What is Metaverse?
Metaverse is a concept developed from the emergence of technologies such as the Internet, virtual worlds, and augmented reality. It refers to an iterative collective virtual shared consciousness and space. The business portfolio involves the virtual and real metaverse, such as the immersive experience brought by AR/VR, and the highly interactive and free social media business.
Definition of the Metaverse
There is no universally accepted definition of what the metaverse actually is, but some widely advocated definitions are as follows:
"The 'Metaverse' is a collection of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with others who are not in the same physical space. You will be able to hang out with friends, work, play, learn, shop, create, and more."
The Metaverse is a vast network of continuous, live-rendered 3D worlds and simulations that support continuity of identity, objects, history, payments, and permissions, and can be experienced synchronously by an unlimited number of users, each with a personal sense of presence.
Matthew Ball, author of Metaverse Primer
The term Metaverse is made up of two words:
Meta: A prefix meaning "more comprehensive", "super", or "qualified"
Verse: In Universe means universe.
Therefore, the concept of metaverse means "beyond the existing universe" or simply "virtual universe".
The Metaverse is like a replica world that exists in parallel to the real world, where almost all barriers to creativity are removed through tools or features provided by developers.
Therefore, metavers can be understood as a digital world that combines aspects of social media, online gaming, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), the internet, and cryptocurrencies, allowing users to interact using VR technology.
As the Metaverse develops, it will open up a more multi-dimensional online space for user interaction than existing technology. Users in the Metaverse will be able to immerse themselves in the space where the virtual digital world exists, rather than just watching digital content.
With the Metaverse, you’ll be able to do everything you can imagine, from meeting with friends and family, to working, learning, playing, shopping, creating — and in completely immersive experiences. New doesn’t really fit what we think of computers or phones these days… In this future, you’ll be able to teleport into the office as a hologram, at a concert with friends, or catch up in your parents’ living room, instead of having to go to the office,” Zuckerberg wrote in the “Founder’s Letter, 2021,” released on October 28.
Defining some characteristics of the Metaverse
If the virtual world is to become a concrete concept, it must have certain characteristics that distinguish it from existing isolated virtual reality experiences or pure virtual worlds, which can be summarized as the following characteristics.
Mass Expansion: If the metaverse is compared to the universe, its scale is infinite.
Interactive: Unlike movies, we can immerse ourselves in the Metaverse and interact with it.
Real-time rendering: Whether you are "online" or not, the time in the virtual world must be synchronized with real time.
3D Virtual World: The world in the Metaverse is built in 3D space. This represents the "realism" of the virtual universe.
Synchronicity and continuity of data: The virtual world is constantly updated and synchronized to all users.
Unlimited number of users: Unlike today’s video games, the Metaverse is geared towards larger concepts and certainly cannot limit data or users.
Personal Presence: Participants are aware of their presence in the metaverse, even in various forms.
Property and Economy: By joining the Metaverse, you will have certain (virtual) property rights and assets that can be traded in the economy of this digital world.
Example metaverse
A simple example of the metaverse is when a user can walk into a giant virtual shopping mall that can host a multiplayer experience in a virtual space, buy a single digital item, and then sell the same digital item a few weeks later in an entirely different virtual world — or perhaps on Twitter or eBay.
The movie Ready Player One, released in 2011 and directed by Steven Spielberg, is probably the best visual example of the concept of a metaverse we have right now.
However, there are some fundamental differences between the film and experts’ views of the upcoming metaverse, including the fact that in the movie there is only one major platform, Oasis, that makes up the metaverse created by the fictional gaming company Gregarious Games.
History of the Metaverse
Although the word metaverse has only recently emerged, in fact, "metaverse" appeared long ago (before the Internet era) in Neal.Stephenson's science fiction novel "Snow Crash" in 1992. Stephenson used the word metaverse to describe the virtual reality successor to the Internet, described as a place where people can communicate with each other through a cyberpunk-like space.
Metaverse Explosion
The climax began in mid-October 2021, when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg decided to change the company's name to Meta at Facebook's Connect 2021 conference.
So, with Mark Zuckerberg announcing that Facebook will shift from a "social media company" to a "Metaverse company" and Epic Games (the company behind the game Fortnite) raising $1 billion with ambitions to bring the game into the Metaverse, the Metaverse has now become the hottest keyword in the technology world in 2021.
Are there any benefits to Metaverse?
The Metaverse is a place where we can effectively learn, build, play, communicate, and collaborate with anyone on the planet. At the same time, it allows us to make the world a smaller place wherever we are, and more importantly, it brings more opportunities.
If used correctly, the Metaverse can bring people closer together than ever before, providing us with new opportunities to connect regardless of differences in language or location. This could be the beginning of a new environment in which we can build entirely new economies based on the distribution of shared value. Fans of the Metaverse describe it as the beginning of a new era in which experiences are built by people for people in increasingly accessible environments.
