In this article, you will learn what the metaverse is, when it will arrive, what its characteristics are, and which are the companies that are investing the most to make it real.
Web 3.0 brings endless possibilities to humanity and recent proof of this is Mark Zuckerberg’s intention to focus his efforts on creating a metaverse. Although it may seem simple and for some “superficial”, rebranding the brand Facebook a GoalIt is evidence of the new north that the technological giant wants to pursue.
Additionally, other companies have been working on creating metaverses for a long time. Decentraland and The Sandbox are just a few examples. Both projects have raised massive amounts of investment money to lead the metaverse race.
However, no matter how much this is being talked about, the term is still somewhat confusing for some, so we decided to clarify the most common doubts and we will start with the most relevant… what is the metaverse?
What is the metaverse
The term Metaverse was coined in 1992 by science fiction author Neal Stephenson, in his work Snow Crash. There it was described as an all-encompassing digital world, where realistic avatars met in a 3D reality that exists parallel to the real world.
The metaverse aims to enable people to play, work, travel, interact, and do almost anything online; so it feels real even if you’re hundreds of miles away.
Over the years, important milestones have been reached that bring us closer to the metaverse, such as high speed internet, sensors, virtual reality and augmented reality; And although games like Fortnite and Minecraft do not seek to emulate reality, their online interactivity allows us to see the scope of a virtual universe.
When will the metaverses arrive?
Nobody has the correct answer, however an estimate could be made based on when all the variables that would give full life to the metaverse would be reached.
For Mark Zuckerberg the estimated time is 10 years. For Melanie Subin, director of consulting at Future Today Institute, in 2030 a large number of people will be involved with the metaverse in some way. Either because they will connect to fulfill their work or educational obligations, or because they will be completely immersed most of the time.
However, in order for the line between the real and the virtual to be completely blurred, the necessary technology remains to be developed, and for Subin, this will take 50 years.
Matthew Ball, author of the book The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything (The metaverse: and how it will revolutionize everything); ensures that there will be no specific moment in which the metaverse is created, since “it will slowly emerge over time as different products, services and capabilities are integrated and merged”.
Metaverse features.
To understand more fully what the metaverse is, it is essential to know what other of its characteristics are:
- Unlimited 3D spaces rendered in real time, where users can move freely as avatars.
- Users can create virtual rooms that other users can freely access across devices and systems.
- Virtual reality goggles, virtual assistants, voice/smart user interfaces, neural chips, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and artificial neural networks.
- Compatible virtual and real currencies come together to form a unified economy for digital and physical spaces.
Competitors.
Now that you know what the metaverse is, you understand that there are a lot of opportunities and this means one thing: a lot of money.
Online multiplayer platforms like Fortnite managed to have close to 350 million active users per month and generate more than 5 billion dollars. Can you imagine the amount of money big brands could make in a fully immersive metaverse?
It is for this reason that different competitors want to break through and lead the metaverse race; either because they develop from hardware, such as virtual reality glasses, to infrastructure to store all the information that could make a metaverse more real.
Among the most prominent competitors we find:
- Meta (Formerly Facebook)
- AWS (Amazon web services)
- Microsoft
- Dapper Labs
- decentraland
- epic games
- nvidia
- Manzana
- Roblox
commercial implications.
The metaverse isn’t just a promising new space for users. As you already know, different companies want a part of the profits and that is why they are investing large sums of money.
The coronavirus crisis has demonstrated the flexibility with which a “connected world” can react in circumstances where contact is not an option.
To this we must add the live analysis of user data, online purchases and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin that come with the promise of new marketing strategies; including the ability to expand customer groups, build brand visibility, and interact directly with customers around the world.
Additionally, the possibilities will be virtually endless for marketing. Ad campaigns will be amazing! Largely because digital social spaces will not be limited to apps, web addresses, or interfaces like mobiles and laptops.
What do NFTs have to do with metaverses?
//If you don’t know what an nft is, we recommend that you click here//
NFTs will give metaverse users the ability to validate ownership of their belongings. For example, if the Nike brand decides to release a limited collection of sneakers for its buyers to use in the metaverse, it will be through a smart contract that can validate that it is an original product. (It will be the same as the real world, where you can get original products or replicas)
Conclusion: What is the metaverse?
In the future we will find different metaverses, created by different developers; however, what is expected is that these are interoperable, making a single metaverse exist.
It will not be an easy task, because apart from having to develop the necessary technology to make the experience vivid, the platforms must be able to allow users to “migrate their belongings” between one virtual universe and another.
We hope that now that you know what the metaverse is, you will think about business opportunities to exploit all the possibilities that the future brings 🙂
And remember, if you are really interested in creating your own business, you can read our book “How to create a company while working: Discover how to manage your time, manage your money and motivate yourself while creating a company and working for another” , where you will find all the information you need to found your own company, without having to leave your job.
