在正式获得“独角兽”地位近两年后，西雅图初创公司Rec Room继续为其同名旗舰应用Rec Room扩大用户，推出了新的实体礼品卡、虚拟鬼屋、和美泰公司的宇宙大师品牌跨界，也许最重要的是，可能还有脚。
这款免费的Rec Room应用目前在PC、Xbox、PlayStation、iOS和Android上都有2D版本，在Meta Quest商店中也有VR版本。Rec Room用户可以创建、定制和装扮简单的虚拟形象。然后，他们可以使用这些化身进入数百万玩家创建的“房间”之一，在那里他们可以玩游戏，创造自定义体验，并与其他用户进行社交。
在2020年大流行封锁期间，《Rec Room》的玩家数量迅速扩大，用户在应用内创建了“房间”，用于社交距离较远的生日派对、学校课程和治疗课程等活动。随后，该公司乘着这股热潮，到2021年12月估值达到35亿美元。
截至本月，Rec Room报告称，移动端用户同比增长640%，到2022年第一季度，所有平台的活跃用户达到2900万。据估计，在此期间，玩家每3秒就会在应用中创造一个新的“房间”。
尽管Rec Room是一家虚拟社交空间，但它并不认为自己是一家“元宇宙”公司。
Rec Room的发行主管Mike Schmid在最近的一次采访中告诉GeekWire:“我们谈论的一件事是，Rec Room是一个你可以去的地方，而不是现实生活的替代品。”
“我们不用‘元宇宙’这个词。“我们不会像其他经历那样以一种令人毛骨悚然的方式谈论自己。我们只是在补充现实生活。”
该应用程序还允许用户制作应用内内容并将其货币化，例如为虚拟角色制作独特的服装，其他用户可以用真钱购买这些服装。在2022年第一季度，Rec Room向这些创作者支付了100万美元，并于最近宣布在全国沃尔玛门店推出一系列实体礼品卡。
今年9月，Rec Room在其虚拟活动空间举办了第三届年度“Rec Con”，吸引了超过40万用户，目的是推广其即将推出的Rec Room Studio应用程序。该功能集基于Unity，旨在加快和简化创建“房间”的过程，并为每个单独的项目提供合作的可能性。
12月13日，Rec Room宣布与美泰(Mattel)达成协议，从12月15日到1月15日，作为MOTU成立40周年的一部分，将《宇宙大师》系列带到Rec Room。
应用内的娱乐中心现在有一个照相亭和一个快闪商店，允许娱乐室的用户打扮成希曼，骷髅和Teela。每件服装的三件零件，以及一个类似希曼力量剑的独立配件，将在3月31日之前上市。
Schmid说:“我们一直在想，让我们和一些合作伙伴一起测试一些东西，看看谁可以和我们一起花很多时间。如果你看看我们这个领域的其他人，实物商品和玩具真的很重要。”
Schmid补充道:“你可能可以把这些点联系起来，看看Rec Room两年后会在哪里。”
“我们希望开始建立这些关系……我们希望以一种真正适用于Rec Room的方式构建Rec Room的物理版本，而构建和创作是其中的重要组成部分。我们目前没有任何可靠的计划。”
进入玩具领域的可能性是目前正在开发的一项选项背后的动机之一，即改变Rec Room玩家角色的特征外观，在公司内部被称为“豆子”。现在，这些虚拟形象有一个独特的圆形外观，没有胳膊、脖子或腿。
在接下来的一年里，Rec Room计划尝试改变虚拟形象，为个性化添加更多选择。目前Rec Room称之为“准备、射击、瞄准”的阶段，第一次调整可能会在2023年第一季度末发布。
这些调整可能包括部分或全部目前Rec Room虚拟形象缺失的肢体。脚的需求显然特别高，因为这将允许Rec Room内容创造者开始生产新的时尚虚拟鞋系列。
Schmid说道:“我们真的很喜欢这些角色的风格化，他们仍然会觉得自己是在一个游戏空间中。“我们如何在不完全破坏品牌身份的情况下提供这种选择?这对我们来说非常重要。”
明年，Rec Room计划调查更多的品牌合作伙伴关系，特别是与西雅图当地的公司。这可能包括音乐、服装或其他视频游戏，以及Rec Room中更正式的“游戏相关”内容，如智力问答之夜。
原文：
As of Dec. 15, Rec Room users can dress their in-game avatars up as classic characters from Masters of the Universe. (Mattel/Rec Room Image)
Almost two years after officially attaining “unicorn” status, Seattle startup Rec Room continues to expand the audience for its eponymous flagship app Rec Room, with new physical gift cards, a virtual haunted house, a brand crossover with Mattel’s Masters of the Universe, and perhaps most importantly, the possibility of feet.
