Futureverse News - December 2024
As we step into the new year, we reflect on twelve transformative months that paved the way for an open future.
As we step into the new year, we reflect on twelve transformative months that paved the way for an open future. From global product launches and strategic brand partnerships with Reebok, Ready Player One, and Ripple to groundbreaking technological innovations and thought leadership, we’re exploring the defining moments that shaped the Futureverse ecosystem, the industry, and beyond. Join us as we look back on a significant year and gear up for an even more exciting one ahead.
A message from our Co-Founder and CEO, Aaron McDonald
2024 was an exciting and challenging year for the Futureverse team.
Our focus throughout the year was to complete the underlying systems and protocols that enable us to light up the applications we have been working on with our partners, and to start to grow the developer community on The Root Network.
We made some awesome progress with PASS, transforming it from a simple web-based login supporting wallets to a full platform across web, mobile, and in-game engine support as well as a huge range of social and gaming account integrations that are now integrated to some of the largest brands in the world to support their own launches in 2025.
We significantly upgraded The Root Network core code and over 30 custom runtimes to create the base protocols for interoperability in the open metaverse.
We launched a range of experiences on top of these tools to test how the components come together and fine-tuned those things for growth.
We created a whole bunch of developer tooling and have begun to see some amazing projects leverage these to launch their own corners of the open metaverse or enhance the capabilities of The Root Network.
We also had some speed bumps along the way but the community and the team pulled out all the stops to help us solve those and drive forward. We continue to build, ship, learn, and improve at pace.
This year is all about scale. We will bring new intellectual property, new partners, new games and experiences, new communities and incredible developers together to showcase the goal of an interoperable set of games, experiences and applications built on top of user owned content. We will continue to push the boundaries of technology and at the same time strive to make it ever more invisible.
We look forward to working with our community to achieve the goals we have set and in the process helping us all to succeed. Catch up on our recent Open Space: Reflections & Projections to explore what was and what’s coming for the ecosystem.
– Aaron McDonald
A year in review: 2024
Readyverse Studios – a next-gen technology and experience studio – opened its doors in January
Just days into the new year, we announced the formation of Readyverse Studios, a first-of-its-kind next-gen technology and experience studio led by Futureverse Co-Founders Shara Senderoff and Aaron McDonald alongside Ernest Cline, the best-selling novelist and creator of the groundbreaking Ready Player One franchise, and Dan Farah, producer of the blockbuster Ready Player One film.
Readyverse Studios leverages Futureverse’s groundbreaking technology to shape the future of gaming and digital experiences and bring the best possible version of the metaverse to life. The platform’s mission is to introduce global IP to the metaverse, giving Hollywood studios, talent, and brands the power to create new revenue streams and unlock creative outlets for brand expansion. At the same time, Readyverse Studios enables consumers to engage with their favorite IP in immersive digital worlds.
“With Readyverse Studios, we have the opportunity to leverage the revolutionary technology Futureverse has been building for several years to bring to life the best possible version of the metaverse.”
– Ernest Cline, Co-Founder, Readyverse Studios.
The team is laying the groundwork to bring the promise of the open metaverse depicted in Cline’s Ready Player One novel and film adaptation into a tangible reality; a multi-world, multi-IP, interoperable open metaverse experience for mass consumers.
Futureverse and Reebok hosted a transformative fashion experience on Instagram
We hit the ground running at the start of May, partnering with sports culture brand Reebok to announce the launch of Reebok Impact – a custom AI fashion experience on Instagram.
Reebok Impact aimed to expand the boundaries of sneaker culture by putting new technology into the hands of everyday consumers, allowing the creation of AI-infused, custom digital sneakers.
Sneaker fans from around the world could transform photos of their favorite memories into digital Reebok sneakers by sending them via Instagram DM to @reebokimpact.
In a real-time chat, Futureverse’s AI crafted a custom sneaker inspired by the colors and style of the original image. Participants could choose between the iconic Reebok Pump, Classic, or Club C models, and customize the digital sneaker with AI-generated art. From soul to sole; the original photo memory was stored in the sole of the sneaker, representing the impact of the memory on the soul.
