NBA Arena on Meta Horizon Worlds
Role: Lead Creative, Art Director, Experience Designer, Game Designer
To reimagine sports fandom in the age of VR, we brought the excitement of live NBA games into Horizon Worlds. The idea was to merge the energy of a real arena with the interactivity of social VR, giving fans a courtside experience no matter where they are.
Virtual Stadium
The arena was designed to mirror the electric atmosphere of a real NBA stadium, with multi-level architecture featuring dedicated fan sections, a discoverable locker room, dynamic concourses and exclusive luxury suites.
The centerpiece of the space is the immersive 180° VR viewing experience, giving every fan a courtside seat to live game broadcasts. Beyond the screen, the environment serves as a social hub where users can interact, celebrate, play or role-play together, and explore interactive zones in the stadium's layout.
Interactive Mini-games
To keep the energy high before the game and during halftimes, the environment featured interactive mini-games that allowed fans to do more than just watch. By engaging with the challenges and climbing the leaderboard, players could unlock exclusive NBA badges, custom emotes, and wearable avatar rewards.
Key interactive zones included:
Basket Blitz: A single- or multiplayer arcade game that tested players' precision and timing.
Slam Dunk Jam: A physics-based freestyle experience where players can dunk in creative ways and navigate multiple obstacles.
Halftime Hustle: A fast-paced cooking simulation where players jump behind the concession stand to cook up burgers for the crowd.
