The metaverse is the biggest buzzword in tech right now, but even the most seasoned investors are left wondering what the word actually means.
The term sprung into public consciousness in a big way last month when Facebook announced it is betting big on the metaverse, going so far as to rebrand the company to become, simply, Meta. Even so, it’s hard to arrive at an exact definition of what is projected to become a multibillion-dollar opportunity.
“Meta” itself comes from the Greek word for “beyond,” conveying the idea of transcending reality.
Merriam-Webster defines the metaverse as “the concept of a highly immersive virtual world where people gather to socialize, play, and work,” adding, “the more current use of meta as an adjective meaning ‘self-referential’ or knowingly distinct from the conventional and concrete world.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered his own definition in a widely-seen corporate video released in October. He said: “The next platform and medium will be even more immersive – an embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it. We call this the metaverse.”
Defining the metaverse
Facebook – or rather, Meta – is envisioning the metaverse as a virtual arena where people will able to do “almost anything”: get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create, and new categories that could transcend how we currently use computers or phones today.
“We believe the metaverse will be the successor to the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg opined in the video. “Instead of looking at a screen, you’re going to be in these experiences. This is the defining quality of the metaverse.”
Alen Paul Silverrstieen, CEO of Canadian augmented reality firm ImagineAR Inc, is a little more specific in his definition, citing a 'Wired' magazine article that calls the metaverse a digital copy of the physical world which you can interact with and engage regularly through mobile devices like Augmented Reality (AR) glasses.
READ: ImagineAR releases new mobile app SDK including global augmented reality Scavenger Hunts, rewards and clues
“AR is considered a cornerstone of the upcoming metaverse hypergrowth by delivering interactive and activations by overlaying digital content through your mobile phone. This content would be specific to a GPS location for the individual to directly engage,” Silverrstieen told Proactive.
Silverrstieen said the growth of virtual worlds and NFT's will be key components to the metaverse, meaning that organizations need to start planning to engage their target marketplace. “Although virtual reality (VR) is another key component of the metaverse, it is a more singular exploration and journey versus AR which is social and global in its delivery and experience," he added.
The metaverse represents the 'next chapter' of the Internet, replacing the current 2D, screen-based Internet with fully 3D immersive experiences, according to James Hursthouse, CSO at AMPD Technologies (CSE:AMPD, OTCQB:AMPDF), a supplier of high-performance computing solutions to several industry sectors.
“Participants will engage with the metaverse via virtual reality or augmented reality headsets - with some predicting that AR, rather than VR, so that the metaverse becomes an overlay to enhance our real world experiences, will become the dominant form.”
Nextech AR Solutions Corp CEO Evan Gappelberg calls the metaverse “the rallying point for all of technology.”
The firm recently revealed plans to rebrand itself as 'Nextech AR Solutions, a Metaverse company', to better align itself with major companies like Facebook, Epic Games, Microsoft, and Unity, that have all made significant moves into the space.
READ: Nextech AR Solutions rebrands itself as a full Metaverse company
“The metaverse will connect people, places and things. It is the new internet, enhanced with 3D content in a ‘spatially alive’ world that we already inhabit,” Gappelberg told Proactive. “The only thing that gets Big Tech out of bed is billions of dollars of revenue.”
Facebook’s hope is that within the next decade the metaverse will reach one billion people and host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce. Some estimates are even more bullish, putting the sector’s worth at nearly US$800 billion within the next few years.
Analyzing the opportunity
With such eye-popping estimates, it’s no surprise that companies both big and small are preparing the technology needed to support the growth of the metaverse. And that spells opportunity for investors.
The challenge is that it doesn’t fully exist yet. The basic building blocks are in place, and others are starting to emerge, giving us a sense of what the metaverse may look like.
ImagineAR recently developed and released its newest AR Cloud 2.0 that allows any company, organization or individual to deliver any type of AR content to mobile phones instantly to any physical location in the world. The content can include videos, pictures, portals, NFT's and access to virtual worlds, CEO Silverrstieen said.
“AR should be part of every company's strategy today and beyond as the metaverse grows globally and digital interaction and engagement drives revenue,” he explained.
The firm maintains a portfolio of seven published patents that cover multiple new and growing uses for AR gaming, where geolocation is a key part of the gameplay – a major component of the metaverse.
The ImagineAR platform provides the capability for companies to instantly publish digital content to specific locations for market consumption and can be integrated with any existing native mobile app. The technology will be available as a WebAR 'no app" platform in 2022.
“AR is a requirement for companies to become active participants in the metaverse,” Silverrstieen said. “Although ImagineAR has focused on the sports and entertainment marketplace, we expect to expand into other vertical markets including retail, healthcare, education and any other AR opportunity.”
Canadian technology firm AMPD recently announced plans to acquire Departure Lounge Inc, a metaverse initiatives company led by James Hursthouse. Departure Lounge brings metaverse-related technology and content initiatives to the AMPD group of companies, building upon the exceptionally firm foundation of technology and infrastructure expertise that AMPD has developed.
READ: AMPD Ventures launches private placement for aggregate proceeds of up to C$3.5M; signs LOI regarding potential acquisition of Departure Lounge
“The metaverse requires huge amounts of high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure of the type that AMPD specializes in,” Hursthouse said. “This is to allow most of the processing required to be conducted in data centres close to end-users, who interact with the content via 'thin' clients like phones, screens, and VR/AR headsets connected by 5G.”
Nextech, meanwhile, creates 3D models that live in the metaverse: human holograms; avatar creation, NFT creation and the like. Through its 3D ARways spatial mapping technology, it is able to create an AR cloud where all of its content can ultimately live. CEO Gappelberg called it “the future of what everybody is going to be experiencing.”
“For the metaverse to mean anything, it needs to be populated with content. A room with nothing in it doesn’t do much,” Gappelberg said. “With the 3D content that Nextech creates, that world is going to be much more interesting.”
Gappelberg cited two key ingredients needed for the metaverse to scale: interoperability and open ecosystems. Nextech is creating a metaverse studio that will allow anyone to create their own spatial map and populate it with 3D assets. “It’s the metaverse for everyone, essentially a creator’s platform,” he noted.
What’s next for the metaverse?
For the metaverse to work, the tech industry needs to bring the same imagination and commitment to building for interoperability, openness, safety and privacy, Mark Zuckerberg told viewers in his video. Of course, given Facebook’s recent public struggles with those same guiding principles, it remains to be seen how this will play out in the new Meta, Inc.
Thankfully, it won’t be just up to Meta to lead the world into the metaverse, with companies like ImagineAR, AMPD and Nextech creating space for themselves in the Web 3.0 world.
“AR should be part of every company's strategy today and beyond as the metaverse grows globally and digital interaction and engagement drives revenue,” ImagineAR’s Silverrstieen said. “Companies should be looking today at leveraging mobile augmented reality to engage their audience and grow new market opportunities to build a foundation for their ultimate metaverse strategy.”
Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas