Metaverse has become one of the biggest buzzwords in blockchain and crypto, promising to provide a more interactive, interactive and collaborative experience than the internet has achieved so far.
This promise of a new world has huge companies like Meta (officially known as Facebook) investing huge sums in the emerging space. When most of them hear the name Metaverse, their mind wanders to a few things: a way for global conglomerates to project their technological decline, an esoteric product for displaying Non-Foldable Tokens (NFTs) or a new interface in game development. However, a deep dive into the Metaverse reveals a whole new world, a world full of new opportunities and risks for both consumers and businesses.
Although the current ecosystem of the Metaverse may be inhabited by giant corporations, eventually, in order to be adopted on a larger scale, small businesses will have to make a transformation. Given the historical patterns in the adoption of new technology such as the internet, mobile payments, and more, it is clear that small businesses play a huge role in engaging the masses.
An important insight from Connect 2021 on Facebook was that the emergence of the Metaverse is imminent, but the timeline for widespread adoption is spread out over at least a decade. A study by Pew Research found that about 54% of the best tech innovators, developers, and companies. Meanwhile, policy leaders believe that by 2040, the Metaverse will be an effective aspect of the daily lives of half a billion or more people globally.
The urgency of moving to the Metaverse may not be immediate, but companies should consider technology at least at the fringes. By using resources strategically now, the organization will be able to improve the customer experience of the future.
To understand the opportunities and risks that Metaverse brings to business, it is essential to understand the infrastructure of Metaverse. John Radoff, CEO of 3D games company Beamable, is broken down into seven layers:
Infrastructure: This layer is semiconductors, materials science, cloud computing, and communications networks that enable layers to be built on top of it.
Human interface: The human interface layer refers to the devices that will be used to access the metaverse. This includes everything from mobile devices to VR headsets.
Decentralization: building everything on an unauthorized, distributed and democratic structure.
Spatial Computing: This layer refers to the software that brings objects into 3D and allows interface devices to interact with them.
Creator Economy: Make it easy for creators to create and monetize Metaverse projects.
Discovery: ways to discover experience.
Experience: Users can interact with games, social experiences, live music, etc.
In all likelihood, most small businesses will be involved in offering Metaverse experiences to their customers. Speaking to Cointelegraph about the disruptive potential of Metaverse, Navin Singh, co-founder and CEO of the decentralized data management network Inery, said:
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“The question is no longer that the Metaverse will be a major disruption to the digital economy. The real focus is now on the industries for which the Metaverse will be most important. As a gateway to a new digital economy, the Metaverse opens up new possibilities for many areas.”
“The industries most likely to undergo transformation and feel the immediate impact of the Metaverse are gaming, fashion, entertainment, media, and retail. At the same time, for the Metaverse to unleash its full potential, one of the most defining characteristics will be interoperability across its fabric,” he said. .
Metaverse is reshaping industries
The gaming industry has always been a pioneer in embracing cutting edge technologies, and the same goes for the Metaverse. Many gamers already consider the Metaverse to be the next level in gaming. The developers say today’s games often feel lonely. Although multiplayer games solve the problem of isolation to some extent, Metaverse takes immersion and community to a whole new level. Communities created by Metaverse projects such as Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and Sandbox not only offer social benefits, but also financial benefits.
However, the current gaming space Metaverse is dominated by large corporations. Metaverse research and development is generally off-budget for small businesses. Nikita Sachdev, founder and CEO of Luna PR, believes that besides gaming, real estate is another sector that is likely to be an early adopter of the Metaverse. Sachdev told Cointelegraph:
“For real estate, companies and agencies are always looking to develop ways to get around and visualize properties for pre-planned sales and foreign investors. Imagine if you could walk around an entire complex before it was even developed? Investing in the real world
