HTC partners with Japan’s pixiv to launch 3D anime avatars in the Metaverse

Taiwan-based smartphone and virtual reality (VR) headset maker HTC announced a new partnership with Japanese creator platform pixiv, which will bring fresh Japanese anime-style 3D avatars on its Metaverse platform VIVERSE. 

pixiv is one of Japan’s most recognized social media platforms, with more than 81 million users. The user base is made up of all types of creators who are able to share their creative content, including illustrations, manga, and novels via the platform. It is also a place where these creators connect and interact with each other. In response to the growing demand for virtual content, pixiv launched VRoid in 2018 (a 3D virtual character modeling software) to allow users to customize their avatars’ hairstyles, faces, bodies, clothes and more. More than 10,000 avatars are made via VRoid every day worldwide.

Joseph Lin, President of VIVERSE said, ‘Avatars are an essential part of the metaverse. They represent a user’s persona and swiftly convey the idea of ‘who I am to others. The partnership with pixiv will rapidly increase the number of virtual characters on VIVERSE and meet the needs of users who prefer anime and manga styles. VIVERSE will continue introducing more unique characters and accessories in the future; with a variety of virtual avatars from reality to imaginary, a metaverse like Star Trek will not be far behind.’

President and CEO of pixiv, Shingo Kunieda said he believes integrating VRoid Avatar with the VIVERSE system would be excellent news for VRoid users as 90 percent of them are from different countries outside Japan. He added that VIVIERSE will continue its efforts to construct a world where people from across the globe can enjoy the experience of communicating through 3D Avatar.

pixiv is one of the 13 co-founders of the VRM Consortium, an organization which aims to promote the platform-independent 3D avatar file format VRM and cultivate a unified standard. HTC has also confirmed its support for the VRM standard upon the launch of VIVERSE. 

At present, both VRM Consortium and HTC are head members of the Metaverse Standards Forum, committed to achieving open Metaverse interoperability.

The primary task of the partnership between VIVERSE and pixiv will be linking the data on their systems. VRoid users will be able to utilize their original Avatar models on the VIVERSE stage.

Regarding their long-term mission, VIVERSE and pixiv will cooperate to deliver users with more customized and flexible creation features and to upgrade the avatar tools and accessories for VIVERSE. 

VIVERSE also plans to offer services through partnerships that will see more customized services developed according to the demands of corporations.

Photo: pixiv