In a recent report entitled “The Potential Global Economic Impact of the Metaverse” published by Analysis Group, an international consulting firm, the potential opportunities offered by the metaverse for the next ten years are examined. The rise of the metaverse is associated by researchers with the rise of mobile technologies for the similar way of combining existing and nascent innovations, capable of radically changing the global technological and economic landscape.
Metaversi and Nft: here is the new world
by Amelia Tomasicchio
08 December 2021
It is an interesting association, especially if we think that in 2007, when the first iPhone was launched on the market, most of us could still do without mobile phones and, only 10 years later, more or less all of us found ourselves. to depend on our smartphone to work, shop and stay in touch with the world.
Globally, the study estimates that the metaverse will generate $ 3.01 trillion in 2032, representing more than 2% of world GDP! According to the report, this growth will only happen if metaverses have “far-reaching applications, with the potential to transform a wide range of economic sectors such as education, healthcare, manufacturing, vocational training, communications, entertainment and commerce. “
If we think about the metaverse we know today, it is difficult for us to imagine all this. The truth is that we are just at the beginning: it is a continuous experimentation, from a technological point of view and, above all, from an application point of view.
Paradoxically, it is simpler for technology, because it evolves quickly. Until a few months ago we knew the metaverse as a reality accessible only via a viewer via Oculus, or suitable for nerds and insiders in the blockchain world, just think of Decentraland and The Sandbox; instead today we can have the metaverse in our pocket at any time, and enter it whenever we want by simply opening an app, as in the case of The Nemesis. We can say what the metaverse is now, but we cannot say for sure what it will be in the future.
To understand what the metaverse is today, just enter it: it is a place for lovers of news and innovations, for the curious and for gamers. There are many metaverses, each with their own style and distinctive avatars, which serve to explore, interact and play. The first application of metaverses is in the gaming and entertainment sectors: basically you play and participate in events.
Compared to its application in gaming, we can easily imagine the metaverse as the evolution of the classic videogame into a real social experience in which not only the individual player, but the entire community is involved, in a play-to-play logic. earn in which you invest, earn, trade and keep playing. A place where crypto and NFT find their maximum (and funniest) expression, and exercise a real utility.
The concept of social experience also recurs when we talk about an event in the metaverse: it is not like participating in a physical event, it is not like seeing a podcast on YouTube, it is simply another way of living an experience that unites people with the same. interests. Many events have recently taken place in the metaverse that have had great media coverage in Italy and have involved the general public in a new type of experience: only on The Nemesis in the last month was the first football match in the metaverse broadcast ( Milan – Fiorentina), unpublished content was presented on the occasion of the release of Marco Mengoni’s single No Stress, the virtual world of Rai Cinema was launched by none other than the Cannes Film Festival and a dedicated project for the next few days was announced to Formula 1 fans, directly from Monte Carlo, for the Monaco Grand Prix.
The lowest common denominator of these initiatives is the sharing of experience, the content placed inside a container that can be enjoyed in an active and dynamic way through gamification, by real and virtual friends with the same passion for sport, music and cinema. This experience is all the more appreciated the more it is accessible, fluid and simple to live.
Breaking down barriers to entry, facilitating the user experience and creating a new way of engaging the user are the first challenges that the metaverse industry must face in order to create the necessary foundations for “far-reaching applications, with the potential to transform a ‘wide range of economic sectors’, mentioned in the Analysis Group report mentioned at the beginning. Any radical change passes through mass adoption. You cannot force the mass market to adopt a technology or embrace a change for which it is not ready.
And so the metaverse companies experiment and in the meantime educate today’s users, who will be the customers of the future, to the new language of tomorrow, a language where it will not be necessary to explain what an avatar, a wallet or an NFT is, because everyone will already know. browse it, just like it has been for years on social networks. The blockchain will play a fundamental role in the rise of metaverses as it will facilitate the creation of a complete and global ecosystem, in which users and companies can invest, buy, sell, work and earn.
And then it will be easy to achieve great innovations in all sectors with the metaverse, as long as a standard is found to achieve true interoperability between all platforms, as already desired by some market players.