Despite being many, many billions of dollars in debt to the point where it is deleting movies and shows as tax writedowns or to avoid paying residuals, Warner Bros. thinks it’s going to make the metaverse.

In a just-announced project, WB says they are partnering with AI company Futurverse to bring the metaverse of Ready Player One to life. No, it’s not called OASIS, the actual name of the virtual world in the book and movie, it’s called the “Readyverse.” Of course it is. Here’s part of the press release:

“Readyverse Studios is building the definitive destination for fans to explore their favorite stories and IP in the metaverse, leveraging web3, metaverse games and experiences, augmented reality, and virtual reality technologies.”

“In 2024, Readyverse Studios will launch “The Readyverse,” a dynamic interactive platform of interconnected digital experiences. In its first major rights deal, Readyverse Studios has partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to exclusively bring the Ready Player One franchise to the metaverse across web3.”

While attempting to make a new metaverse in 2024 is already an extremely rocky prospect, you very much have lost the plot when you are also trying to build it in web3 using blockchain tech, as we have seen countless failures in that space and an utter rejection of it in video games specifically. What we have here is WB combining all the big tech buzzwords of the last few years, AR, VR, web 3, the metaverse and AI into a single project that sounds far too bloated and backwards to work in any meaningful way.

The idea is that WB can use the Ready Player One branding and its owned IP to make this work but even if you can convince people to sign up for something called the web3 “Readyverse,” it’s a bizarre situation as a game like Fortnite, the real, actual closest thing to a metaverse we have, already has loads of licensed characters from WB itself. The biggest pool are dozens and dozens of superheroes from DC, including the biggest heroes in the space like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and really almost all of the Justice League at this point.

But WB has other franchises, Harry Potter, Godzilla, Blade Runner, Lord of the Rings, Mortal Kombat, The Matrix, which have stayed out of Fortnite and I suppose might be employed in the Readyverse. The existence of WB’s own metaverse project may actually be why the rest of those IPs have not come to Fortnite, I’m now realizing.

Of course, the entire point of OASIS in Ready Player One was that it was a haven to escape the horrors of real life, but ultimately damaging to its users, which is why, in the end, the hero decides to shut it off (though of course it returns for a sequel). But author Ernie Cline is on board because I mean, he wants metaverse money, should any exist.

VR is only briefly mentioned which is odd considering that OASIS was built entirely with VR, but that has proven to be a disaster for places like Meta and its Horizon Worlds VR space. But here, I’d almost rather have this be entirely VR-centric than blockchain based, as I mean, listen to this:

“The Readyverse will champion the principles of the open metaverse, which are provable digital ownership, community-owned infrastructure, decentralization, security, and interoperability.”

Wow, sounds like a blast. Good luck guys, you’ll need it.