However, there are potential issues to deal with with the Metaverse, such as the risk that we may have difficulty tracking and preventing crime in a decentralized world. As a species and a global community, we have a responsibility to harness the capabilities of the Metaverse for good.
Is the Metaverse sustainable?
The Metaverse has been an incredible and exciting opportunity for many people. Many analysts believe that it will create a multitude of new opportunities in the form of new economies, new work environments, and new opportunities to connect with others. However, like any technology, the Metaverse requires careful consideration and implementation to be truly sustainable.
In order to stay true to these values and ensure long-term benefits, anyone working on the future of the metaverse needs to make sure they follow certain guidelines. For example:
Be environmentally conscious: The technology we use to create the Metaverse can help create positive change and the opportunity to save the planet. However, we need to ensure that any investment in this technology takes into account the needs of the environment. For example, companies may need to consider how to power the data centers responsible for the Metaverse environment.
Social ethics: A core concept of the Metaverse is that the digital world must be open to everyone. No one person controls the Metaverse more than anyone else. We should all have an equal voice and respect in the Metaverse. Social ethics need to be maintained in the Metaverse.
Healthy Economy: As the world continues to grow and evolve, the Metaverse needs to support the growth of new economies and the continued success of existing ones. A strong Metaverse environment should not only benefit one part of the community economically, but also provide equal opportunities for all.
Building the Metaverse Responsibly and Ethically
“We’ll be working with experts in government, industry, and academia to think through the problems and opportunities in the metaverse. For example, its success depends on building strong interoperability between services so that experiences from different companies can work together. We also need to engage the human and civil rights communities from the beginning to ensure these technologies are built in inclusive and empowering ways.”
An ethical and sustainable Metaverse needs to be built responsibly based on transparency and respect for privacy. The Metaverse will be based on a distributed and decentralized ledger that will be able to verify transactions and improve our global sense of trust.
Here are some key areas where we will work with others to anticipate risk and respond appropriately:
Economic Opportunity: How can we give people more choice, encourage competition, and keep the digital economy thriving?
Privacy: How can we reduce the amount of data we use, build technology to enable data use, protect privacy, and give people transparency and control over their data, whether they own it or not?
Safety and Integrity: How we keep people safe online and give them the tools to take action or get help when they see something they don’t like
Equity and Inclusion: How do we ensure these technologies are designed in inclusive and accessible ways?
Building a robust metaverse for the future of technology is more than just creating the most immersive VR experience or making the web more decentralized. The success of the metaverse involves many different components, many of which will rely on the ability to use technology and innovation in an ethical and responsible manner.
Facebook’s Commitment to Metaverse
Facebook announced that it has set aside an investment plan worth approximately $50 million to ensure that the Metaverse is built in a responsible manner. The budget will be allocated to research institutions and organizations, including Seoul National University and the Women in Immersive Tech community.
Not only that, the social networking giant also announced a plan to recruit 10,000 high-tech workers in European Union (EU) countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland to develop the Metaverse within 5 years.
However, according to observers, Meta will need 10 years to develop the virtual universe. It is too early to say whether Meta will be successful in the future.
Who owns the metaverse?
While no one owns the Metaverse itself—just like no one owns the Internet today—there are certainly some people or organizations with special influence in this space, such as Meta, Microsoft, Unity, Epic Games, Roblox, and other companies that want to be a part of it, which is why they are investing billions of dollars to make the sci-fi dream come true.
Try to imagine the Metaverse as a planet, and a universe without limits and without owners. Everyone will participate in owning and building every part of it, and these parts of the world will soon be connected to each other through defined standard protocols. Large companies, "big tech", will shape and control a significant part of this world. This is considered a fertile land, rich in untapped resources.
Creating layers in the Metaverse
Metaverse — A new generation of the Internet consisting of 4 layers
The new generation of Metaverse network system consists of 4 basic layers, including:
Base layer: The foundation of connectivity, i.e. the Internet.
Infrastructure layer: Regarding the infrastructure of the Metaverse, there are some hardware components that can help us get a real experience. In addition to hardware components, the technologies that make up the Metaverse are also in this layer (some technologies can be called blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data...).
Content Layer: In this layer, we will provide games and applications that help users immerse themselves in one or more different worlds to get the most vivid experience.
True Metaverse: This is the last layer of the Metaverse. When the bottom layer develops to a certain extent, we will have a real Metaverse.
The technology behind Metaverse
Key technologies for this purpose will include human-machine interface devices such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), multi-dimensional graphics, artificial intelligence simulation (AI), massive computing power, software and hardware for creating user avatars.
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
Blockchain technology provides decentralized and transparent solutions for digital proof of ownership, digital collectibility, value transfer, governance, accessibility, and interoperability. At the same time, cryptocurrencies allow users to transfer value while working and socializing in a 3D digital world.
