- The legendary sports league continues to lead in fan engagement with the introduction of its own virtual world, making it the first professional league to own a virtual world to gather its community from around the globe
- The MLB virtual ballpark joins the M² network, enabling the oldest sports league to experiment with formats and new content, fostering closer connections between players and fans
- The inaugural event will take place on July 8th as a watch party during a live exhibition contest featuring celebrities and former star players, marking the first of multiple events for 2023
London, 5 July 2023
Improbable announced today it has developed Major League Baseball’s new virtual ballpark. Powered by Improbable’s Morpheus technology and developed within the M² network, the MLB virtual ballpark will allow baseball fans to gather and interact simultaneously in a single place, enabling the natural scale of baseball games and making it the first service to host such large interactive sports experiences.
Designed to be highly accessible, the MLB virtual ballpark allows baseball fans to connect and experience games together directly through MLB.com, requiring only an internet connection.
“MLB has shown itself time and again to be a thought leader and pioneer in using digital technology to enhance fan engagement,” said Lincoln Wallen, CTO of Improbable. “We are really excited to partner with MLB to bring global fans of baseball into their own virtual park, to deepen their love, reward their passion and celebrate the sport in an authentic way”.
“As we continue to enhance and prioritise the MLB fan experience through innovative technologies, this new virtual ballpark will become a great testing ground for the league and our fans worldwide,” said Kenny Gersh, MLB Executive Vice President, Media & Business Development. “In working closely with Improbable, we’ve taken what baseball fans know and love about their unique ballpark experiences and connected it to an accessible, virtual world. Not everyone has the opportunity to attend Major League games or enjoy a Major League ballpark experience, but now we can provide this opportunity to anyone with an internet connection, no matter where they are.”
Herman Narula, founder and CEO of Improbable, commented: “Sports and culture are emerging as pioneers in the exploration of compelling use cases for virtual worlds and the metaverse, driven by their expertise in creating captivating experiences and their deep understanding of their communities’ expectations and trends. Developing a virtual ballpark for MLB, the world’s most historic professional sports league, fills us with great pride at Improbable. We also strongly believe that M²’s approach to ownership and interoperability will unlock even richer experiences and efficient formats, empowering brands to establish and operate their worlds autonomously, creating and selling sophisticated digital assets, while content creators enjoy the potential of sharing their creations across multiple virtual environments.”
MLB’s virtual ballpark will benefit from industry leading scale, bandwidth and rendering enabled by Morpheus. Other features include the support for social connection between consumers with natural voice chat, baseball-themed entertainment, one-click entry from any device via cloud streaming, and advanced interoperability with other metaverses within M².
About Improbable
Improbable is a metaverse technology company that has been at the forefront of building virtual worlds for over a decade, for gaming and entertainment companies or public institutions. We believe that the metaverse is an opportunity for communities to connect and exchange at a larger scale, and can have a positive social, economic and political impact in the real world.
Media contacts
David Hochman or Jenn Alvarez, Major League Baseball, (212) 931-7878