Metaverse has a different significance for different sections of people- the audiences, the advertisers, the tech giants etc. The key points of significance are persistence, synchronous and live, unlimited users, span both physical and digital worlds, digital assets, transportation across virtual worlds, features content or experiences from a wide range of creators, as per Publicis Media’s Metaverse report.
The report highlights what metaverse can offer to the end-users, gaming companies, brands, and more.
Tech companies: As more and more people join the platforms; it creates massive advertising opportunities for them.
As metaverse expands- it creates more avenues and opportunities for growth and development.
Marketers: From events to accessories and OOH and more- Metaverse will open a whole host of avenues worth exploring for marketers and brands.
Metaverse will also give the opportunity to marketers to reach a wider audience- an audience that might/could not otherwise afford their product or service.
Gaming companies: Gaming and eSports are a growing segment of the Media and Entertainment category and metaverse creates opportunities for players and potential players to not just play, but live the game.
As gaming is a crucial tool in the development and incentivising for the metaverse, this will create more revenue opportunities (more players, more in-play purchases, more ads etc).
Creators: Creators can’t be far from where the audiences are- new and old creators in the arena will be driving traffic and engagement.
What’s in it for users?
Metaverse has a lot to offer to the users. The users can move within the three-dimensional space, dancing and expressing themselves using their avatars. Avatars are the digital identities of the users. Platforms like Roblox and Fortnite offer deep levels of customisation to allow the player to express themselves with their avatars.
The Metaverse can be considered as a new customer universe with systems that let you produce and publish content. Brands can redefine their approaches to audience engagement and create experiences people actually want, as there are virtual showrooms for the brands for better customer experience, where customers are not just looking at a product, they are actually the part of the experience, which on the whole makes the experience more engaging and interesting. It also gives a new direction to the brands to advertise themselves in the market and engage with the prospective audience.
Users get new, enriching, immersive experiences that aren’t accessible or available in the physical world, the sense of self within it and will also help build social mileage for the users.
The report also highlights the specific areas that are seeing traction in the Metaverse, like
Workspaces like Mesh, Horizon |
Some companies are using Horizon Workrooms5, which are virtual spaces where people login through video call or VR and their avatars can gather in a meeting room. Mesh - It can be accessed through various devices and it contains multiple sub-worlds and digital assets to provide a lifelike experience. Mesh Features6-Holoportations, 3D Avatars, Multi-device compatibility, Audio cues, Workplaces like the Nth Floor Importance---- Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have the potential to completely transform how we work and collaborate. Integrated with the Teams platform to drive VR-based collaboration. Horizon World also has a lot of features |
Live Events |
The success of Travis Scott and Lil Nas concerts on Fortnite and Roblox introduced the world to the new fast-growing concept of Massive Interactive Live Events (MILEs). Singer Daler Mehendi held a concert in Metaverse in January 2022. Live Events in Metaverse aren’t restricted by infrastructure, space, accommodation, place etc and thus possess the unique opportunity to bring more people than ever before or permissible in the physical world and garner interest, revenue and drive engagement. |
Gaming- Roblox7 |
A gaming engine is a platform that hosts all kinds of user-generated games and experiences. Here we can take the examples of the brands from Hyundai to Nike who have created full-fledged experiences and what makes them different from brand Vans are the limited period experiences in the virtual space. In Roblox, every player is automatically given an avatar that reflects the player’s appearance in all Roblox games. |
Real estate- Decentraland/ Sandbox |
It’s a platform for the online property market, a virtual world owned by its users. It’s run by the Decentralised Autonomous Organisation, which can propose and vote on policies. Virtual real estate in the Metaverse is significant as it has the potential to change real estate. For example, Snoopverse is a virtual world that Snoop Dogg is developing within Sandbox. |
Play-To-Earn |
The Metaverse also presents “play to earn” opportunities for consumers. They can earn things of value in blockchain-based metaverse worlds like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox. These are not like gaming rewards that allow for accumulating points for prizes. These provide a play-to-earn model that rewards and incentivises players with real-world digital assets that are convertible to monetary value. |
What the big Tech Giants are doing in this space?
The report says that post Mark Zuckerberg’s commitment to the metaverse, tech giants have announced their interest and commitment to developing towards metaverse and has put together a list of what leaders from the leading tech giants have said.