In the future, cryptocurrencies could encourage people to actually work in the Metaverse. As more companies move to remote work from online offices, we will see Metaverse-related job opportunities.
Virtual Reality VR and AR
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can bring us an immersive and realistic 3D experience. It is our gateway to the virtual world.
Like the metaverse concept, VR creates a completely computer-generated virtual environment that users can explore using VR headsets, gloves, and sensors.
AR uses visual digital characters and elements to transform the real world. AR is easier to use than VR and can be used on most smartphones or digital devices with a camera.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence is able to process large amounts of data at lightning speed. Combined with machine learning techniques, AI algorithms can learn from previous iterations while taking into account outdated data to provide insightful and unique results. AI experts are investigating the possibility of applying AI to create vivid and vast virtual worlds.
In the Metaverse, AI can be applied to non-player characters (NPCs) in different situations. Almost every game has NPCs; they are part of the game environment and are designed to express emotions and respond to the player's actions.
Another potential application of AI is the creation of metaverse avatars. Users can use AI tools to analyze 2D images or 3D scans to create avatars that look more realistic and accurate. To make the process more flexible, AI can also be used to create different facial expressions, hairstyles, clothes, and features, making the digital people we create look more alive.
3D Reconstruction
One of the challenges of the Metaverse is to create a digital environment that is as close to the real world as possible. With the help of 3D reconstruction, the Metaverse is able to create realistic natural spaces.
Through special 3D cameras, we can turn the real world into an online space by accurately rendering realistic 3D models of real buildings, places, and objects. The 3D space data and 4K high-definition images are then transferred to a computer for processing, creating a virtual copy in the virtual world for the user to experience. Such virtual copies of real-world objects are also called digital copies.
Internet of Things (IoT)
One of the uses of IoT in the Metaverse is to collect and provide data from the real world. This will improve the accuracy of digitally represented elements. For example, an IoT source might change the way certain Metaverse objects behave based on current weather or other conditions.
IoT implementations can seamlessly connect the 3D world to a variety of real-life devices. This allows for the creation of real-time simulations in the metaverse. To further optimize the metaverse environment, IoT can also use artificial intelligence and machine learning to manage the collected data.
5G Network
The Internet is already very developed now, but in order to ensure the good transmission of high-quality content and a large number of connections, research institutions are still constantly introducing different Internet technologies that are getting faster and more convenient (a typical example is the current 5G technology).
Big Data
The “virtual universe” is a very ambitious concept that requires the most advanced technology platform, the most powerful connections, and the establishment of a huge content library. This big data platform certainly requires supporting big data processing technologies and techniques.
Metaverse Applications in the Real World
Here are some examples of the ways businesses today are using metaverse platforms for remote learning or to create new products and services.
Sports and Entertainment
At gaming company Unity, Peter Moore, head of live streaming for sports and entertainment, recently launched Unity Miracast. The platform will mirror professional sports in real time in 3D. Cameras capture the athletes on the field, and the data is used to create digital twins. The first 3D broadcast was a match between two mixed martial arts fighters captured in a small arena with 106 cameras.
Some movies on the topic of #metaverse:
Tron – 1982: Tron was the first metaverse movie that started the futuristic trend. Tron tells the story of a video game programmer who clashes with an artificial intelligence that was originally used as anti-hacking software.
The Matrix: The Matrix is a classic "cyberpunk" story that popularized the concept of digital simulation. It introduced the concept of downloaded consciousness, digital structures, and how avatars empower individual expressions that may not be the same in digital environments. Perhaps most importantly, the film explores the philosophical nature of building utopian environments and the perceived challenges associated with them.
Avatar: Avatar is a virtual universe movie that explores the world of Pandora by placing humans in a realistic simulation of the Na'vi mind and body. The technology to transfer human consciousness to another species is amazing. Avatar explores this concept and shows the capabilities of AR and VR technology. Two main technologies make up the digital universe - the metaverse. The movie posits that in the future people can use their avatars to communicate with each other in another dimension.
TRON: Legacy 2010: An upgrade from Tron 1982 represents a fascinating and original look at how computers could create a vision of the metaverse. It represents an original concept of immersive “cyberspace” and what it means for human participation. Tron also does an interesting job of showing how human-computer interaction can be a core feature of a metaverse environment.
Ready Player One : Ready Player One is often considered a "what is a metaverse?" movie, even though it assumes that one corporation controls everything.
Wreck-it Ralph: In Wreck it Ralph 1 & 2, video game villain Ralph sets out on a quest to become a good guy after growing tired of being a villain. His quest for a heroic story ultimately wreaks havoc on video games. Ralph can move across the internet, from game to game, and demonstrates the potential for connectivity in metaverse games.
