Zigbang's Soma metaverse goes live and global on Friday

Zigbang will offer its Soma virtual office space on a global scale from Friday.

A view of the 42 Convention Center, an virtual auditorium built in Soma [ZIGBANG]

Zigbang will offer its Soma virtual office space on a global scale from Friday.

Soma is similar to Metapolis, Zigbang's virtual metaverse office, but is upgraded for global use with more language options and aims to house more overseas companies.

Soma Development, a Zigbang U.S. subsidiary established April 26, will operate Soma.

There are about 20 companies currently using Metapolis. All Zigbang employees virtually work in Metapolis, and the customer service team from Ourhome, a food catering company, works there as well. The companies will move to Soma starting Friday and Metapolis will shut down after all companies move out.

Soma will first be available on Android on Friday, but will available on iOS and via web browsers soon. It will be offered in 12 languages, including Korean, English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Portugese and Russian.

Proptech Tower, a virtual 30-story building, will be built in Soma. Companies will be able to decorate their own office space, and only users registered as their employees will be given access.

Users will all be given access to the The Hub, a virtual lounge where people can come together regardless of where they work. The 42 Convention Center, an auditorium with six separate venues with 500 seats each, will also be available.

Zigbang plans to construct more virtual buildings in Soma in the future.

“Through Soma, we plan to become a success story of Korean proptech unicorns,” said Ahn Sung-woo, CEO of Zigbang. Unicorn means a start-up with a value of over $1 billion.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]