“When we talk about the metaverse, we’re describing both a new platform and a new application type, similar to how we talked about the web and websites in the early ’90s. It’s no longer just playing a game with friends. You can be in the game with them.”- Satya Nadella (CEO, Microsoft)
“If you take ‘Halo’ as a game, it is a metaverse. ‘Minecraft’ is a metaverse, and so is ‘Flight Sim'. In some sense, they’re 2D today, and the question is: ‘Can you now take that to a full 3D world?’ And we absolutely plan to do so.”- Satya Nadella (CEO, Microsoft)
“We’re a company in the business of innovation and we have over 14,000 AR apps in the App Store. There’s quite a bit of investment going into things that aren’t on the market at this point.” - Tim Cook (CEO, Apple)
“We’ve always said that AR is a core technology, and it’s a technology I get super excited about. I think it’s profound in terms of the things that you can do with it and the enhancement to people’s lives … but humanity has to be at the centre of it.” - Tim Cook (CEO, Apple)
Here’s a list of the forays of tech giants in metaverse:
Tech Giant |
Details of Metaverse Forays |
MV Project name |
Add-on Device |
Active users- Globally |
Meta |
To bring metaverse to life, has launched meeting software for companies |
Horizon Workrooms |
Oculus headset |
3.5 bn+ Facebook users |
Apple |
VR capable glasses equipped with 2 processors |
Magic glasses by apple |
AR glasses as a basic frame |
1.042 bn+ Apple users |
Microsoft |
Early pioneer in AR. Launched Hololens 2 in 2019, and a large deal with the US Army using AR in battlefields. Recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $71 Billion will get them higher synergies in the Metaverse. Workplace - Combines the mixed-reality capabilities of Microsoft Mesh, which allows people in different physical locations to join collaborative and shared holographic experiences, with the productivity tools of Microsoft Teams |
Mesh for Microsoft teams |
HoloLens |
520k (approx.) Hololens users |
Amazon |
Amazon is incorporating AR and VR technologies to make products more readily accessible and help ease the buyer’s decision-making process. |
Augmented reality E-commerce Augmented reality viewing options by the sellers |
Oculus, VR Headset |
200 mn+ Amazon Prime users |
|
Slim and lightweight pair of glasses with an AR overlay on one side |
Google Glass |
Google Glasses, Daydream |
4bn+ Google users 300,000 (approx) users of Google glasses |
What are the gaming companies doing in the space?
Similarly, as per the report, after Zuckerberg’s commitment to the metaverse gaming companies too have welcomed the idea and have shown eagerness for the possibilities offered by the Metaverse. They said:
“Over the coming decades, the metaverse has the potential to become a multitrillion-dollar part of the world economy. The next three years are going to be critical for all of the metaverse-aspiring companies like Epic, Roblox, Microsoft, Facebook. It’s kind of a race to get to a billion users, whoever brings on a billion users first, would be the presumed leader in setting the standards.”- Tim Sweeney (CEO, Epic Games
“I do believe in this future of the world in which billions of people are wearing AR hardware, AR glasses are their everyday life and I believe that’s the entertainment platform of the future. And we’re gonna be there.” - Tim Sweeney (CEO, Epic Games)
The report has also put together a list of the gaming companies’ activities on this front.
Gaming company |
Details of work in the space |
Example |
Accessibility |
Active users |
Roblox |
It’s a platform that hosts all kinds of user-generated games and experiences. Has their own proprietary 3D engine. |
Lil Nas X concert. Roblox used by brands like Hyundai and Nike |
Anyone can make games on Roblox |
43.2 mn (approx) DAUs |
Epic Games |
They own Fortnite and have used it as a platform for Metaverse experiences like the Travis Scott concert. Unreal engine is their 3D engine environment, design studio and asset marketplace. The Epic Games launcher is a game store and a social ecosystem for players. |
Travis Scott concert on Fortnite |
Via console gaming |
31.3 mn (approx) DAUs |
Minecraft |
Open ended and customisable and helps users to create their own metaverse |
Minecraft- digital Lego with infinite possibilities |
Need laptop with at least intel i3 core processor |
131 mn (approx) MAUs |
As per Publicis Media, part 2 of the Metaverse series will cover its implications for the brands in detail.
This module has been developed by Rajiv Gopinath and Ayushi Sharma from Publicis Media. So, if you are ready to make your brand future-ready, connect with them at Publicis Media to help take your brand to the next level! Email: rajiv.gopinath@publicismedia.com & Ayushi.sharma@publicismedia.com
In this three-part series, the two will look at the current state of play, the opportunities for brands and how they can equip themselves to make the most of the future opportunities.