There’s been an explosion of excitement around the “metaverse” since 2021, when Facebook changed its name to Meta and Roblox went public at a $42 billion valuation. Business owners in all kinds of industries are counting on the virtual environment to become a gold rush. If you’re also interested in getting paid, you first need to learn what types of businesses will be necessary for the metaverse to take shape.
Easier said than done. Not even everyone agrees on a clear definition of the term. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has said that the metaverse is “an embodied Internet that you’re inside of instead of just looking on.” A more common refrain online is that the metaverse is “the moment when our digital life is worth more to us than our physical life.” Or, if you’re a skeptic, you might prefer NYU Stern professor and author Scott Galloway’s definition: “a consensual hallucination between Mark Zuckerberg and the media.”
Louis Fischer, an intelligence analyst at corporate research firm CB Insights, shared a newly researched definition on Thursday. He is one that speaks more directly to business owners, as he actually takes into account the hundreds of companies developing technology that will be relevant to the metaverse. He called it “shared worlds powered by virtual products and experiences that are highly immersive and interactive.”
Fischer estimates that it will be more than 10 years before any metaverse-type experience online reaches ready player one levels of immersion and interactivity. That’s not because of a lack of innovation on the part of the companies that create such experiences. It’s because, he says, the metaverse relies on six layers of technology, each with a wide range of companies shaping it. These are the layers that Fischer and CB Insights propose to form the framework of the technology.
Infrastructure
The network and processing technology that powers computing, including chips, processors, and networks, including 5G, cloud infrastructure, and edge networks. Examples: Qualcomm, Intel, AWS.
Interface
Hardware technologies that will determine how people experience the metaverse, such as haptics, headsets, smart glasses, and holographics. Examples: Magic Leap headset, HaptX virtual reality touch gloves.
virtualization tools
Game tools and engines to help developers and designers create metaverse worlds and experiences, including avatar development and 3D modeling and capture. Example: Unreal Engine from Epic Games.
virtual worlds
How people will experience these tools. Example: The Sandbox, a global company headquartered in Hong Kong, has raised $93 million in funding to develop its namesake decentralized virtual world.
Economic Infrastructure
How people will pay for goods and services in the metaverse. “I want to dispel the notion that the metaverse will only be experienced through cryptocurrencies,” says Fischer. He says that for widespread adoption of the metaverse, major financial institutions like Visa and PayPal will play a role, though so will crypto exchanges that are already well associated with Web3, like Binance, and authenticators, like Metamask.
Experience
The activities that individuals can really immerse themselves in within the metaverse. This layer is “where a lot of the fun stuff comes from,” says Fischer. He cites gaming and virtual concerts as two areas already experiencing growth and experimentation. One example is a concert by rapper Travis Scott featured in Fortnite, a multiplayer game, attended by more than 12 million avatars. Other examples include virtual real estate and virtual work.