Futureverse launched Jen, the high-fidelity, ethically-trained, AI-driven next-generation music platform
In June, we premiered Jen, an ethically-trained generative AI music platform co-founded by Shara Senderoff, Aaron McDonald, Mike Caren, and Dr. Alex Wang empowering creators of all levels to unlock their full creative potential.
Jen is your co-producer in high-fidelity, AI-driven next-jeneration music creation. Whether you're inspired by a song in your heart or a melody in your mind, Jen helps you generate, iterate, and refine tracks, catapulting your creativity to new heights.
Developed by a team of distinguished PhDs and scientists, Jen's proprietary, patented, Fairly-Trained certified, high-fidelity audio models leverage a unique neural network architecture, offering sophisticated music generation capabilities in high-fidelity sound. Jen has set a new standard for copyright compliance in generative AI music. With over 40 fully-licensed catalogs in its initial training set, Jen emphasizes transparency, compensation, and copyright identification.
Jen is pioneering the future of music with unparalleled integrity—collaborating with artists, musicians, and rights holders at a pivotal moment when ethical innovation in AI matters most.
Jen is more than a product; it’s a living tribute to music that seamlessly blends past and future, honoring all that came before and all that lies ahead.
Seamless access for apps, games, and more
Following the debut of Jen, we launched an exciting expansion to the sign-up and sign-in options within FuturePass – a digital passport that enables users to seamlessly control and manage their identity, data, collectibles, and more across a range of experiences. Tailored specifically for brands, agencies, and others who are building apps, games, and digital experiences, the update provides users with greater flexibility by offering a selection of new sign-up methods, including Google, Facebook, email, and Xaman. For businesses, this means a more streamlined onboarding experience for their users, enabling faster access to platforms and improving engagement. By making the authentication process easier, we’re helping brands enhance user experiences and making web3 more accessible than ever.
Strategy meets opportunity: The Third Kingdom game launched with rewards of up to 312,500,000 ROOT
In September, the Futureverse community had its first look at The Third Kingdom: Cataclysm, Episode 1, a next-gen strategy simulation game set in a once-flourishing realm now torn apart by chaos. In the game, players are tasked with harvesting resources, building production empires, and restoring the Kingdom. Strategic decisions pave the way for progress, allowing players to prestige (level up), generate energy, and, in Episode 2, unlock rewards.
%25201.png)
The game united six thriving communities and featured 12 character collectibles, bringing together FLUF World, Cool Cats, Deadfellaz, Doodles, Walker World, and Pudgy Penguins in a shared quest to revive The Third Kingdom.
During the launch phase, the Kingdom faced a UFO invasion, with a fierce battle pushing the game to its limits. The community stepped in to help shoot down UFOs and share valuable feedback, with the team identifying optimizations before resetting the game. To thank the community for their efforts, they were rewarded for their heroic contributions before the game reset.
December saw the launch of Episode 1.5, which introduced more depth to the game. Players can now choose a champion (character collectible) to represent them, join one of three teams – Cerebra, Valora, or Lumera – and harvest resources on-the-go through a mobile-friendly web app. These additions set the foundation for upcoming missions in early 2025, where teams will embark on quests to further restore the Kingdom and compete for glory and rewards.
2024 Highlights
Q1
Q2
Q3
Social update
This year, the Futureverse ecosystem achieved a remarkable presence across X, with 19M impressions, 1.24M engagements, and over 1.2M media views. The Futureverse and The Root Network accounts stood out, reflecting the growing interest in the vision of the open metaverse and in the Futureverse ecosystem at large.
From groundbreaking innovations to meaningful conversations, Futureverse is connecting a global audience inspired to build the future together. Check our last post of 2024 and cheers to an even more impactful 2025.
The blockchain powering the open metaverse: The Root Network
Futureverse leads the development of The Root Network, a powerful L1 blockchain that lays the foundation for seamlessly connected games, content, and experiences. From dynamic experiences to enhanced assets and true player ownership, The Root Network’s cutting-edge framework – built on Substrate, integrated EVM, and custom runtimes – empowers builders to innovate securely and scale rapidly.
Over the last year, some amazing results were achieved for the The Root Network and XRPL communities. This demonstrates the value of a multi-network economy for not only $ROOT, but also $XRP.
Here are some of the key metrics for the year:
Catch up on the latest updates, metrics, developments, and insights from The Root Network in Token Relations’ The Root Network Biannual Report.
