Bring to life the virtual reality game released in the year 2022 in the fictional world of the young adult “light novel”, manga series Sword Art Online, using a combination of the lat est modern technology and IBM services.

The Sword Art Online franchise is hugely popular among IBM Japan’s target demographic, including system engineers, researchers and science students.

February 22, 2016: Project announced and news rapidly circulates around the internet.

February 24, 2016: Project announcement video surpasses 1 million views.

March 13, 2016: Announcement of 20 additional alpha-tester slots available to an attendance of 2,000 at an SAO-related event garners 800 applications in 2 hours.

March 15, 2016: Applicants for 228 alpha tester slots surpasses 100,000.

March 17-20, 2016: Alpha test conducted at Innovation Hall at Miraikan (National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation) in Tokyo.

Featured in 10,000+ media outlets.

Mentioned on Twitter 100,000+ times.

8+ Facebook fan pages.

1.8 million+ views on YouTube (Teaser Video)

72,000+ videos of user-generated content.

Website visitors from 210+ countries.

120,000,000 Social Reach.

Visits to IBM's WEB site TOP page is 7.6 times.

Inquiries from customers of the target industries has increased to 500%.