đšMetaverse Market Review
Metaverse and the Web 3 marketplace are currently in their infancy
Last updated
Metaverse and the Web 3 marketplace are currently in their infancy
Last updated
The metaverse (a portmanteau of "meta-" and "universe") is a hypothesized iteration of the internet, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets. Metaverses, in some limited T form, are already present on platforms like VRChat or video games like Second Life. Current metaverse ambitions are centered on addressing technological limitations with modern virtual and augmented reality devices, as well as expanding the use of metaverse spaces to business, education, and retail applications. Numerous entertainment and social media companies have invested in metaverse-related research and development. Metaverse has been criticized as a method of building public relations using a purely speculative, "overexaggerated" concept based on current technology. Information privacy and user dependency are concerns in the metadatabase arising from the current challenges facing the social media and video game industries as a whole. However, this theorem is completely untrue and was put forward by anti innovationists. Be on the side of the opposition.
Concept art of virtual office space called Nth Floor. Some developers have proposed using metaverse technology for improvements in work productivity. Within the education sector, metaverse technologies have been proposed as a way to allow for interactive environments for learning. The metaverse could also host virtual reality home tours in the real estate sector.Cryptocurrencies and NFT adaptations. The great potential of this business is revealed at this point.
In this world, the computer screens we use today to connect to a worldwide web of information have become portals to a 3D virtual realm that's palpable -- like real life, only bigger and better. Digital facsimiles of ourselves, or avatars, move freely from one experience to another, taking our identities and our money with us.
This is known as the metaverse and, hype notwithstanding, it does not exist today.
What are enterprise leaders to make of a fast-evolving, hyped-up concept that could fundamentally change how humans live? TechTarget's in-depth guide to the metaverse breaks down where this nascent technology revolution stands today and where it is headed. Topics include the technologies and platforms that support the metaverse, its benefits and challenges, how to invest in it, its history, why the metaverse is important and its impact on the future of work.
Throughout the guide, there are hyperlinks to in-depth explorations of these and other relevant topics, as well as to definitions of important concepts in the metaverse such as interoperability, digital twins, spatial computing and Web 3.0.
"Metaverse" became a household word when Facebook rebranded its corporate identity to Meta in October 2021 and announced plans to invest at least $10 billion in the concept that year. In addition to Meta, tech giants including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia and Qualcomm are also investing billions of dollars in the concept. Management consultancy McKinsey & Company has bullishly predicted that the metaverse economy could reach $5 trillion by 2030. E-commerce is expected to be the dominant engine, with gaming, entertainment, education and marketing in the metaverse also becoming important sectors.
Today, companies use the term to refer to many different types of enhanced online environments. These range from online video games like Fortnite to fledgling virtual workplaces like Microsoft's Mesh or Meta's Horizon Workrooms to virtual dressing rooms and virtual operating rooms. Rather than a single shared virtual space, the current version of the metaverse is shaping up as a multiverse: a multitude of metaverses with limited interoperability as companies jockey for position.
The combination of uncritical enthusiasm for the metaverse and deep uncertainty about how it will pan out has sparked some backlash. Industry watchers have questioned if the metaverse will ultimately be much different from the digital experiences we have today -- or, if it is, whether the masses will be willing to spend hours a day in a headset navigating digital space.
Other futurists, however, argue that while it is early days for the metaverse and fundamental technical barriers still exist, the metaverse will happen. And, it will arrive with a big bang.
"It is clear that it is one of the most highly anticipated technology evolutions of the coming decade," Dave Wright, chief innovation officer at IT provider ServiceNow, told TechTarget writer George Lawton in "History of the metaverse explained."
The metaverse is a vision of what many in the computer industry believe is the next iteration of the internet: a single, shared, immersive, persistent, 3D virtual space where humans experience life in ways they could not in the physical world.
Some of the technologies that provide access to this virtual world, such as virtual reality (VR) headsets and augmented reality (AR) glasses, are evolving quickly; other critical components of the metaverse, such as adequate bandwidth or interoperability standards, are probably years off or might never materialize.
The concept is not new: The term metaverse was coined in 1992 by author Neal Stephenson in his sci-fi novel Snow Crash, and work on the technologies that underpin a virtual reality-based internet date back decades.
Because the metaverse is largely unbuilt, there is little agreement on how it will work.
Broadly speaking, however, the metaverse is a digital ecosystem built on various kinds of 3D technology, real-time collaboration software and blockchain-based decentralized finance tools.
Factors such as the degree of interoperability among virtual worlds, data portability, governance and user interfaces will depend on how the metaverse pans out.
Lauren Lubetsky, senior manager at Bain & Company, speaking in a session on the metaverse at the 2022 MIT Platform Strategy Summit, outlined three possible scenarios:
The metaverse remains a domain of niche applications, used by consumers for entertainment and gaming but stopping well short of an all-encompassing virtual reality.
The metaverse is controlled by large competing ecosystems -- for example, Apple and Android meta worlds -- with limited interoperability.
The metaverse is a dynamic, open and interoperable space, much like the internet but in 3D.