Some typical metaverse games:
Minecraft 2011: An open world game where you can use resources to craft tools, build buildings and create your own world, as well as interact with other players through features and different game modes.
GTA V: In the multiplayer mode of the game, you can interact with many other players and perform many different trade or communication activities.
Roblox 2006: A game that allows players to be creative with multiple tools provided by developers. It supports VR experiences, stores data in the cloud, and provides an economic incentive system specifically for players.
The Sandbox (SAND) – 2012: The Sandbox is a virtual world where users can build and monetize gaming experiences on the Ethereum network, with the SAND token at its core. Players can create digital assets in the form of NFTs (roughly translated as exchangeable tokens), transfer these assets to the marketplace and integrate them into games with Game Maker.
Axie Infinity – 2018: Axie Infinity is an NFT-based online video game application developed by Mavis. The game uses Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies AXS and SLP. According to DappRadar, Axie Infinity is currently the most expensive NFT collection. Interestingly, Axie Infinity has proven to be a lifesaver for many unemployed people in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. People play the game to earn NFTs as rewards and redeem them for better returns. Games like Axie Infinity are growing in popularity due to the recent huge profits. In fact, it is reasonable to consider Axie Infinity as a highlight of the NFT gaming industry.
Illuvium: is an open-world role-playing game developed on the Ethereum blockchain. The basic premise of the game revolves around exploring the vast virtual world within it. The main goal of the player in the game is to collect powerful entities known as "Illuvials". However, the biggest highlight that makes Illuvium one of the best metaverse games is that it has not yet been released. With Illuvium scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2022, the game has reached a market cap of $1 billion. Most discussions about Illuvium show clip examples from actual gaming experiences. Metaverse enthusiasts have verified that the superior graphics quality and immersive gameplay are the top highlights of Illuvium.
Fortnite: The most notable name in the list of top 10 metaverse games of 2021 is Fortnite, which is also one of the most popular games. Fortnite: Save the World, Fortnite: Battle Royale, and Fortnite: Creative are the three available game modes. In the game, a terrible storm kills 98% of the population of the earth, leaving the survivors to zombies.
health care
Doctors are among the first to use AR for collaboration. Microsoft’s mixed reality headsets are also enabling medical professionals around the world to collaborate on nearly any surgical procedure in the 21st century. Surgeons can use Microsoft’s HoloLens, gestures, and voice commands to display 3D images from scans, access patient data, and communicate with other professionals. This hands-free control is a significant hardware advantage for doctors and other healthcare professionals.
train
NASA uses AR and VR on the space station to remotely control robots or complete maintenance tasks with AR support. In one specific project, astronaut Scott Kelly used a Microsoft HoloLens headset to train on the ISS and prepare for future missions. During these tests, a mission controller on Earth played Kelly's view through the headset and drew a 3D image displayed on the astronaut's HoloLens screen.
The Future Potential of Metaverse
According to Bloomberg (July 20, 2021), the Metaverse is expected to reach a market value of $800 billion by 2024. According to research firm IDC, the global market for virtual reality devices will grow by more than 50% this year, with a total of 9 million devices expected to be shipped. By 2025, this number could reach 28.7 million devices. In May, a digital version of a Gucci bag sold for more than $4,100 on Roblox, a gaming platform popular with children - more expensive than the physical version.
The participation of bigwigs
Ever since Facebook moved from the concept of social networking to the virtual world, a series of big names from the entertainment, gaming, fashion and other industries... have also joined the race in this ultra-virtual world.
When Facebook decided to change its name to Meta, it saw the Metaverse as the "successor to the mobile Internet." In 2014, Facebook acquired virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR for $2 billion. Facebook also has a social network with more than 3 billion users, and issued the Diem cryptocurrency to replace the previous Libra project (2020). They have mastered the core technologies of the metaverse, such as Social, VR/AR, blockchain, big data, IoT, AI, etc., and are ready to build a parallel virtual universe.
apple
Apple is also said to be preparing to "clear the way" to launch a similar device. According to sources, the "Apple house" smart glasses are expected to cost about $2,000. These are entry-level devices for users who want to join the "virtual universe" experience.
Speculation surrounding Apple developing AR and VR wearable technologies is not new. They have been around since at least 2013. CEO Tim Cook himself bet on wearable technology when early signs suggested the product was a good buy.
Apple has built a company around a set of core values, including the development of customer experience and trust. But when it comes to confidence in Metaverse technology, will Apple still maintain its monopoly?
Although Apple lags behind Meta (Facebook), Alphabet (Google), and others in the race to launch the first AR and VR devices, Apple is never late to the party.
Giant Google joined the Metaverse race early by acquiring many related technology companies and developing hardware and software devices, such as Google Glass, Google Cardboard, Google ARCore…
Google set off a headphone craze in Silicon Valley when it unveiled Google Glass in 2013. The experiment was not well received, but Google didn’t give up.
