‘Ready Player One’ author launches new ‘Fortnite’-inspired metaverse game

Ready Player One author Ernest Cline has teamed up with AI tech company Futureverse for a new “multi-IP” experience, similar to Fortnite.

Announced late last night (January 4), Readyverse Studios has been set-up by Futureverse co-founders Shara Senderoff and Aaron McDonald alongside Cline and the producer of the Ready Player One film, Dan Farah.

The first release from Readyverse Studios is set to be the Readyverse, which is due for launch later this year. According to a press release, The Readyverse is a “a dynamic interactive platform of interconnected digital experiences,” with many fans comparing it to Fortnite.

Readyverse Studios has already confirmed a partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring the Ready Player One franchise to the metaverse alongside all future creations from Cline.

We couldn’t be more excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with @readyplayerone creator and producer to launch Readyverse Studios to bring leading IP and brands to the metaverse. pic.twitter.com/6sU6FpOSdE

— Futureverse (@futureverse) January 4, 2024

“Readyverse Studios is laying the groundwork to bring the promise of the open metaverse depicted in Cline’s Ready Player One novel and the blockbuster film adaptation into a tangible reality; a multi-world, multi-IP, interoperable open metaverse experience for mass consumers. No IP has shaped the global culture and conversation around the metaverse more than Ready Player One,” continued the release.

“Now you can actually be in the world of those characters, with those characters, and share that experience with your friends and go on adventures with those characters,” Cline said in an interview with the LA Times. “The possibilities are endless.”

“The ability to buy anything that you can imagine, things that are out of your reach in the real world and things that don’t exist in the real world, like helicopters or super yachts or a Lamborghini — you could have any of that and then actually use those things as vehicles,” Cline added.

It’s also been confirmed that other brands and franchises will be joining The Readyverse in the near future, with the experience also making use of NFTs and blockchain technology.

In 2022, it was confirmed that Build A Rocket Boy would be releasing ”real-life” Ready Player One multiplayer game Everywhere, with the open world AAA multiplayer game initially launching last year.

In other news, Square Enix has confirmed it will be suspending the planned demolition of unused player housing in Final Fantasy 14 following a major earthquake in Japan.