In Stephenson's dystopian view of the future, Snow Crash, people gained status based on the technical skill of their avatars. Another indication of status was the ability to access certain restricted environments -- a precursor to the paywalls and registration requirements some websites use today.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, later made into a movie by Steven Spielberg, was another novel that helped popularize the idea of the metaverse. The 2011 dystopian sci-fi novel is set in the year 2045, where people escape the problems plaguing Earth in a virtual world called The Oasis. Users access the world using a virtual reality visor and haptic gloves that let them grab and touch objects in the digital environment.
Two technologies considered important to the development and growth of the metaverse are virtual reality and augmented reality:
Virtual reality is a simulated 3D environment that enables users to interact with a virtual surrounding in a way that approximates reality as perceived through our senses. This approximation of reality is now typically accessed through a VR headset that takes over a user's field of vision. Haptics, including gloves, vests and even full-body tracking suits, enable more lifelike interaction with the virtual environment.
Augmented reality is less immersive than VR. It adds digital overlays on top of the real world via a lens of some type. Users can still interact with their real-world environment. The game PokÊmon Go is an early example of AR. Google Glass and heads-up displays in car windshields are well-known consumer AR products.
Whether VR and AR experiences turn out to be the primary interfaces of the metaverse remains to be seen, Gartner senior principal analyst Tuong H. Nguyen told Lawton, adding that what we have now are precursors or pre-metaverse solutions.
At present, many of the metaverse-like experiences offered by gaming platforms such as Roblox, Decentraland and Minecraft can be accessed through browsers or mobile devices and a fast internet connection.
Digital twin avatars. These twins will not only exist on computer screens but will be rendered as AI-powered holograms or holographic images that are assigned tasks, Ajao reported. A CEO, for example, could activate an AI-powered hologram of himself to engage with multiple stakeholder groups at once.
Metaverse for work collaboration. Enterprises are starting to use the metaverse to add "an element of realism" to remote work experiences, said Forrester analyst J.P. Gownder. This includes setting up 3D rooms where employees can collaborate.
Enterprises are experimenting with metaverse applications in the workplace that build on the virtual applications companies deployed during the pandemic to support remote work. An early application of metaverse technologies involves workplace training. Some hospitals are already using VR and AR to train for common medical procedures, reported TechTarget news writer Esther Ajao. One technology recently approved by the FDA is Medivis, an AR surgical system that lets surgeons quickly sync with a hospital's digital imaging system. Other metaverse-type applications she wrote about in her article, "Enterprise applications of the metaverse slow but coming," include the following:
The online gaming industry has decades-long experience in creating immersive virtual worlds. And to the extent a proto-metaverse has a mainstream use, the massive audiences that flock -- albeit not synchronously -- to the likes of Roblox, Epic Games and Decentraland suggest that playing games, building virtual worlds and investing in real estate might be it.
Web 3.0, or Web3, is the term used to denote a new blockchain-based version of the internet. "Web 3.0 vs. metaverse: How are they different?" unpacks the links and distinctions between the two concepts and explains how a decentralized Web3 aims to give users more control over their browsing experience.
"In gaming, you see Roblox, Minecraft and other immersive video games -- and even Zoom -- foreshadow what the metaverse is designed to offer," said Ben Bajarin, CEO and analyst at Creative Strategies.
The metaverse doesn't compete with the internet -- it builds on it. The internet is something that people "browse," but people can "live" in the metaverse to a degree. The growth of the internet has spawned many services that are leading the way to the creation of the metaverse.
The internet is a network of billions of computers, millions of servers and other electronic devices. Once online, internet users can communicate with each other, view and interact with websites, and buy and sell goods and services.
artificial intelligence
internet of things
extended reality
brain-computer interfaces
3D modeling and reconstruction
spatial and edge computing
blockchain
The consensus among Shein's expert sources was that these seven technologies will have the biggest impact on metaverse development over the next decade:
Gartner, for example, prefers to describe metaverse technologies in terms of "tech themes." The themes include spatial computing, digital humans, shared experiences, gaming and tokenized assets. Forrester Research characterizes metaverse tools as "enablers of 3D development environments." Professionals skilled in 3D modeling and IoT for developing digital twins are among the talent companies will need to recruit for.
In her article "7 top technologies for metaverse development," technology writer Esther Shein explained that industry watchers shy away from codifying the technologies that will power the metaverse. This is in part because the metaverse is evolving and partly because many of the tools driving the metaverse are themselves made up of multiple technologies.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) figure to play a big role in the usefulness and popularity of the metaverse. NFTs are a secure type of digital asset based on the same blockchain technology used by cryptocurrency. Instead of currency, an NFT can represent a piece of art, a song or digital real estate. An NFT gives the owner a kind of digital deed or proof of ownership that can be bought or sold in the metaverse.
Metaverse Group bills itself as the world's first virtual real estate company. It acts as an agent to facilitate the purchase or rental of property or land in several metaverse virtual worlds, including Decentraland, Sandbox, Somnium and Upland. Offerings include conference and commercial spaces, art galleries, family homes and "hangout spots."
