![]() ![]() As part of the effort to show contrast, Epic sued Apple over its App Store terms, but as the judge in the case noted, the company would see considerable gains if it got its way. Instead of their closed ecosystems, he claims the metaverse will be an open and interoperable platform. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has seized on the metaverse narrative to raise additional funds for the company, but also to present himself in opposition to the existing tech industry. That’s also how Fortnite makes most of its money: players convert real money to V-bucks which they can use to buy virtual goods or the Battle Pass that provides regular game updates.īall believes the metaverse will extend beyond what’s currently offered on Fortnite, but sees it as a good demonstration of a ‘proto-Metaverse’ because of the socialisation and commercial activity happening on it. Corporations are also able to exploit their intellectual property by offering in-game items based on, for example, Marvel or DC characters. Companies have held events to promote movies like Star Wars, and major artists like Travis Scott and Ariana Grande have held virtual concerts. Players came to play, but stayed to hang out and chat as the game built out additional spaces beyond the core 100-player battle royale experience. He argues that ‘ Fortnite began as a game, but it quickly evolved into a social square’. Last year, venture capitalist Matthew Ball wrote an influential essay making the investors’ pitch for the metaverse and Fortnite was at the centre of it. We can’t ignore how science fiction like Neal Stephensen’s Snow Crash, where the term ‘metaverse’ originates, or Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, a copy of which used to be given to all new employees at Facebook’s Oculus division, inspired the concept, but the business case comes from games. The growing hype around the metaverse is inspired, first and foremost, by recent developments in the video game industry. ![]() It remains to be seen whether we’ll all be pushed into virtual environments similar to how internet use has become a mandatory part of getting by in the modern world, but it’s much easier to see how video game companies and our workplaces could incentivise or even mandate our participation. I’m not sure that’s as attractive a statement as Nadella wants us to believe, but his focus on games and work may be a good reflection of what the metaverse could ultimately amount to. As Nadella put it, the metaverse allows Microsoft to ‘embed computing in the real world, and to embed the real world into computing’. He cast a wide net arguing the concept encompassed existing video chat and collaboration tools, as well as games like Halo and Minecraft, and that those metaverse applications would be enhanced by virtual environments. On 2 November, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made his own metaverse pitch centred around enterprise and gaming. In the few weeks since Zuckerberg’s keynote address, other companies have embraced aspects of the metaverse, but also have shown how malleable the term can be. As Brian Merchant has explained, the tech industry is in desperate need of a new framework to throw money at after so many of its big bets from the past decade have failed, and the metaverse could be poised to take that place. ![]() The metaverse is likely to suffer the same fate, but that doesn’t mean it will have no impact at all. ![]() Silicon Valley has a long history of big dreams that are not realised, from the libertarian utopia that the internet was framed as in its early days to the ubiquitous autonomous vehicles that were supposed to have replaced car ownership by now. Yet its realisation depends on Facebook and various other companies jumping into the metaverse space to develop the technologies it will depend on, and requires the public to buy into a vision where we spend more time sitting at home with virtual reality headsets on instead of going out into the physical world. On 28 October he outlined his vision for the metaverse, a virtual environment where we can hang out, shop, and work. Mark Zuckerberg wants us to believe he’s figured out how we’ll socialise in the future. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |