further

Live streaming is already very advanced. Technology has improved to the degree that the streamer is merely a few seconds behind what's being shown, if that, and they're seeing it all play out in high definition. On top of this, it's become much less passive. Some deployments see users interact and get responses on their interactions in real time, which is the case in live shopping and, to a greater degree, online casino table games.

Across the selection of live roulette games, be it Live Quantum Auto Roulette or Live Prestige Roulette, people tune in and bet in real-time as the game is played. Everyone gets the same amount of time to bet, the croupier runs the wheel, and any winners are recognized by the tech and paid there and then. This level of interactivity increases the immersion and blurs the lines between in-person play and playing online. For now, it's the most immersive and accessible deployment of live streaming, allowing for real time viewing and interactions. 

To develop the experience of live streaming further, you'd need hardware that shuts off your surroundings, which is exactly what mixed reality gear does when you enter the metaverse. Meta recognizes this. To close out 2024, Meta was proud to announce the amount of assistance its AI program, Orion, is giving it. They say that Orion, combined with AI glasses and augmented reality, is a look into the future. Seeing this, it’s easy to envision how it could create an even more immersive live experience.

Live Streaming in Immersive Technologies

In the company’s seeding round in October 2020, Condense Reality raised £800,000 in seed funding. A couple of years later, it collected a cool £3.7 million in funding to develop its virtual and real-world hybrid event technology. Since then, the team has demonstrated its many developments in bringing live streams to the virtual world.

Their demonstrations have included British rapper Lady Leshurr performing live from The Blueprint to a crowd of fans. She was in the studio but could see them while her 3D performances were shown in the virtual world. Their progress has even attracted the attention of the BBC, which invested another £500,000 in Condense.

As a part of the investment, they’ll form a partnership to develop a new virtual venue, the New Music Portal. Shortly after the BBC deal was announced, Condense was also awarded a share of £1.2 million in additional funding to partake in CR&D2 by MyWorld.

Here, Condense will also team up with the University of Bristol, with the two seeking to make pioneering progress in the space of volumetric video technology, further enhancing the capabilities of live performances in the metaverse. The company has even hosted a lecture in its studio to the university, as shown on their LinkedIn.

With continued support to further enhance live streaming technology, Condense looks to be making big strides towards creating the most immersive real-time digital experiences possible.