Looking into “Metaverse” through Roblox going IPO
Roblox announced going public last year, however, delaying its debut. The company recently stated that it plans to go public next month. Before going public, Roblox disclosed that it raised $520 million in the private round, bringing the social gaming platform to a stratospheric $29.5 billion valuation.
“Our focus is to give developers the tools and resources they need to pursue their vision and create larger, more complex, more realistic experiences and collectively build the Metaverse.” said the founder of Roblox. In the past few years, the development of Roblox seemed like an MVP for our next generation of the internet or even a lifestyle — Metaverse. With Roblox going IPO, we can see the concept of “Metaverse” becoming more realistic. A platform where people can seamlessly interact with each other in 3D virtual experiences, spending time in “virtual nightclub”, “ virtual happy hours” or even “virtual concerts”.
One of the success factors that Roblox had done is to pick kids as their target audience. Since in the past few years the technology and infrastructure weren’t that mature to produce delicate scenes in the game, however, it’s just enough for the kids. To expand the reach to teenagers and adults, the immersive experience is the key. With 5G and VR gradually advancing, these factors will elevate and improve the experience of “Metaverse”. Then to further determine whether it’s able to serve teenagers and adults. As we can see Epic game investing Manticore (The adult version of Roblox) last year and Facebook developing its own platform- “Horizon”, all might suggest that we’re seeing the opening chapter of Metaverse.
It’s hard to imagine for our generation spending half of our time “living” in the metaverse. However, it might become the reality for our kids and the following generations. According to the documentary “The Social Dilemma,” we can see that the young generation has social networking addiction, it’s becoming harder and harder for them to interact with others in real life. They prefer spending more time on social media where they can be so-called “anyone they want”. These problems are going to be even more sophisticated with the “Metaverse” being more embedded in our daily life.
Picture a world where you can just lie in your bed, and you’re able to meet your friends, attend events, travel the world, and actually be fully immersed. Ask yourself this question, would you want to live like that? Because this might be the future in the next decade.
