JD Sports has taken its first steps into the metaverse with the launch of its ‘King of the Game’ digital Christmas campaign.

The arcade-themed campaign is the latest addition to the sportswear giant’s ‘King of the Game’ campaign, which recently saw a hyper-realistic digital-out-of-home (DOOH) display which featured a 3D mechanical arm grabbing the freshest trainers from a nostalgic claw arcade game.

Consumers can now step into JD’s virtual arcade themselves, as the Christmas campaign setting has been meticulously reconstructed by a grassroots community of creators via Meta’s new collaborative game platform, Meta Creative Shop.

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The move makes the sportswear giant the first-ever brand to launch a virtual metaverse game for sneakerheads on the Facebook gaming platform Crayta.

JD Sports global group marketing director Nadia Kokni described this year’s campaign as “celebrating the spirit of competition and the magic of Christmas” as it looked for ways to allow fans to “experience the energy and euphoria of the JD arcade”.

The ‘King of the Game’ Crayta universe stars a number of big names from across sport, entertainment and music culture; with Kano, KSI, Chunkz, Tobi Brown and Anthony Joshua all making an appearance in the neon-fuelled arcade.

The immersive game will allow streetwear fans to build custom avatars and discover minigames within Crayta’s JD Sports arcade; going head-to-head with friends over table football, pinball, claw machines and other classic arcade games such as the dance mat featured in the ‘King of the Game’ 2022 Christmas campaign which celebrated the best of British youth talent.