In 2020, Google acquired North, a startup focused on lightweight AR glasses that were the spiritual successor to Google Glass.
Google has also established Google Labs, which can focus on AR/VR development. Google is developing a new AR headset called "Project Iris".
Microsoft
Days after Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in an effort to build virtual spaces for consumers and businesses, Microsoft is joining the race to build the Metaverse inside Teams. Next year, Microsoft will bring Mesh, its virtual experience collaboration platform, directly into Microsoft Teams. It’s part of a larger effort to incorporate mixed reality at the company, with HoloLens working with meetings and video calls that anyone can join via an animated avatar. Microsoft laid the groundwork for this push when it acquired AltspaceVR in 2017.
Since Microsoft acquired Mojang Studios, the company behind Minecraft, for $2.5 billion in 2014, the number of Minecraft players has skyrocketed. According to statistics, the game had 131 million monthly active users in 2020 and more than 141 million users in 2021. Minecraft is the largest open world game that first fits the concept of the Metaverse. The game is still attracting a large number of users and has great potential to transform into a virtual world game.
Microsoft was the first major tech company to launch its fully functional AR headset, the HoloLens, in 2016. The most notable customer for the HoloLens is the U.S. military. Microsoft earlier this year won a $22 billion deal to sell 120,000 customized HoloLens to the government so that soldiers can use them to “increase lethality.”
The acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion (expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2023) is believed to help Microsoft go deeper into the metaverse. Especially in the field of games, Microsoft has gone from being a software company to the world's third largest game company after Sony and Tencent.
By acquiring Activision and 10,000 employees across its studios, Microsoft will become the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue. Microsoft will gain access to all of Activision's intellectual property (IP), including Call of Duty, Candy Crush Saga, Overwatch, Diablo, and Warcraft.
Microsoft President Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer (Microsoft Gaming CEO) said Microsoft believes that the large gaming communities around its games like Minecraft and Halo are important to help realize the concept of the metaverse - an area the company is pursuing. Therefore, acquiring Activision will help Microsoft build a larger and more dedicated gaming community to create its own metaverse.
"When we think about the vision of the Metaverse, we believe there won't be a single, centralized Metaverse, and in fact there shouldn't be one," Nadella said. "We need multiple Metaverse platforms, and strong ecosystems for content, commerce, and applications."
At the same time, The Guardian commented that Microsoft's move shows that games will become the company's development center in the future virtual world, rather than equipment or software like other competitors.
Microsoft is also investing heavily in cloud services, hoping to become an indispensable element of the virtual world, and is expected to be listed in 2022.
Samsung
Like other tech giants, Samsung quickly joined the Metaverse race with its virtual reality headsets, the Samsung Gear VR (launched in 2015) and the Samsung Gear 360 (2016-2017).
After 5 years without any updates, Samsung seemed to have withdrawn from the race, but recently Samsung made a series of new statements that shocked the market:
Samsung announced that it will support NFTs on smart TVs with MicroLed, Neo QLED, and The Frame products in 2022.
Samsung invests $25 million in Metaverse DoubleMe, a Metaverse startup based in South Korea. DoubleMe’s main products include TwinWorld, Aqua! Through TwinWorld, plasma…
Samsung partners with Naver Z’s ZEPETO platform to join the Metaverse with its VR world called “My House”
Samsung's augmented reality wonderland Dreamground is now open in Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. (Source)
The new Samsung 837X store was launched in January 2022 on the Decentraland virtual blockchain.
Through Samsung Next, Samsung has provided venture capital to many Metaverse-related projects (VR, NFT, blockchain, VR games…), including Axie Infinity, Dapper Labs, Metaplex, Forte, Wolf3d, VeeR, Theta Labs, The Sandbox, and SuperRare.
It can be seen that Samsung is ahead of many competitors in encryption, blockchain and metaverse. It is also possible that in the future, Samsung will soon build its own virtual universe of metaverse and compete directly with the giant Facebook.
Roblox
“In addition to creating tools and systems that maximize developer productivity, we’re creating opportunities for everyone to build virtual economies,” Roblox CTO Daniel Sturman said in a post as the event got underway. “We have 1.3 million developers and creators earning Robux, the main currency in Roblox. This year, they are on track to earn $500 million from their creations.”
Roblox and rivals including Microsoft, Nvidia, Unity Software, Epic Games and now Facebook are trying to grab a piece of the pie in the race to build a virtual universe because of its vast commercial potential.
Nvidia
Nvidia has also embraced the Metaverse with enthusiasm. To promote the Omniverse platform, the world’s most valuable chip developer held a comprehensive digital event in April 2021, and even Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang performed a digital simulation.