The free Rec Room app is currently available in 2D on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, iOS, and Android, and in VR on the Meta Quest store. Rec Room users can create, customize and dress up simple avatars. They can then use those avatars to travel into one of a few million player-created “rooms,” where they can play games, create custom experiences, and socialize with other users.
Over the course of the 2020 pandemic lockdown, Rec Room‘s player population rapidly expanded, with its users creating in-app “rooms” for events like socially-distant birthday parties, school classes, and therapy sessions. The company subsequently rode that wave of interest to a $3.5 billion valuation by December 2021.
As of this month, Rec Room reports 640% year-over-year growth on mobile, with 29 million active users across all platforms in Q1 2022. It estimates that one new “room” was created by players in-app every three seconds during that time frame.
Despite its status as a virtual social space, Rec Room doesn’t consider itself a “metaverse” company.
“One of the things that we talk about is Rec Room being a place you can go, and not really an alternative to or replacement for real life,” Mike Schmid, head of publishing for Rec Room, told GeekWire in a recent interview.
“We don’t use the term ‘metaverse.’ We don’t talk about ourselves in the sort of creepy way that some other experiences do. We’re just supplementing real life.”
The app also allows users to make and monetize in-app content, such as unique outfits for avatars, which other users can acquire with real money. In Q1 2022, Rec Room paid out $1 million to those creators, and recently announced a line of physical gift cards available at WalMart locations nationwide.
In its virtual event space, Rec Room hosted its third annual “Rec Con” in September, which attracted more than 400,000 users, in order to promote its upcoming Rec Room Studio app. This feature set, based in Unity, is intended to speed up and simplify the process of creating “rooms,” as well as open the possibility of collaborating on each individual project.
On Dec. 13, Rec Room announced a deal with Mattel that brings the Masters of the Universe franchise to Rec Room from Dec. 15 through Jan. 15, as part of MOTU‘s 40th anniversary.
The in-app Rec Center now features a photo booth and a pop-up shop, which allows Rec Room users to dress up as He-Man, Skeletor, and Teela. The three pieces that make up each costume, as well as a separate accessory made to resemble He-Man’s Power Sword, will be available for purchase until March 31.
“We’re very much in a space where we’re thinking, ‘Let’s test out some stuff with some partners and see who we can spend a lot of time with,’” Schmid said. “If you look at other people in our space, physical goods and toys are really important.”
Schmid added that “you can probably connect the dots on that to see where Rec Room will be two years from now.”
“We want to start building those relationships … we want to build the physical versions of Rec Room stuff in a way that’s really true to Rec Room, and building and creation is a big part of that. We don’t have any solid plans right now.”
The possibility of moving into the toy space is part of the motivation behind an option, which is currently in development, to change the characteristic look of Rec Room‘s player avatars, known internally in the company as the “beans.” Right now, those avatars have a distinctive rounded appearance, with no arms, neck, or legs.
Over the course of the next year, Rec Room plans to experiment with ways to change avatars to add more options for personalization. This is currently in a phase that Rec Room calls “ready, fire, aim,” with the first tweaks potentially coming to the app by the end of Q1 2023.
Those tweaks could go so far as to include some or all of the limbs that are currently missing on Rec Room‘s avatars. Feet are apparently in particularly high demand, as that would allow Rec Room content creators to begin to produce new lines of fashionable virtual shoes.
“We really do like that the avatars are stylized, and they still feel like they’re very much in a game space,” Schmid said. “How do we give that optionality without totally breaking that brand identity? That’s really important to us.”
Next year, Rec Room plans to investigate more brand partnerships, particularly with local Seattle companies. This could include music, apparel, or other video games, alongside more official “game-adjacent” content for Rec Room such as a trivia night.
本文由数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）翻译而成，作者：THOMAS WILDE；翻译：数字化转型网郑亚茹；翻译审核：数字化转型网默然。
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