Challenges and Opportunities: The Metaverse
What is the Metaverse?
The Metaverse, by definition, refers to the concept of a highly immersive virtual world where people gather to socialise, play, and work.
It is suggested that the Metaverse is the next step for the internet and has recently seen a surge of interest as the Silicon Valley giants explore its seemingly endless possibilities, building software such as The Sandbox.
As the Metaverse sees an increase in attention, and therefore opportunities, the virtual worlds depicted in popular culture such as Ready Player One and The Matrix, creep closer and closer to reality.
Following the footsteps of giants:
Awareness of the Metaverse grown massively since the rebranding of Facebook in October 2021 to “Meta”, with Zuckerberg claiming that “the metaverse is the next chapter for the internet”.
With Meta reporting 3.6 billion users each month across its platforms (2021) and turning its focus on virtual reality, it is only a matter of time until numerous other companies follow suit, and serious developments are made.
Microsoft and Google are also hot on Meta’s tail, with projects such as Mesh providing numerous opportunities for software development in the Metaverse.
Socialising:
The monetisation of virtual social interaction is a clear opportunity for the Metaverse.
Roblox could be viewed as a crude version of what the Metaverse has to offer and is massively popular with gamers. Approximately 60 billion messages are sent daily on Roblox, evidencing its role as a social platform. Socialisation clearly sells, as Roblox reported a revenue of $1.9 billion in 2021.
Looking at these figures, an opportunity for the Metaverse is the monetary attraction of developing social interactive worlds for companies.
Virtual Ownership Economy:
Within the Metaverse, player owned property would be in the form of NFT’s (Non-fungible tokens), a market which has exploded in since 2021. NFT’s currently have a market cap of $41 billion, and the growth of the market only stands to benefit the Metaverse, as the platforms for purchasing and transferring digital property improve.
The growth of the market is also highly enticing for investors, with the average price of a parcel of virtual land doubling in 2021 across the 4 main Web 3.0 metaverses, encouraging even more growth in the virtual market.
Virtual Employment and Entrepreneurship:
The growth of virtual supply and demand has generated opportunities to make money in the Metaverse, through employment and entrepreneurship. RTKFT is a virtual sneaker manufacturer recently purchased by Nike, with their NFT’s selling for up to $10,000 a pair.
Companies in the music industry may also be inspired to move to the Metaverse, for instance, concerts in Fortnite seeing a turnout of up to 45 million people, exposes the virtual world as an emerging marketplace for services. This will encourage greater investment, and commercial activity, within the Metaverse.
Accessibility and wealth inequality:
Currently, the accessibility of the Metaverse is a limiting factor in its growth, with its entry point holding a hefty price tag.
To enter the Metaverse, one is required to have an Oculus Quest 2; an “Advanced all-in-one virtual reality headset”, running at around £299.
This, paired with the potential cost of upcoming software, as well as virtual property within the Metaverse, is likely to make the virtual world largely inaccessible for those lacking in disposable income.
Scalability:
The scalability of the Metaverse is currently limited by our current internet, otherwise known as Web 2.0.
The future of the Metaverse is reliant on the core concepts of decentralisation, and user utility, which the next iteration of the internet, Web 3.0, is projected to be built upon.
In order to see an autonomous digital ecosystem that the Metaverse can thrive in, we would have to see a real paradigm shift of the internet as we know it. Whilst this is on the horizon, it still provides a challenge for the current state of the Metaverse.
Hype Vs Reality:
Whilst the Metaverse narrative seems to have caught the attention of the corporate giants, it is important to question whether the excitement is widespread.
In a discussion surrounding the overrated nature of the Metaverse, Toby Bordelon and Jason Hall discuss false hype as a challenge for its future.
They question the idea of average people opting to “live” in a virtual setting, stating that this is an unlikely shift that will occur in our lifetime, likening it to the hype around fully self-driving cars and the lack of a narrative change to support them.
Hardware Issues:
The Oculus Quest 2 is not only expensive, its also cumbersome. Weighing in at half a kilogram, it is difficult to imagine wearing the headset for multiple hours, let alone an entire working day. Moreover, motion sickness and eye strain are common curtails of gaming sessions.
This is a clear challenge of a widescale adoption of virtual reality as a whole and demands serious advances in hardware before the Metaverse can flourish, and we can truly feel as though we are “living” in the software.
Conclusion:
The recent surge in interest surrounding the Metaverse, as well as its economy, depicts a promising future for virtual reality and its adoption into our day-to-day lives.
Whilst there are a multitude of limiting factors at the moment, mostly surrounding hardware, these are issues that will be ironed out with time as the Metaverse becomes an increasingly lucrative playground for big business.
