The Japanese company recently acquired all outstanding shares of Dutch startup Beyond Sports, which specialises in using 3D animation to produce content from actual sports games or match data. The purchase price has not been disclosed but is believed to be around ¥5 billion to ¥10 billion (US$35.36 million to US$70.72 million).
Sony’s purchase of Beyond Sports was handled through UK-based Hawk-Eye Innovations, which develops camera systems that track the movement of balls in sporting events. Hawk-Eye was acquired by Sony in 2011.
Hawk-Eye’s technology has become invaluable to the sports world. Its camera systems are used in more than 20,000 sports games and matches every year, in more than 90 countries.
Some tennis matches at international tournaments have used the technology instead of line judges. In baseball, Hawk-Eye’s data service has been used by some Japanese professional teams to analyse pitches and batted balls.
However, its technology has limits. In Europe and the US, 3D-animated video content that can be enjoyed from any viewpoint after a sporting event are popular, but the 3D data that Hawk-Eye’s system compiles from its multiple cameras has proved not to be precise enough for this.
Sony’s most recent acquisition covers this weak point. Beyond Sports’ technology can convert even incomplete game data into full 3D animation, using its know-how from the sports science field. It has been used successfully in the National Football League and National Hockey League.
Sports technology companies now under Sony’s umbrella, including UK-based Pulselive which was purchased at the same time as Hawk-Eye, will cooperate to provide end-to-end sports data services.
Game data recorded by Hawk-Eye’s camera system will be rapidly turned into 3D content by Beyond. The content will then be passed on to Pulselive, which creates and manages official websites for sports organisations and teams. By providing Beyond’s 3D content on Pulselive’s sites, Sony hopes to create a new type of virtual sports platform.
In recent years, Sony has shown a clear interest in the sports world. In 2021, it teamed up with the English Premier League football team Manchester City on an experiment to recreate the team’s stadium and players in the metaverse.
Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has placed importance on the metaverse as a live space where people can share time and space, saying, “the essence of entertainment is live”.
If Sony can successfully bring spectator sports, which involve many people enthusiastically gathering for the same purpose, to the virtual world using its newly acquired resources, then there is a good chance that it could become an important new entertainment business for the company.