In this article:
- The Metaverse Emerges
- Laying the Foundations of the Metaverse
- ASX Metaverse pioneers
- Honourable Mention: Animoca Brands
The Metaverse Emerges
The last 20 years have seen the rapid evolution of the internet, changing the way we communicate, bank, entertain ourselves, work and socialise.
As the latest facet of the mutating internet, the Metaverse is new and unexplored territory with a plethora of companies competing to be the first to pioneer it.
There are several big names already operating in the Metaverse space – Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, Nvidia, Niantic, Epic Games, Disney and Apple to name a few – but most are focused on one or two facets of the larger Metaverse, be it gaming or entertainment or social media.
- Apple is preparing to launch its first virtual reality (VR) headset, to be followed by their first augmented reality (AR) wearable.
- Epic Games is pioneering virtual concerts and similar events – and raking in billions of dollars – in its online game Fortnite.
- Disney is creating technology capable of tracking mobile devices to create personalized 3D-projected overlays on physical spaces.
For the Metaverse to become truly mainstream a fully integrated structural framework that can support multiple Metaverse platforms and applications will be necessary.
Web3, the next decentralised version of the internet built on blockchain and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAO) will likely be central to that endeavour, but some companies are already building the metaverse from the foundations up.
For a more in-depth look at the origins and building blocks of the Metaverse, see our recent article; Metaverse: The internet’s next frontier
Laying the foundations of the Metaverse
On the less glamorous side of the Metaverse are the companies building the information highways, data processing and digital rendering that will enable the virtual concerts, fashion shows and shop fronts of the new digital era.
Fastly
The sheer volume of data moving through the internet is a logistical challenge without adding real-time virtual streaming and interaction into the mix.
Latency, or data lag, is a hurdle the global Metaverse will need to overcome.
Fastly is hoping to meet part of that need, creating an 'edge' computing infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform that centralises servers and data creation.
Fastly's platform can move 145 terabytes worth of data per second across 28 countries, assisting in reducing lag time and the latency inherent in decentralisation.
Cloud and edge computing will be quintessential to building a robust Metaverse that anyone can access, a key element to becoming mainstream for any software or technology.
Nvidia
Nvidia is a graphic and semi-conductor chip manufacturer that recently pushed into the artificial intelligence (AI) and fast-processing sector of microchips.
A major industry name with a good reputation among customers for reliability and cutting-edge technology, Nvidia is very well placed to play into the Metaverse.
Edge and cloud computing companies like Fastly rely on these chips, which are already finding their way into servers and other decentralised computing systems needed to run complex calculations.
Unity software
If you’ve played a AAA game, you’ve almost certainly experienced either the Unreal, Unity or CryEngine gaming software architecture – or engine, as they’re called.
The Unity software platform services 71% of the top 1,000 mobile games, with more than 50% of all games – across PC, mobile and console devices – created using the Unity code.
An engine is essentially the base coding structure that allows a game to be built, the foundations beneath the infrastructure.
Games aren’t the only things that benefit from engines – any complex system of interacting elements can benefit from some solid groundwork coding.
Unity has designed a framework for the entirety of the Metaverse, which is already being used to host coins and digital twins and facilitating the creation of the digital assets needed to host the virtual concerts and boardrooms of the Metaverse.
Matterport
Matterport is a software and data capture company that allows real estate firms to create virtual versions – and now industrial digital twins, more on that later – of their buildings, after which potential buyers or tenants can virtually walk through the house or commercial space from the comfort of their own desks.
Apart from initial video and spatial capturing, Matterport also stores the virtual space in the cloud and sells the various tools and hardware needed to design and collectively collaborate in the space.
The company’s virtual capture and rendering technology will enable many of the Metaverse applications that are currently only dreamed of: bringing photo-realistic, traversable, even interactable environments to the digital cloud space, where they can be accessed and experienced by anyone, anywhere.
ASX Metaverse pioneers
While multinational mega corporations will be needed to lay the building blocks of the Metaverse, smaller, more targeted companies will likely be the ones to populate much of it.
The following is a small snapshot of the many Australian companies that are already moving to corner a piece of the market.
RemSense
RemSense is a newly listed digital analytics company partnered with Matterport.
RemSense is working to develop the industrial side of the Metaverse, pioneering the ‘Virtual Plant’, a digital twin product that integrates maintenance, safety and management data into a high-resolution photographic fabric rendering of a plant, facility or mine site.
The AI-driven technology allows companies to virtually visit their sites from the comfort of their own board rooms and visualises information in an easily accessible way that reduces the need for interpretation.
Vection Technologies
Vection Technologies is a software company that integrates 3D, VR, AR, Industrial IoT and computer-aided design (CAD) solutions to help companies innovate, collaborate and create value.
With a wide exposure to sectors such as defence, real estate and media, the company has been hard at work developing FrameS, an autonomous 3D world content creation framework for the Metaverse.
FrameS allows companies to independently build their own self-contained immersive environments for the Metaverse.
The new technology is part of Vection’s INTEGRATEDXR collection, a suite of technology solutions designed to allow the integration of the physical and digital worlds and provide the tools to digitally transform companies.
XReality Group
XR stands for extended reality and encompasses everything from VR to AR to every mix of reality in between.
While games and free-roam VR experiences will certainly be a focus for the company, XReality is also building XR training and simulation products for the military and has recently launched Operator, a VR headset for global defence and law enforcement ‘operators’ (tactical soldiers, infantry, armed police).
PlaySide Studios
PlaySide is a AAA developer based in Melbourne, one of Australia’s largest independent game developers with a wide array of games sourced from both original intellectual property and from big studios like Disney, Warner Bros and Nickelodeon.
PlaySide is already well-versed in AR and VR games. The company is working on multiple web3 products – including an incoming massively multiplayer online game (MMO) – and has just launched Metaverse-based franchise Beans by Dumb Ways to Die.
The company has a keen focus on Web3 integration, with an expansive range of projects in the development pipeline.
Enjoying agreements with gaming industry giants 2K Games, Activision-Blizzard and Shiba Inu Games, PlaySide is well positioned to leverage its XR expertise in the new era of Metaverse games.
Honourable Mention: Animoca Brands
While Animoca Brands Corporation is no longer listed on the ASX, it is most certainly a core pioneer of the Metaverse.
The venture capital company has planted itself squarely in the decentralised space, facilitating the growth of companies in the digital entertainment, blockchain and gamification industries.
The company owns multiple subsidiaries making waves in the Metaverse, especially The Sandbox, a virtual real estate platform that allows companies to purchase and monetise ‘LANDs’.
Big brands like Atari, Samsung, Adidas, PwC Hong Kong and Gucci have bought LAND in The Sandbox, but it remains highly speculative, as with all Metaverse assets.
Animoca Brands is at least partially engaged in bank-rolling the Metaverse, holding investments in more than 150 NFT-related companies and decentralised projects which it believes are contributing to building the open Metaverse, including Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs and Harmony among many others.
Built on semi-conductor microchip manufacturing, edge computing, XR integration and code engines, something completely new is taking form before our eyes.
Big and small, these companies are collectively weaving a fabric that will eventually make up the wider, global Metaverse. Only time will tell what that looks like.