Google has just teamed up with the American Basketball Association to host a virtual Pixel Arena stadium in the NBA’s official app. As a spin-off of the 2022 NBA playoffs, fans can access a rich experience based on real-time game information in this virtual space.
For example, with the gyroscope built into your mobile device, you can navigate, craft and personalize avatars in a 3D virtual space (including putting on a team’s costume) and share them online.
Once you’ve entered the Pixel arena in the NBA Mobile App, you can view real-time NBA event data and review 3D footage during intermission and post-game time.
In addition, Pixel Arena provides other interesting content, such as users can compete in competitive leaderboards during the game and unlock new levels and feature items for their avatars.
Daryl Butler, vice president of device and service marketing at Google America, said in a blog post that Pixel Arena brings a new experience and meaning to the majority of fans.
Of course, you don’t need to buy a Google Pixel to access Pixel Arena — just download the official NBA app and use it on multiple mobile devices.
Google added that this is the first time they’ve partnered with the NBA to create such an immersive experience, and the company is currently working with sports organizations on a series of collaborations.
For example, they will play the playoffs “presented by Google Pixel” and the NBA Finals sponsored by “presented by YouTube TV”.
In fact, as early as last year, Google announced that the Google Pixel has become the official fan phone of the NBA, G League and 2K League, and the company is also the official search engine and trend /insight partner of each league.
The collaboration between the two companies involves a multi-year commitment — including developing an immersive Experience similar to pixel Arena to showcase their 3D and AR technologies.