NYC
BOOKING FOR JUNE 2025
NBA Pixel Arena
YEAR2023
CLIENTSGoogle
NBA
STUDIOMediaMonks/Jam3
SOUND DESIGNBoombox
PROJECT TAGSMetaverse, Web, Virtual, Interactive, WebGL, Avatar
During the covid pandemic, the industry was abuzz about the potential of the Metaverse. Brands were eager to take part in this exciting new creative space and generate virtual worlds for their guests to explore and experience their brand in entirely different ways.
Google and NBA approached us to create a virtual world where basketball fans could celebrate their love of the game during live games and in the off season as well. We set to work envisioning what this world should feel like — ultimately culminating into a basketball wonderland where guests could guide a custom designed avatar through our virtual city and centerpiece arena.
We designed an avatar creator for guests to be able to completely customize how they presented themselves in our world, a currency system and shops to upgrade their look, and custom designed basketball games for them to play during IRL timeouts.
The entire world was created in WebGL, and was a testament to our cross collaborative workflow between creative and dev to optimize assets for aesthetics and performance.
Promotional Reel
In-Game
Screen caps & UI
Arena Design
Renders
Promotional
Renders
Avatar Design
Customization Study
Info & Key Credits
RESPONSIBILITIES
Creative Direction
Design Direction
3D/Motion Direction
Interaction Design
Game Design
User Interface
User Experience
Creative Strategy
Character Design
GOOGLE LEADS
Head of CreativeMatthieu Lorrain
Group Creative DirectorJ.P Guiseppi
Group Creative DirectorFranc Cheetham
NBA LEADS
VP Design Julie de Jesus Evans
Head of ProductionJohn Butterfield
Emerging TechDockery Walker
CREATIVE TEAM
CREATIVE & DESIGN DIRECTORAdam Romano
DESIGNAndrea Mata
Xiaocha Zhang
Barbara Lopez
Victoire Douy
MOTION DIRECTOR
Branko Jass
MOTION/3D
Cyrill Durigon
Andrea Arice
Kousha Motamedi
Ivo Diependaal
Mauri Vio
Chris Chan
TECH & PRODUCTION
TECHNICAL DIRECTORSWilliam Chan
Kin Hui-Lo
DEVELOPMENTAmelie Rosser
Henrique Périgo
Johnathan McKinnell
Alejandro Mesa Suarez
Artem Leznikov
Edgard Zavarezzi
PRODUCTIONMark Evans
Patrick Raimondi
Celane Chan
Florinda Dilag
Awards & Press
AWARDS
041823THE FWA FWA of the Day
050823behance.net[Blue Ribbon] Home Page Feature
PRESS
041823blog.google Get more of the game in the NBA and Google Pixel Arena
032723blog.google Take a look at the all-new NBA and Google Pixel Arena
032723Engadget Google upgrades its NBA Pixel Arena app just in time for the playoffs
041822TechCrunch
Google teams up with the NBA to host a ‘virtual’ Pixel Arena inside the NBA app
0418229to5Google Google creates ‘Pixel Arena’ game for NBA Playoffs with virtual avatars, trivia, and more
041822Digital TrendsGoogle launches Pixel Arena in NBA app for the Playoffs
Adam Romano
Creative & Design Direction
BOOKING FOR JUNE 2025