Netflix
Netflix is beginning to tap into the value of its digital supermarket after hiring Mike Verdu as its vice president of game development (as reported by The Verge). Netflix has acquired a range of intellectual property (IP) from movies to games, and can use these brands to drive a wider range of rich experiences and e-commerce solutions. Recently, the movie streaming company has shown an increasing interest in immersive entertainment and virtual reality (VR) products.
Tik Tok
ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, has entered the metaverse by acquiring a VR-focused startup called Pico. The acquisition reminds many people of Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus in 2014, and is expected to set off a new wave of VR in China.
Disney
On November 10, 2021, Walt Disney (DIS.N) CEO Bob Chapek said the entertainment conglomerate is preparing to make a technological leap into the world of virtual reality, allowing developers to see the worlds created by science fiction writers for the first time ever. In an interview with CNBC, Bob Chapek envisioned Disney's metaverse as an extension of Disney's streaming services through a new type of storytelling he called a "holographic canvas."
Tencent Holdings
On September 3, China's largest gaming company Tencent Holdings registered two trademarks, "Timi Metaverse" and "Kings Metaverse," paving the way for the future of its QQ messaging service and online game Honor of Kings. The company also launched Wave as an online music platform, bringing a new music trend to China.
Epic Games
Epic Games, maker of the popular game Fortnite, is one of the leaders in creating metaverse content. The company just received a $1 billion investment from partners to build a superverse.
Nike
According to CNBC, Nike has just applied for a number of new trademarks, indicating its intention to produce and sell virtual goods (shoes and clothing). In addition to new trademark registrations, Nike is also looking for talent in this area. According to Nike's recruitment information, the company recently posted a job vacancy to recruit a virtual material designer for footwear and other virtual design positions.
Tokens.com
On October 18, blockchain company Tokens.com Corp announced the acquisition of a 50% stake in Metaverse Group, which is described as “one of the world’s first NFT-based real estate companies.”
The company has a rich portfolio of blockchain-based virtual NFT real estate assets such as Decentraland, Somnium Space, The Sandbox, Cryptovoxels, and Upland.
other companies
In addition to the companies mentioned above, Roblox Corp., Unity Software Inc., Snap Inc., Autodesk Inc., Amazon Com Inc., Tencent HLDGS LTD, Sea LTD, Intel, Qualcomm, Alphabet, Coinbase, Electronic Arts, Samsung, Adobe, Alibaba, PayPal and Square are also competing to join the Metaverse.
Outstanding Metaverse Projects
Decentraland Project
Decentraland is an online digital world that combines social elements with cryptocurrency, NFTs, and virtual real estate. This virtual reality project is based on the Ethereum platform, where users can buy, sell, and build infrastructure. It is even considered a "micro-city" when you can build virtual meetings, shopping, watch music, relax, or do whatever you want.
As in other blockchain games, NFTs are used to represent cosmetic collections. They are also used for plots of land, 16x16 meter plots of land that users can buy in the game using the MANA cryptocurrency. The combination of all of this creates a complex crypto-economy.
Sandbox Project
Sandbox is a game developed on Ethereum, where you can create, share, earn and manage your assets without going through any game operator. Sandbox users can operate freely, breaking all barriers of traditional games. Projects in the game include VoxEdit, NFT Marketplace, Game Market, and Land.
Cryptocurrencies have been vying for a chance to enter the gaming industry, and one of them, The Sandbox, recently rose to stardom after launching a supermarket of virtual real estate products called Land NFTs.
Just like in the real world, investors can buy assets and develop their properties, and users can create avatars and meet, work and play in them.
In early 2021, The Sandbox announced that their first wave of public LAND sales broke record revenue for NFTs at nearly $3 million.
By early November 2021, The Sandbox announced that it had raised a staggering $93 million in a funding round led by SoftBank, one of the world’s largest investment firms.
Second Life Project
Second Life is a paid commercial 3D virtual reality world game developed in 2003 by Linden Lab, a San Francisco, California company founded by Philip Rosedale, former chief technology officer of RealNetworks.
Although it has been nearly 20 years since its development, Second Live once attracted more than 1 million virtual residents, but there are many limitations in technology and techniques. As the metaverse explodes, the people behind Second Life recognize and try to bring our attention back to their virtual world: "Committed to enhancing the development of the metaverse and diversity of innovation, comprehensiveness and creativity" claims Second Life founder, Philip Rossdale.
The project also has an NFT marketplace for exchanging collectibles. The virtual exhibition showcases various projects in the blockchain ecosystem for users to explore and interact with.
Bit.Country Project
Space is so vast and boundless that only the Metaverse surpasses it. Bit Country is a completely decentralized world where you can create virtual worlds with unique features such as currencies, rules, blocks, or NFT items in the form of digital assets.
Bit.Country & Metaverse.Network is a blockchain platform and ecosystem for user-generated virtual super universes, games, and distributed applications. Bit.Country is built using Substrate on Polkadot's ecosystem. With a network and open protocols to govern, the community is encouraged to use the metaverse.
