Pixel Arena
Immersive, multiplayer 3D world inside the NBA app where fans could customize their avatars, recreate legendary dunks, and compete in multiplayer mini‑games.
A metaverse designed for NBA fans
For the NBA All‑Star Weekend 2023, Google and the NBA partnered with Jam3 (Monks) to design the future of sports entertainment: Pixel Arena, an immersive, multiplayer 3D world inside the NBA app.
Revolutionizing the fan experience
Inside the arena, fans could customize their avatar in futuristic streetwear, recreate the iconic dunks from the biggest players in the NBA, play battle royale mini‑games against other fans to unlock exclusive merch and explore a vibrant NBA world with other fans in real time.
Sprawling WebGL world
The arena was a sprawling WebGL complex that fans could explore together. To deliver a seamless, real‑time experience, Pixel Arena was built entirely in WebGL. This ensured high‑performance 3D rendering directly inside the NBA app.
Credits
Made with Jam3 (Monks)
Client Team
NBA
- Julie De Jesus‑Evans
- J.M Butterfield
- Dockery Walker
- Matthieu Lorrain
- J.P Guiseppi
- Franc Cheetham
Executive
CCO
- Pablo Vio
Production
- Greg Benedetto
- Nicole Black
ECD
- Roni Sebastian
Interactive experience
Creative director
- Adam Romano
Motion director
- Branko Jass
Motion/Avatar Director
Andrea Arice
Senior producers
- Mark Evans
- Patrick Raimondi
Designers
- Xiaocha Zhang
- Barbara Lopez
- Victoire Douy
Motion designers
- Mauri Vio
- Chris Chan
3D designer
- Chanelle Hartwig
Environment art director
- Kousha Motamedi
Avatar designers
- Andrea Arice
- Ivo Diependaal
- Cyrill Durigon
Concept artists
- Marcelo Rodriguez
- Lennart Verhoefs
- Mattys Klaassen
Copywriter
- Lydia Pawlawsky
UX
UX Director
- Sjoerd Vijfhuizen
Designers
- Tim Ruiters
- María José Baglioni Burgos
Development
Technical directors
- William Chan
- Kin Hui‑Lo
Developers
- Johnathan McKinnell
- Alejandro Mesa Suarez
- Artem Leznikov
- Edgard Zavarezzi
WebGL developers
- Amelie Rosser
- Henrique Périgo
- Jeremie Boulay
- John Lacoviello
- YiWen Lin
- Natalie J
- Arnaud Rocca
Technical architect
- Ben Moody
QA director
- Nitish Chandra
Trailer
Director
- Cyrill Durignon
Art director
- Kousha Motamedi
3D designers
- Cyrill Durigon
- Kousha Motamedi
- Andrea Rice
Sound designers
- Cyrill Durigon
- Nicolas Failla
Special thanks
- Celane Chan
- Florinda Dilag
- Roman Shishalov
- Andra Mata
- Steven Mengin
- Ben Pilgrim
- Luis Chique
- Greg Boychuk
- Ivan Rhys
- Rhys Davelaar
- Patricio Berrios Lobos
- Anna Dohy
- Liviu Antoni
- Chelsea Thompson O’Brien
- Boombox Sound