Startup Air World launches themed metaverse consisting of HK landmarks

Hong Kong tech startup Air World has stepped into the metaverse. Through blockchains, the firm says users can build and claim ownership of digital properties with tokens in the Hong Kong-themed virtual world.

Air World's decentralised virtual world AiR Metaverse recreates Hong Kong in its virtual environment. With a location-based gameplay, AiR metaverse leverages its unique offline-to-online mode to give users access to its ubiquitous gateways into the metaverse, connecting to every aspect of their life and creating a truly authentic experience in its Hong Kong-themed virtual world.

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.

Futhermore, AiR and Hollywood Plaza collaborated on the 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 shows that the O2O metaverse model created by AiR is going to be a big hit in the near future.

Terence Chow, CEO of Air World said: “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”.

“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 after all.” Chow added. 

Gabriel Kwong, co-founder of Air World, said: "The metaverse is still a rather novel and distant concept to many. We want to start from Hong Kong and showcase how a metaverse can meet various business needs. We also want to be the most accessible and practical metaverse by offering an intuitive interface to further our reach and allow a wide audience to experience the strength of the web 3.0 technology."

He added that Air World will invest significant resources in enriching and diversifying its gameplay.

As part of the launch, Air World completed its first round of invite-only virtual building NFT pre-sale with 100 iconic structures in the city, attracting multiple shopping malls, real estate developers, retail brands, celebrities, local artists, and other high-profile figures to set foot in the metaverse. According to the press release, many real estate developers have expressed keen interest in the concept of AiR virtual buildings, including Kai Long Group, which owns the property right of Hennessy Road 333, collaborates with AiR to not only tokenise the physical property into a building NFT, but also fragmentise the NFT into Unit NFTs. 

Air World said one of the enterprises had confirmed to acquire over 10 virtual buildings for several million Hong Kong dollars, as the enterprise hoped to provide clients and partners with a metaverse experience. Another local NFT brand has signed an initial purchase offer for the virtual space of the Central Harbourfront Event Space, where the brand’s virtual carnival will be held.

“We’ll sell regular game NFTs at the same time. Through establishing an ecosystem with enterprise clients and collaboration with celebrities, we will materialise a GameFi era. NFT will no longer be merely an avatar or collectible, but a key to AiR metaverse," added Yuk Tse, co-founder of Air World.

Moving forward, the project will advance in 2022, with 300 virtual building NFT expected to be sold, forecasting an eight-figure revenue. Lastly, AiR metaverse will enter the Southeast Asian and Taiwanese markets to create a metaverse ecosystem in Asia.

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