In Bit.Country, users can create their own worlds, and the protocol encourages them to create a metaverse, where owners have the power to set rules, regulations, clocks, currencies, and even NFTs in the form of digital assets.
Wilder World
Wilder World is a decentralized artist DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) where artists and collectors can share and chat with each other. At the same time, it is also a market that provides liquidity for NFTs.
Wilder World is actually a multi-layered metaverse, so it can provide many different applications to help improve the user experience of participants. This is the first project formed by the Zero Protocol Platform. At the same time, Wilder World provides a wide range of NFT user experiences, attracting a wide range of collectors and digital gamers.
Star Atlas Project
Star Atlas is a VR game based on the concept of future space construction in 2620. It features extremely clear graphics and a combination of modern blockchain and decentralized financial technologies.
This is a game that entertains players while also allowing them to profit from the NFT tokens they trade. The game builds a secure economy and ownership in the virtual world.
Virtual Land
Aqarchain.io is looking forward to this and has launched its virtual land NFT AqarLand. Virtual Land is a digital twin of the real world. Users who purchase all or part of the real estate assets listed on Aqarchain can obtain the same part of virtual land on AqarLand.
Nakhwa explained, “AqarLand will allow buyers to claim virtual land at the same price as they would invest in real estate. Investors will be able to promote this land through properties for sale in the marketplace. The asset marketplace will have a limited supply, thus providing users with a unique opportunity to purchase valuable assets that complement virtual assets.”
The AqarLand asset marketplace announced it will grow by $500 million by the first quarter of 2022. Nakhwa added: “We have mapped real-world assets to the virtual world.”
Aqarchain.io is taking a gaming approach to developing virtual land in AqarLand, as gaming companies can use virtual land for sales, just like selling the property on this land as an NFT. Nakhwa said: “You may have noticed that the value of virtual land is much higher than real-world land assets. Users can put property on their land and sell it in the virtual world, making more profit from their investment. There is no bubble in the price of virtual land because the benefits of virtual land are greater, especially when you start to include the gaming segment.”
The Future of Metaverse
The Facebook event is the most powerful statement yet on the creation of a unified metaverse. What’s particularly interesting is that tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Google have all secretly entered this race for years, but no one has officially made a strong global statement like this. Facebook’s metaverse.
With the Metaverse powered by cryptocurrencies provided by Facebook’s stablecoin project. Mark Zuckerberg explicitly mentioned his plans to use the Metaverse project to support remote work and improve financial opportunities for people in developing countries. Facebook’s ownership of social media, media, and cryptocurrency platforms gives Facebook a head start as it combines all these worlds into one.
Metaserve’s future is almost certain, as nearly all of the largest tech companies on the planet have invested heavily in it.
While a single, unified metaverse may still be far off, we are seeing developments that could lead to its creation. We’re not sure when a unified metaverse will actually be realized. But in the meantime, we can already experience metaverse-like projects that are increasingly appearing in our daily lives.
Potential Metaverse Market
According to Bloomberg, the Metaverse market is estimated to be worth about $800 billion by 2024. According to research firm IDC, the global market for virtual reality devices will grow by more than 50% in 2022. A total of 90,000 devices are expected to be shipped. By 2025, this number could reach 28.7 million devices. In May, a digital version of a Gucci bag sold for more than $4,100 on Roblox, a gaming platform popular with children - more expensive than the physical version.
Challenges and limitations
Aside from the promising future potential mentioned above, there are also some obstacles to the Metaverse as it is still in the early stages of development. A fully functional Metaverse may take years and huge research investments. According to experts, potential risks associated with the Metaverse include cybersecurity risks, proprietary technology, and control by big players.
The limits of software, technology, and equipment are not ready yet. In addition, the Metaverse requires computing power and a large number of engineers, designers, and administrators to keep the Metaverse running. At the same time, the Metaverse may benefit from a network of smart cities that support powerful computing infrastructure.
Another challenge is authentication and content control. Malicious actors or even bots can enter a virtual world and pretend to be a person. They can use this to damage their reputation or deceive other users.
Another challenge is about privacy. Metaverse relies on AR and VR devices to provide immersive experiences. These technologies have built-in camera capabilities and unique identifiers, which may lead to the accidental disclosure of personal information.
“What do people need to trade to join the Metaverse?”
The development of Metaverse still causes a lot of controversy and different opinions. The experience of using Metaverse will bring new problems to society. Will users immerse themselves in the virtual world and forget about reality? Will growing teenagers become addicted to this virtual world and spend too much time on it? In addition, many people can also use this to produce addictive "digital drugs" for profit.
In the future, Metaverse will still be a technology that many companies are learning to build, and there are still many unknowns about this technology that have not been answered.
