An Improbable story: accelerating into the metaverse – and what comes next

29.04.22

3 mins

Share

Improbable was born in 2012, with the idea of creating a way to spend more quality time in incredible virtual worlds. Existing multiplayer games didn’t feel quite enough – the founders wanted online worlds to be as important, meaningful and rich as our real one. It was always about more than just technology: it was about building and sharing amazing experiences that were once impossible – and pushing boundaries as far as our imagination could take them.


A decade of investment in games and technology later, Improbable has gained industry leading experience in solving multiplayer problems and built a service business that partners with 60 publishers globally – half of which are AAA studios. Our technology and teams support simulated worlds of unprecedented scale.


By autumn 2021, we were poised to make the founders’ vision for immersive virtual worlds a reality. As the rapidly expanding market for metaverse and Web3 activities opened up, we unveiled our Morpheus technology, which solves density and presence challenges for real-time online experiences. We ran public tests, bouncing over 4000 live players around like tennis balls inside *Scavengers* spin-off *ScavLab*; and in a pioneering live event with K-Pop star AleXa, over 1000 fans freely roamed the arena, danced and interacted with the singer.


Morpheus is able to support over 10,000 live participants with customisable avatars, in real time, in the same space, and puts Improbable in a position to play a pivotal role in the next wave of creative experiences in Web3 and massive live interactive events.


In January 2022, we announced our willingness to double down and serve new metaverse projects, to meet the founders’ original vision, and help our clients explore the metaverse with ambitious projects. Improbable’s UK games studio shifted its focus entirely to metaversal experiences. Leading service provider Improbable Multiplayer Services (IMS) opened for business to customers beyond gaming who seek to engage in the metaverse. And in February, our friends and colleagues at videogame developer Inflexion Studios moved on to deliver their project with Tencent.


Earlier this month, on 7 April, Improbable announced new entity M² (MSquared), an internet of metaverses – and raised US$150m to establish and develop it. Powered by Morpheus, M² will allow companies to establish their own metaverses and Web3 businesses within the network. It supports the vast number of people and rich interactivity necessary to fulfil the metaverse’s promise.


And here we are a few weeks later, ready to deliver ambitious, open, interoperable metaverse projects on M². Our first announcement is we will develop Otherside on the M² network. The eagerly awaited Yuga Labs always-evolving metaverse will be immersive, interactive and collaborative in a way that’s never been done before.

To be the first to know about M² news and be a part of the conversation, follow us on Twitter at @improbableio and @m2_metaverses.

We founded Improbable to make real the promise of incredible online worlds that were more than just games – they were extensions of our lives. I believe the metaverse and Web3 movement represent a once-in-a-generation redefinition of our society towards a ‘fulfilment economy’ where experiences made by an open network of creators and businesses can generate enormous opportunity – for everyone.

Herman Narula, CEO of Improbable