Is the Metaverse Taking Over the Entertainment Industry?
The simple answer is yes.
Opportunities
The Entertainment Market Report highlights that the Metaverse market size is projected to reach $221.7 billion by 2031. Combining “meta” and “universe”, the Metaverse is a medium for communication that bridges physical and virtual experiences. It’s a new world created by augmented reality and virtual reality technologies. This means that things that might seem impossible in real life can be made possible through the Metaverse. This creates infinite possibilities for companies such as Meta, Microsoft, and NetEase to expand into, and provides another touchpoint for omni-channel businesses.
Virtual Concerts
When Travis Scott and Ariana Grande did a collaboration with Fortnite to create virtual concerts like Astronomical (2020) and Rift Tour (2021), my mind was absolutely blown away. Players that were in Fortnite get to experience listening to music while swimming in the ocean, flying through the sky and catapulting through space. A surreal experience that cannot be replicable in real life, and an experience that not only fans buts artists want to take part in as Travis Scott appearance for the Fortnite concert was roughly $20m, which made him way more money than a typical in-person concert would.
NFTs and Virtual Idol Groups
As the concept of the Metaverse grows, NFT ownership has also doubled over the past year. Popular festivals like Coachella has even auctioned 10 Lifetime Passes as NFTs. This then opens new opportunities for other companies to do the same or even better, which is why entertainment companies came up with new strategies to enter this market. The debut of K/DA in 2018 further guided the K-pop industry to birthing new groups such as AESPA, where each member has their own virtual counterparts and storyline, and MAVE:, where all members are hyperrealistic and AI-generated.
The Future of Fashion Industry
Fashion is art, and thanks to the pandemic, online shopping has only gotten more popular. Challenges that this industry are facing are also slowly fading away as new brands such as Zero10 steps up to help buyers try on pieces of clothing through AR.
DressX is another start up that creates and sell digital clothing, allowing the buyer to upload them wearing it on social media. The co-owners believe that this creates the opportunity to expressing one’s individuality online while reducing waste and pollution from fast fashion as 92 million tonne of waste goes into landfill each year.
Gaming
We know that the Metaverse majorly grew out of gaming. With $54 billion spent on virtual goods, luxury brands like Gucci have already put their foot in the world of virtual fashion products with their exclusive limited edition avatar items on Roblox like the Gucci handbag that costs $4,115. It’s an interesting marketing strategy to target younger generations and gain new audiences. Nonetheless, games like The Sims or Second Life has been around for around 20 years and each player still spends an average of 20 hours per week, even after the boom during the pandemic, gaming is expected to be growing, creating a US$321bn industry. This illustrates that those who can adopt and adapt early, can gain a competitive advantage.
It is developing…
If virtual reality (VR) becomes effective enough, we can all watch live sports in the comfort of our homes and enjoy interactive storytelling, movies and series.
However, the main point is that, it will take time for the technology to be developed. Mark Zuckerberg stated that it will take five to ten years. Some financial experts even stated that most of the Metaverse firms are currently making losses and are overvalued, and that the sector’s business portfolio and long-term vision is still unclear.
But why is it taking so long?
The second key issue here is that these “Metaverses” are hard to play. Only those who are able to install and figure out the complex, user-unfriendly interfaces can. The Metaverse can only be developed through the increase in user participation, therefore, in order for the it to transcend, it needs to be more simple and affordable. For people to actually use it, I believe that companies like Meta have to demonstrate transparency in order to build reliability and credibility.
I further believe that this is the opportunity for us to transform the big tech business model. Rather than continuing to build operating services that extract monetary value from users, Web3 innovators should aim to empower people instead, using the power of DAO.
Addiction & Mental Health
One disadvantage that the Metaverse might bring is addiction. The Social media platforms we know of now are designed to keep our attention, and have us stuck online 24/7, repeatedly checking for updates. Even though it is an outlet for creativity and self-expression, this definitely could lead to the deterioration of mental health. The 2023 statistics says that 68.6% of people believe that screen time affects mental health negatively. Those side effects could be anxiety, depression and feeling less connected.
Being more ethical
There are concerns that I think developers need to be aware of e.g. the well being of users and how much social media impacts our point of view. I want them to look into what really is going to benefit our society.
The episode called ‘Nosedive’ from Black Mirror highlights how the excessive use of technology has made people “fake” and “pretentious”. Social media has shown its negatively impacts to the society as it spreads unrealistic views of other’s lives and expectations on our own, which I personally think, goes against the human nature.
In conclusion, It is clear that the Metaverse will provide many opportunities in the media and entertainment sector. Even when the future of other interconnected markets are unpredictable, and even when books like Ready Player One, Warcross, and Otherworld shifted my perspective of the Metaverse into a dystopian one, I agree with Matthew Ball that the Metaverse will bring more opportunities than challenges. Even if it takes time.
This is because, it makes more sense for a human being to be connecting through a 3D real time interactive world than through a 2D glass screen forever. Even when we know it is really hard to achieve societal well-being while fulfilling economic incentives.