What value will the metaverse race bring?
“The Metaverse is virtual, but its future value is immeasurable”
The Metaverse will help us do many things that the Internet cannot do. Today’s virtual reality experiences allow us to tour properties from a distance, and real estate agents can use the Metaverse to bring potential customers into a 3D home that is close to the scale of the actual product. Customers can tour a new home without leaving the old one.
With Metaverse, technology helps to digitize every building and place and helps travelers to travel anywhere by sitting on a small couch. Metaverse can actually go one step further and be applied in medical treatments.
As the Metaverse develops, one of the most exciting and promising areas is brand marketing and the activity of content creators and influencer communities. Over time, as more and more people enter the virtual world, brands will need to build their influence as well - creating digital twins. We will see stores such as Nike, Gucci, Dior in virtual spaces, where we can digitally go there, shop and own authentic bags through virtual characters.
“What do people have to trade when participating in the Metaverse?”
In addition, the development of the Metaverse remains controversial. The experience of using the Metaverse will bring new problems to society. Users will have an immersive feeling as if they are living directly in the virtual world, from where they will forget about reality. Teenagers in their growth stage may be adversely affected by immersion in the virtual world. In addition, many people can also use this to make addictive "digital drugs".
On the other hand, a fully functional metaverse may take years and huge research investment costs. According to experts, potential risks associated with the metaverse include cybersecurity risks, legal policies, and technology, which may be monopolized and controlled by big players.
Is Metaverse a technological revolution?
Although hailed as the next technological revolution, perhaps the bigwigs have overestimated the Metaverse, or it is too early to judge everything. First, we can look at the case of Facebook, which officially changed its name to Meta amid a series of public relations crises and the strengthening of enforcement agencies related to rights, privacy, and cryptocurrencies. This move may just be a strategy to shift public attention to the Metaverse in order to refresh the brand.
However, in fact, the metaverse race has existed for a long time as described in the article, and it is not new in the technology world. Next, the emergence of the Metaverse world coincides with the outbreak of VR/AR virtual reality devices, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies, which are still controversial today.
The obstacle that makes it difficult for the metaverse to make enough progress is a policy issue. Legislators have not even solved the problems brought by social media itself, let alone another virtual society. The most typical example is that virtual currencies such as Bitcoin or game coins are still not widely accepted after many years. It can be said that the Metaverse is also just an evolution of these existing platforms with the purpose of legitimizing things.
Some technical terms about Metaverse
There are many new terms that you may not have heard of when Metaverse was born, such as: Horizon office, virtual meeting... Here are some terms you should know:
Meatspace: This is the physical world where most of us spend most of our time.
Cyberspace: is a concept that describes widely interconnected digital technologies. The phrase dates back to the first decade of the Internet's popularity. It refers to the cyberspace as a "self-contained" world, separate from everyday reality. The term is now used to describe the global technological environment, often defined as representing a global network of interdependent information technology infrastructures, telecommunication networks, and computer processing systems.
Cyberpunk: Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that tends to focus on the "combination of low life and high technology" in a retro-futuristic setting, including future technological achievements such as artificial intelligence and cybernetics, accompanied by the collapse or disintegration of society.
Assisted reality: This refers to any technology that allows a person to see a screen and interact with it using hands-free controls. Realwear devices fall into this category.
Virtual Reality (VR): This is an immersive experience that requires the use of a headset. There are VR games that transport users to different worlds as well as training courses that are set in the real world.
Augmented reality (AR): This technology uses the real world to build and apply computer simulations to the view. A real-life example is a retailer using AR to describe how a new sofa will look in a customer’s living room.
Mixed Reality (MR): This term describes a view of the real world with virtual objects added that look and behave like real objects. Thus, users can interact with both virtual and real objects.
Multiverse: This term usually refers to the general definition of many independent universes that operate independently of each other. With current technology, such as: Internet technology, social network Facebook, Minecraft, Instagram, Twitch, Roblox, Fortnite, Discord and all other social media and virtual games, people can socialize, entertain and shop in it. In theory, the metaverse can integrate all these multiverses into one place and provide users with new experiences.
Blogosphere: The blogosphere consists of all blogs and their connections. The term implies that blogs exist together as an interconnected community (or as a collection of interconnected communities) or as a social networking service where everyday authors can express their opinions.
Terraforming is the hypothetical process of intentionally changing the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography, or ecology of a planet, moon, or other celestial body to resemble Earth's environment and make it habitable for life like Earth.
Conclusion
Presumably, the virtual world still has a long way to go before it can penetrate every corner of everyone's life. Due to many legal and hardware barriers, Metaverse is still just a future concept, not a boom time. However, we cannot deny the investment potential from bigwigs, indicating that the virtual universe can become a trillion-dollar industry in the future. The space for business, entertainment, and commerce is an ideal place to work and make money.