Sony’s Spatial Reality Display with Thaisa Yamamura

Technology is being developed at an exponential rate to support the adoption of a mainstream metaverse – and this comes with all the exciting showcases and conferences to exemplify what is to come. The Metaverse Insider attended NFT.NYC 2022 in New York City, NY – where we had the pleasure of interviewing the head of business development at Sony Electronics Inc, Thaisa Yamamura.

Being the first time Sony has displayed its spatial reality display (SRD) at an NFT conference, there was a lot of positive attention towards the new product. We asked Thaisa Yamamura to tell us more about the display and its potential use cases:

“It’s a glasses-free 3D display, where people can see assets and videos in 3D without wearing any special glasses or VR headsets. We are here because we think it’s a perfect display for an NFT. So, people who are divided on designing an NFT in 3D can utilize the display as a preview tool and have the best experience foreseeing the NFT in 3D.” 

With the SRD being of great interest to those who want to design interactive content and view these designs in a volumetric space, Thaisa Yamamura addressed where this product is currently available and the formats it supports:

“It’s already available in the US, Canada, Japan, and China. We are selling the display in those four markets. It’s available at sony.com/SRD. And it can be used for the Metaverse, as long as the files are developed on Unity or Unreal. Those are the two formats that we currently support.” 

This presents a great opportunity for collaboration between Sony’s SRD with both Web2 and Web3 native projects – highlighting the potential for mutually beneficial relationships. Thaisa Yamamura discusses the recently announced collaboration with Theta Labs, whereby NFTs were sold as a bundle with the SRD:

“We had two different editions. One was the open edition, where the user who buys the NFT could see the display as an option – then we also launched a limited-edition version of only 10 units, where the user could buy the NFT and SRD as a bundle. So, whoever bought the NFT could get the display at their house.” 

The onset of these collaborations, alongside the movement of traditional Web2 brands into the Web3 space, indicates a very promising future for the metaverse. We asked Thaisa Yamamura if Sony is looking to do more in the future:

“From the spatial reality display perspective, we’re really looking to the metaverse – to sell the display as the perfect display for the metaverse.”

With the intention to market the SRD as the perfect metaverse display, the Metaverse Insider asked whether other Sony products like PlayStation VR will support the SRD:

“From the VR perspective, people who are using it are more focused on playing a game – and our display is not made to play a game on. So, we are focused on content creators who are designing assets in 3D and need a good preview display to have a sense of depth so that they don’t miss any details. ” 

There is a clear emphasis on this product being predominately designed for creative 3D modeling and displaying NFTs. This will have its uses – however, we could potentially see further collaborations within Sony to utilize the SRD as a showcase for 3D brand avatars like Sackboy and Kratos.

Many companies like Meta and Apple are adopting mixed reality glasses for an improved consumer experience. The view that the metaverse is going to comprise a mixed reality is held by many companies and consumers alike. Thaisa Yamamura elaborates that the SRD is not a competitor to these products:

“Our idea is to support any type of blockchain and then utilize the display technology for immersion on the metaverse, or immersive NFTs. We don’t see it as a competitor.” 

Sony has been a tech giant for as long as most people remember, acting as a cornerstone for innovation. With this attitude, Sony is constantly looking for new ways to improve people’s lives. VR headsets and glasses can be a nuisance to many, inducing nausea and headaches. Therefore, Sony has developed a product to fill the market gap – allowing designers to accurately produce and display life-like 3D models and NFTs. This is an unprecedented step in the right direction.