While the metaverse has created opportunities for new companies such as Metaverse Group to offer digital goods, established brick-and-mortar companies are also jumping in. For example, Nike acquired RTFKT, a startup that makes one-of-a-kind virtual sneakers and digital artifacts using NFTs, blockchain authentication and augmented reality. On its website, RTFKT said it was "born on the metaverse, and this has defined its feel to this day."
Prior to the acquisition, Nike filed seven trademark applications to help create and sell virtual sneakers and apparel. Nike and Roblox also partnered on "Nikeland," a digital world where Nike fans can play games, connect and dress their avatars in virtual apparel.
"NFTs and blockchain lay the groundwork for digital ownership," said Nick Donarski, co-founder of Ore System, an online community of gamers, content creators and game developers. "Ownership of one's real-world identity will carry over to the metaverse, and NFTs will be this vehicle."(Look references.)
In July 2021 the founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, said in an interview that his controversial social media giant will undergo a major transformation over the next few years. Facebook, Zuckerberg said, âwill effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.â[2]
Several components of metaverse technologies have already been developed within modern internet-enabled video games. The 2003 video game Second Life is often described as the fi rst metaverse, as it incorporated many aspects of social media into a persistent virtual world. Social functions are often an integral feature in many massively multiplayer online games. Technology journalist Clive Thompson has argued that the emergent, social-based gameplay of Minecraft represents an advanced implementation of the metaverse. Other claims of developing a metaverse have been made for the games Active Worlds, Roblox, Decentraland,and Fortnitein addition to a few early MUD games.
Metaverse development has often focused on bettering virtual reality technologies due to benefi ts in establishing immersion in virtual environments. In 2019, the social network company Facebook launched a social VR world called Facebook Horizon. Facebook would later be renamed âMeta Platformsâ in 2021. Its chairman Mark Zuckerberg declared a company commitment to developing a metaverse ecosystem. Much of the underlying virtual reality technology that Meta Platforms advertised remains to be developed. Microsoft acquired the VR company AltspaceVR in 2017,and is planning on integrating metaverse features into Microsoft Teams. Nike also foresees the Metaverse and begins to construct âNikelandâ in 2021 on Roblox, an online video game based virtual environment.
The global metaverse market size reached USD 47.69 Billion in 2020 and is expected to register a revenue CAGR of 43.3% during the forecast period. Rising focus on converging digital and physical worlds using the Internet, increasing traction and popularity of Mixed Reality (MR), and the COVID - 19 outbreak and pandemic and subsequent developments and outcomes of the situation are among other major factors expected to continue to drive global metaverse market revenue growth. A metaverse is a 3D immersive environment shared by multiple users, in which participants can interact with each other via avatars. Use of metaverse to purchase digital assets using cryptocurrencies is gaining steady traction globally. Individuals currently engage with others digitally through websites and chatting apps or on social media platforms like Facebook. The concept behind the metaverse is the introduction of newer online environments whereby interactions between people would be highly multidimensional, wherein they can immerse more interactively with digital content instead of just viewing information. The concept has gained robust traction, and on 29 October 2021, Facebook Inc. announced that the company would henceforth (29 October 2021) be known as Meta Platforms Inc., orâ Meta âfor short. The company would be committed to developing the immersive digital world known as the metaverse. The COVID-19 pandemic was quite instrumental driving increasing interest in the metaverse concept. Individuals began working remotely and students shifted to attending classes virtually, and demand and need for convenient approaches or channels for making online interaction more realistic emerged. The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the emergence of virtual communities as major lifestyle areas for locked down users, including interactive gaming landscapes as well as increasing adoption of mixed reality. Latest advancements in digital social experiences would set the context for the next stage of post- COVID digital activity, the advent of metaverse, which is being used effectively as a real-time virtual world to open up and leverage major potential for brand engagement. Certain users only perceive the metaverse as gaming environments wherein users create and control an avatar that can move around and engage with other gamers. Metaverse platforms with blockchain technology enable users to create, own, and trade decentralized digital assets and virtual lands with cryptocurrencies and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTS). Increasing demand for and deployment of blockchain technology-driven metaverse platforms for trading digital assets is expected to support market revenue growth to a significant extent going ahead. We will work non-stop about Affiliate Programs, Influencer Marketing, Community Angels, and Alternative Reward Systems. Firstly We launched our website to introduce tokens, and we wanted to Show people the targets, which provide token information, set the roadmap. METAVERSE FACE works with smart contracts on the Binance Chain Network (BEP20). All transactions record in smart contracts. Mefa doesnât use database. Also your money will not be damaged in any attack. We are not a fill-and-empty project. Our aim is to be ready for the new bull season with our project. We definitely try to use the best ads. However, we are clear about this. When people see our project, they will want to advertise ourselves. We want to be permanent. We will not be one of the projects that disappear in 10 days, 3 months, 6 months. Thatâs why we plan and calculate every step. We solidly fill every step and step. This is the most important for a strong and lasting rise. People want to make money quickly and as a result, they suffer serious losses. Projects that move with many commercials are on the rise, but anyone who buys them at a high price is then forever harmed. We will never, ever act this way. We will never work with people who do not believe in our project and technology.
