Samsung Electronics America has joined forces with Decentraland, an Ethereum-based virtual reality platform, to bring the metaverse into the real world.
Samsung has established a virtual replica of its main 837 physical shops in Decentraland. The real-world shop is located at 837 Washington Street in the Meatpacking District of New York City’s Manhattan. Samsung 837X, a virtual store, will be available on Decentraland for a limited time.
“This is one of the largest brand land takeovers in the history of Decentraland.”
-Samsung
Samsung enters the metaverse: 837 shops in Decentraland
Samsung’s 837X store will feature “Connectivity Theater and Sustainability Forest” and a musical celebration at the “Customization Stage,” according to Samsung.
Samsung’s CES news will be on display in the Connectivity Theater, which opens on January 5 and runs through January 8. The Sustainability Forest will provide visitors with the opportunity to have a mythical experience through millions of digital trees.
Samsung joined the NFT trend
Samsung has also been engaging in real-world planting. It recently partnered with Veritree, a Cardano-based climate restoration platform, to manage the planting of two million trees in Madagascar by the first quarter of this year.
Veritree offers a “Cardano Forest” where users can trade 15 or more Cardano (ADA) tokens for unique tree tokens. Users who donate ADA receive limited edition tree tokens as a result of their contribution. According to Veritree, tree tokens may be used for special trees and NFT digital art.
During the Customization Stage of Samsung’s 837X site, visitors will be able to participate in a real-time mixed reality live dance party hosted by DJ Gamma Vibes from the physical Samsung 837 store.
At 8:37 p.m. ET on January 7, guests will be able to join in activities that will result in 837X NFT badges and one of three limited-supply wearables. On January 7 at 8:37 p.m., the winners will be revealed.
“The metaverse empowers us to transcend physical and spatial limits to create unique virtual experiences that could not happen otherwise… Innovation is in our DNA, and we can’t wait for you all to experience this burgeoning virtual world.”
-Michelle Crossan-Matos, senior vice president of corporate marketing and communications at Samsung Electronics America.
The Samsung 837X store will be accessible in Decentraland for a short period, so the company intends to provide more of these experiences throughout the year.
Samsung appears to be aggressively pursuing NFTs and the metaverse. Samsung has announced that its new smart TVs will enable consumers to purchase NFTs, which is interesting since cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been waiting for this functionality for years. Samsung Next, a venture unit within Samsung, is also an investor in several NFT firms, including Sky Mavis (Axie Infinity creator), Dapper Labs, and Forte.
