In July of This Year
Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook should be seen as a metaverse. This term is increasingly used in the speeches of the leaders of large technology companies. Niko Kharchilava, the manager of the ICLUB private investor club, in an AIN.UA column understands what the metaverse is, what criteria it has, and whether it can become the future of social networks.
Every December, MythBusters star Adam Savage releases a video recapping his favorite things from the past year. In 2018, a set of augmented reality glasses Magic Leap got into the video. When he put on his glasses, he heard the sounds of a whale, but could not find it. Later, he saw a whale swimming past his windows on the outside of the building. The glasses scanned my room, realized that my windows were portals. And depicted a whale as if it were swimming along my street. It even took my breath away. On the other side of his glasses, Savage saw the first versions of the metaverse.
In 2021, metaverses began to make their way into the headlines in Forbes. The Washington Post, The Economist, and tech giants began to call building metaverses their new strategy. Let’s see what examples of metaverses already exist. And how big this sphere is in terms of money.
What is the metaverse?
The Metaverse is a world wherein disconnected is in close contact with on the web. Not just Zoom, Google Meet, VR, and AR innovations fall under this definition. Consider the metaverse as a crossover of online entertainment, amusement, work, and individual life. For example, you want to buy running shoes. You need to check how harmoniously they will look with the rest of the wardrobe. You put on VR glasses, where the database of your clothes is already loaded. And use a virtual mirror to evaluate the combination.
Next, you have a working corporate party planned. In any case, it happens at the fundamental office of the organization, 2000 km from you. You connect to the platform, where, in the form of a 3D avatar. You get to a corporate party in new sneakers. Walking around the location, playing games. And chatting with colleagues who were not able to be physically present. Or rather, with their avatars.
Venture capital funds are always the first to test new trends with their capital:
Business angels believed in Facebook and Clubhouse, PayPal, and Stripe. Now, this is happening with the metaverse.
So what is the metaverse:
Ideal world or what’s to come? How about we sort out it.
How do tech company metaverses work?
The Metaverse can operate as a mixture of software, immersive hardware, data centers, and blockchain technology. Let’s analyze each of these points and their significance for the existence of the metaverse.
1. Software is a virtual world project that is created using 3D engines. The most popular stages are Unreal Engine and Unity.
These motors fabricate the foundation of the virtual world: vehicles, houses, scenes, characters. And they do it so realistically that film studios use them to speed up the filming process.
Example
The Mandalorian series and The Lion King animated film, where some of the scenes were created using the Unreal Engine. With money, Unity and Unreal Engine are also doing well.
• In April 2021, Epic Games, the creators of the Unreal Engine, closed a $1 billion funding round with $200 million invested by Sony Group Corporation. Epic Games is currently esteemed at $28.7 billion.
• Unity is a game engine that is used for Android and iOS. Call of Duty, Hearthstone, Pokemon Go are built on it. In September 2020, Unity opened up to the world, and today its capitalization is $31 billion.
2. The equipment is VR glasses and AR gadgets for interacting with the metaverse. Let’s call them the user’s guides to the metaverse.
There are about 7,000 companies in this industry. Yet, the primary players are as of now notable organizations: Facebook, Snapchat, Microsoft, HTC, Google. Some teams believed in this trend for a very long time.
Model
Oculus Rift was established in 2012. In 2014, Facebook purchased the startup for $2.4 billion. Other big players began to take an interest in VR after buying Oculus. For example, Snapchat with its Snap Spectacles and Microsoft with its Hololens only joined the trend in 2016.
3. Data centers are cloud storage for metaverse data.
The AR data storage market is estimated at $50 billion by 2024 according to Three Kit. Here the story is even with the hardware: the primary providers are notable organizations: Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, and others.
4. Blockchain, which will attach the data and money of each user directly to his digital account and allow you to use the purchased products throughout the metaverse.
