The unveiling of metaverse initiatives by leading tech moguls such as Facebook’s rebranding to Meta signaled a pivotal shift toward new technological horizons. While the concept of the metaverse may have initially sparked widespread perplexity, the proliferation of these platforms, enhanced by virtual, augmented, and extended realities, has started carving a path towards their potential future.
Market analysis by
Fortune Business Insights
chairing that the metaverse market value was at a substantial $234.04 billion in 2022, anticipates a surge to $3,409.29 billion by 2027. Similarly,
Eric Sheridan of Goldman Sachs
projects the metaverse as an $8 trillion opportunity. These predictions underscore the burgeoning investment in the creation of metaverse platforms – distinct virtual worlds that form a parallel online existence.
Exploring the Intricacies of Metaverse Platforms
Metaverse platforms, while often simplistically defined as immersive digital realms, are not altogether new. Mirror these environments with the gaming industry’s interactive spaces, where personalized avatars exist in self-sufficient economies, and one might reference the immersive virtuality within games like The Sims. Yet, when we seek more liberated examples, we turn to expansive, open-world games like
GTA
or the open exploration that
Marvel’s Spider-Man
provides.
These virtual worlds are fast being redefined. According to
Global Market Estimates Research & Consultants
, the metaverse within the gaming sector is set to grow from $36.81 billion in 2022 to a striking $710.21 billion by 2027. Metaverse platforms capture the essence of tech companies’ visions for virtual spaces.
The proliferation of VR, AR, and other innovative technologies is propelling metaverse platforms towards creating a complementary universe where individuals can portray themselves through immersive parallel experiences, akin to cinematic portrayals in
Ready Player One
and
Tron: Legacy
.
Vocabulary for Navigating Metaverse Developments
As we witness the ascent of Metaverse platforms, an array of terms emerges, informing the dialogue around this revolutionary concept. XR, digital twins, and other such terms have become part and parcel of metaverse lexicon.
Web3
The term Web3 encapsulates the evolution of the internet, envisaged as a decentralized network founded upon blockchains. This future internet, as described by
McKinsey
, stands in contrast to our current corporate-dominated Web2, promising increased user agency through digital assets.
VR (Virtual Reality)
VR technology, embodied by gadgets like
Meta Quest Pro
and
Sony PlayStation VR2
, has transcended concept to become a tangible gateway to virtual environments created by advanced software.
AR (Augmented Reality)
AR saw widespread adoption during the phenomenon of
Pokemon Go
, illustrating the technology’s potential to overlay our domestic spaces with virtual elements.
MR (Mixed Reality)
Hybrid experiences found in Mixed Reality merge AR’s interactive visuals with physical objects, advanced through devices like Microsoft HoloLens, creating compellingly immersive spaces for exploration.
XR (Extended Reality)
XR represents the collective potential of VR, AR, and MR, aiming to revolutionize digital experiences, and stands as the cornerstone of metaverse platform ambitions.
Digital Twins
Despite the futuristic ring to “digital twins,” the concept is already well-entrenched, denoting virtual replicas of objects or processes. Examples like
McKinsey’s
reference to
Google Maps
illustrate its day-to-day utility and its vast potential within metaverse environments.
Metaverse Economy
Analogous to real-world economies, metaverse spaces foster economic systems, enhanced by digital currencies and assets like NFTs, a burgeoning aspect of online value creation that is reshaping asset ownership and exchange.
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens)
NFTs, the latest manifestation of blockchain innovation, challenge the fungibility of conventional cryptocurrencies, offering unique assets for trade and ownership, signaling a shift in the metaverse economic model.
Journeying Towards an Evolved Metaverse Reality
A
Pew Research Center
exploration revealed a split in expert opinion on the metaverse’s future, with 54% projecting a day-to-day seamless immersive metaverse experience by 2040, while 46% remain skeptical. Although we may not grasp the full magnitude of what’s possible in virtual worlds shortly, vast investments fuel continuous innovation and unique applications, suggesting that metaverse platforms will evolve in unexpected and transformative ways.
