Though the concept of a metaverse was recently decried by Phil Libin—CEO of virtual presentation software proprietor Mmhmm—as well as other industry heavyweights, many major tech companies are continuing to pursue such initiatives. From Epic Games and Bandai Namco to SEGA and Microsoft, it’s clear that influential participants in tech and gaming spaces believe the metaverse to be an important part of the near future. Such is the interest in the metaverse that snack manufacturer Pringles plans to join in by offering fans a chance to get paid to fill the role of an NPC in Train Sim World 2.
This strange job listing is actually part of Pringles’ “Stay in the Game” advertising initiative, the result of a collaboration between Pringles and the UK-based advertising firm Grey London. Candidates were selected in late June, and the winner—who will be paid $25,000 for their “work”—is expected to be declared on July 11. Exactly what they’ll be doing isn’t entirely clear, and the ad campaign seems to be a strange way of connecting Pringles and a $25,000 sweepstakes to trending gaming topics such as the metaverse. Pringles actually dabbled in the gaming sphere in 2021 via a Halo promotion which was mocked by Stephen Colbert.
Another bizarre collaboration occurred in 2020 when Pringles was thought to have accidentally leaked the Xbox Series X’s price point via an advertisement. It turns out that the speculated asking price of roughly eight hundred dollars was off, but, weirdly enough, Pringles and Xbox are once again reunited—albeit tangentially—as Train Sim World 2, the title at the crux of this oddball advertising effort, is available on Xbox Game Pass.
Much like Pringles, Microsoft and Xbox seem to have ambitions of forming a metaverse. The experience is theorized to be a sort of hybrid of work and play, with the primarily business-centric Mesh for Microsoft Teams apparently spearheading proceedings. This could later evolve into a more fleshed-out metaverse experience, though, at present, Microsoft’s ambitions don't seem to be quite as expansive as Meta’s.
Strange as it may seem, Pringles isn’t the only company getting in on Metaverse technology despite apparently having nothing to do with that sector of business. In April of this year, LEGO partnered with Epic Games to work on a metaverse experience reportedly intended for younger audiences. With that in mind, from playing with LEGO to working as an NPC, metaverse tech seems poised to take over the lives of some gamers—although, in reality, a $25,000 lump sum does not a metaverse career make.
Source: Industry Leaders Magazine