How The Will Metaverse Unfold Industry: Analyst Expectations

The term “metaverse” was used over 1,100 times in regulatory filings during the first half of 2022. A record high when compared to the 260 mentions in 2021 and less than a dozen mentions in the two decades before that. We don’t need to tell you that the metaverse as a concept has now become firmly cemented in the cultural psyche. And in the world of business, it seems every CEO feels the need to talk about the metaverse and, of course, how it naturally complements their business’s capabilities more than those of their competitors. But how much of this simply talk, and what does the future really hold for the metaverse?

The expansion of the virtual economy

BCC Research estimates the global metaverse market will increase from $52.9 billion in 2022 to reach $231.0 billion by 2027, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.3%. The financial expansion of the market is inevitable – particularly as NFT vendors continue to commercialize the concept of the metaverse.

Numerous NFT vendors have already made it possible to utilize non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in metaverse games like clothing and footwear, and more are planning to do the same. NFT players are also becoming increasingly aware of the possibility of purchasing virtual lands on these games with the intention of renting or selling them for a profit. The future metaverse can also be a huge help in the growth of the virtual economy, which depends on video games and virtually peaceful environments.

There have been countless articles about Facebook’s name change to “Meta” and, more significantly, the more than $10 billion it loses annually to its metaverse endeavors. But six more of the top publicly traded firms in the world—Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tencent—have been busy preparing for the metaverse. Internal reorganizations, job description revisions, product reconstruction, and preparation for multibillion-dollar product launches are all currently in motion.

Metaverse: Global Market Size, Trends and Forecast (2022-2027)

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The shifting technological landscape

Although the metaverse won’t be fully developed until later this decade, technology providers will need to plan for the metaverse’s onset. Because of how drastically the metaverse could alter how people and organizations interact, not planning for its onset could significantly impact a company’s prospects. There’s every possibility that a new set of technology suppliers may supplant those from the previous era, just as it has happened during the Industrial Revolution, the mainframe era, the PC era, and mobile era. Whatever the scenario, each firm will have to focus on maintaining a competitive edge in the shifting environment.

Industries adjust to the power of virtual worlds

We have long predicted that the digital age will revolutionize certain industries, but education has firmly resisted this change. There is no true alternative to real-life education, but digital platforms are an excellent supplement to diversify a child’s learning. For many years, teachers used to drop a feather and a hammer as examples for students, and then they would show a video of Apollo 15 commander David Scott doing the same on the moon. Such displays don’t have to end, but they can be augmented by students building intricate virtual Rube Goldberg machines that they can test in gravity simulations of Earth, Mars, and even sulfuric rain on Venus. Now it’s possible to explore a frog’s circulatory system instead of dissecting it, and all of this is accessible regardless of geographic location or local school board resources.

Education isn’t the only industry adjusting to the potential of the metaverse. Earlier in 2021, Google unveiled their Project Starline device, which creates 3D “holographic video” without the need for MR goggles by utilizing computer vision, machine learning (ML), a dozen depth sensors, cameras, and fabric-based multi-layered light field displays. Google claims that its Starline technology improves non-verbal communication (hand gestures, head nods, and brow movements) by 25–50%, eye contact by 15%, and memory recall of the discussion by 30% when compared to conventional “2D” video chatting. Few of us like Zoom; perhaps the addition of an extra dimension can lessen some of our annoyance.

Infrastructure is another good instance. The Hong Kong International Airport now runs a live “digital twin” of the terminal, enabling airport managers to direct passengers and aircraft using a real-time 3D simulation. These technologies are being used in multi-billion dollar, multi-decade municipal projects to assess how a certain building may influence traffic patterns, emergency response times, or the warmth and sunlight of a nearby park on a particular day. The majority of these simulations are disjointed. The next stage is to move them online, making the world a digital development platform by switching from offline Microsoft Word documents to cloud-based, collaborative ones.

Change is on the cards… eventually

Metaverse solutions will support and eventually replace many current technologies as immersive content increasingly becomes accessible via the metaverse. Currently, the metaverse is in the early stages of emergence, effectively creating “pre-metaverse” solutions.

Market leaders will aggressively pursue potential opportunities moving forward; they won’t wait for the metaverse to become fully developed before acting, even if the metaverse will take time to develop. At each phase of the metaverse’s evolution, there are many opportunities for tech product and service leaders in the interaction/interface, content, and infrastructure levels.