Futureverse in real life
Event spotlight: Permissionless III
Permissionless III was a transformative event that brought together global thought leaders to speak, showcase products, host workshops, and strengthen community within the web3 space. Hosted in Utah, Futureverse partnered with fellow Ruby sponsors Polemos and Illuvium to introduce the Gaming Lounge at Permissionless. This space was easily one of the focal points of the event, featuring interviews, fireside chats with prominent industry figures, and our multiplayer generative AI sandbox experience, Promptopia.
Aaron McDonald delivers an unforgettable keynote at Permissionless (keynote begins at 08:54).
Behind the mic
From unmissable online discussions to thought-provoking keynotes, our leadership team extended their reach further than ever, sharing their knowledge across a range of platforms and industry events throughout the year. Enjoy some of the key moments below:
- Readyverse Studios Co-Founders’ first public appearance at SXSW, where they discussed the importance of interoperability, the technology required, and the significance of IP and brands to the open metaverse.
- The Readyverse Co-Founders’ panel at Consensus 2024: Ready Player One: Scaling the open metaverse from science fiction to reality.
- Shara Senderoff at Web Summit in Portugal (Shara and Imogen Heap take the stage at 4:38:31).
Open Space – a new monthly X Spaces series moderated by Futureverse Head of Social Krista Gambrel and hosted by Aaron McDonald – aimed to create a public forum for our community to speak with Aaron and other company leaders, ask burning questions, and join an open discussion about the direction of Futureverse. Each one centered around a specific theme, allowing our community and leadership to come together for ongoing, meaningful conversations.
Tune into ASM's recent Think Bigger X Space, where they shared some BIG news to start the year.
Ecosystem happenings
A big year for building on The Root Network
We witnessed a groundswell of growth on The Root Network in 2024, largely thanks to the efforts of its Builder and Developer communities working together and making significant strides to introduce key infrastructure. Some of the standout features from the year include the Tradeverse Marketplace, Girin Wallet, Root Name Service, Rootscan, and Rcadia’s community-led gaming environment. It’s inspiring to see how collaboration and sharing of expertise between teams has naturally grown the builder community and provided more opportunities to showcase how innovative products and applications can benefit from building cross-chain with the XRP Ledger and The Root Network. We are incredibly grateful and proud to end the year with over 60 projects building and look forward to welcoming many more innovators and dreamers in 2025.
FutureScore Quests – December Edition
This December, we launched two wildly successful Quests. The Prestige, which honored The Third Kingdom’s launch, as well as Questmas, a 12-day countdown throughout the holiday season that lit up X with brain-bending puzzles, highlighting the many collections within the Futureverse ecosystem we know and love, and incredible community contributions that elevated engagement and created meaningful connections.
A whopping 21,874,169 $ROOT was distributed to those who completed Quest 015 with other exciting bonuses for holders with special FLUF traits. Multipliers reached 1.9x Collectibles Score + 1.25x Engagement Score with an added 100 Engagement Score per main FuturePass, and needless to say, the community’s response was incredible. Quest 015: The Prestige rewards have been distributed.
We’re closing out 2024 on a high note and would like to share some stats about our latest Quest distribution:
During Questmas, we rewarded 78 collectibles to the community for daily social activity on X, and over 21,968,868 $ROOT, which was distributed Jan 9, 2025 around 8:35pm NZT. Multipliers reached 2.25x Collectibles Score + 1.25x Engagement Score with an added 100 Engagement Score per main FuturePass. On top of Quest rewards, an extra 1K $ROOT per FLUF held was sent out to FuturePass holders who participated in Questmas, which equals 5,265,000 $ROOT total.
It was a breakthrough year for our community, one defined by growth and progress, and we are riding high in 2025 off the momentum of these incredible activations.
Thank you for joining us for this edition of Futureverse News. We hope you enjoyed reflecting on a significant year for our company and partners, and feel more connected than ever to the exciting developments happening across our ecosystem. As we look ahead to 2025, we remain committed to keeping you updated with the latest product launches, thought leadership pieces, company updates, and vision for the future of the open metaverse. Follow us on social for insights into the innovations shaping our virtual worlds. Here's to another year of growth and collaboration – and remember, we're not building the future. You are. 💫