An Overview of the Metaverse Part 2

Part 2: The Metaverse in Crypto, Gaming and Big Tech

This is the second part of the metaverse overview series. It will expand on the crypto metaverse concept introduced in the first part and explain new concepts like metaverse gaming and the play-to-earn gaming model. It will also discuss the adoption of the metaverse by big tech firms.

Crypto Metaverse

A crypto metaverse uses blockchain as its core technology and employs crypto assets like metaverse coins, in its financial system. Alien Worlds, Axie Infinity, Decentraland, and Cryptovoxels are examples of crypto metaverses and systems that integrate aspects of the metaverse.

The basic aspects of the metaverse have been featured in a lot of MMOGs for a while now, but the integration of crypto and VR has significantly changed how users interact with the virtual game world while also establishing the actual economic value of different game assets and experiences achieved during gameplay.

Various forms of metaverse tokens are used to represent metaverse crypto assets and commodities. The blockchain stores the owner’s information so that the virtual objects may easily be traded for cryptocurrencies on any decentralized exchange (DEX).

Metaverse Games

Crypto metaverses and NFT games are still in their infancy, but they already offer exciting social and financial potential for the future. Crypto metaverses can provide users with new opportunities to play, share, trade, and generate income.

Although progress on the different and unique metaverse networks is remarkable. However, what propels the nascent metaverse gaming universe into a key player in the global market is its ability to connect different existing games on the platform and enable them to interact with one another.

Play-to-Earn: The Novel Economic Model of Gaming

Before gaming was integrated with the metaverse, it has always been a one-sided interaction in which only the creators of a game profited financially while users were merely allowed to play and spend.

Users spent $143 billion on smartphone application stores in 2020, and a staggering $100 billion of that total was taken up by gaming applications. It was also predicted that more than $120 billion would be spent on mobile gaming in 2021. This is a 20% increase above the estimates for 2020.

However, the play-to-earn model is bound to transform the gaming ecosystem for consumers. This revolutionary strategy employs the concept of a free market and it compensates every player who brings value to the gaming environment by participating and spending time in it.

Large venture capitalists have injected capital into this ecosystem. In the months before the start of 2019, the global gaming sector received $9.6 billion in funding, with 24 crypto-based gaming startups receiving around $500 million in the early months of 2021 alone.

FTX, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Solana Ventures, for example, collaborated to launch a $100 million Web3 gaming investment project. Lightspeed invested more than $350 million in a variety of early to late-stage gaming and crypto-based firms like Epic Games, 1047 Games, TripleDot Studios, Faraway Games, FTX, Offchain Labs, Alchemy, and Wintermute. The effort will aid creators in the advancement and development of new decentralized gaming models.

How Play-to-Earn works

Let’s use Axie Infinity as an instance to demonstrate how play-to-earn games operate. Sky Mavis, a Vietnamese game publisher, developed Axie Infinity, a blockchain game influenced by Pokémon. It presently supports more than a million active players daily, and the charming in-game animals known as Axies are what have drawn such a big number of users to it. These Axies may be bred, purchased, and trained by players. They can also be utilized to do different jobs. In short, the game’s objective is to obtain an in-game token known as Smooth Love Potion (SLP). Players may manage their Axies with SLP, allowing them to generate even more tokens.

In addition, players may seek to accumulate as much SLP as possible because SLP also happens to be a cryptocurrency that can be traded on different DEXs. The finest gamers on the platform are believed to earn at least 1,500 SLPs daily. As of November 10, 2021, this is around $117. NFTs may also be used to sell in-game assets such as the Axies themselves or other game items. Hence, in Axie Infinity’s play-to-earn ecosystem, users are compensated for participating by gaining SLP, which can be exchanged for any other kind of cryptocurrency.

** Metaverse Coins**

According to Coin Gecko, the Metaverse market capitalization as of December 1st, 2021, is $36 Billion.

The top 15 Metaverse coins by market capitalization as of December 1st, 2021, are:

Axie Infinity (AXS) Decentraland (MANA) The Sandbox (SAND) Enjin Coin (ENJ) Illuvium (ILV) UFO Gaming (UFO) Render Token (RNDR) Vulcan Forged (PYR) Yield Guild Games (YGG) StarLink (STARL) DeFi Kingdoms (JEWEL) Wilder World (WILD) Merit Circle (MC) RMRK (RMRK) Star Atlas (ATLAS)

Recently, we’ve seen MILC (Media Industry Licensing Content), part of Welt der Wunder (World of Wonder) expanding their development by not only providing a platform that uses the latest blockchain technology to transform the media industry as we know it but also announcing that MILC will become the world’s first media company to integrate and use the metaverse to enhance the solutions they are providing for licensing in the media industry. MILC platform’s main crypto token is MLT (Media Licensing Token).

Companies Using Metaverse Technology

In this section, we’ll look at how top tech firms are utilizing the different aspects of metaverse technology.

Ball, the metaverse-centric venture investor, is a co-founder of Ball Metaverse Research Partners, which manages the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF and lists on the NYSE.

The top 10 holdings on the exchange are Amazon Com Inc., Autodesk Inc., Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corporation, Roblox Corp., Sea LTD, Snap, Inc., Tencent HLDGS LTD, and Unity Software Inc.

Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, Alphabet, Coinbase, Electronic Arts, Samsung, Adobe, Alibaba, Disney, PayPal, and Square are also included in the fund.

The Metaverse Race

Mark Zuckerberg stated at Connect 2021 that he was renaming Facebook as Meta. He stated that this represented the company’s increased emphasis on the next generation of mobile connectivity. Compatibility, open standards, and participation from thousands of creatives and programmers, Zuckerberg stated, are the cornerstones for the progress of this new ecosystem.

The firm intends to put more than $100 million into a fund to educate individuals to develop the metaverse and to fund access point gadgets for users. Zuckerberg also stated that the business intends to make significant investments on the metaverse over the next decade.

Corporate managers also revealed ideas for new software development kits (SDKs) for the MR Spark ecosystem and Horizon during the presentation. Horizon is the company’s VR software, which runs on Oculus Quest and is available for personal and commercial use. In addition, Zuckerberg stated that the Quest may not require users to have an existing Facebook account in the coming years.

Microsoft also joined the race to create a metaverse, just days after Facebook was renamed as Meta to create virtual places for both personal users and enterprises. Next year, Microsoft will integrate Mesh, a collaboration platform for virtual interactions, straight into Microsoft Teams.

This is a small part of a larger push to integrate the company’s MR ecosystem and HoloLens development with conferences and video chats in which anybody may engage using animated avatars. And following months of employees working from home and adapting to hybrid work, Microsoft is finally capitalizing on initiatives like Together Mode and other trials to make conferences more engaging.

In a move toward a metaverse environment, Microsoft Teams will receive new 3D avatars that will not require the usage of VR gears. These avatar characters may accurately depict users in both 2D and 3D sessions, so they can have an animated representation of themselves if they don’t want to use their webcam.

Microsoft sees this Mesh connectivity as the most valuable in virtual environments, especially in its attempts to develop a commercial metaverse. Microsoft anticipates digital rooms inside Teams where individuals can interact and participate in games, as well as collaborate on tasks using Office apps. Microsoft has also hinted at metaverse aspirations for its gaming unit.

In this metaverse race, Microsoft and Meta will undoubtedly compete fiercely. Microsoft has spent years developing and investing in this sector, as seen by its HoloLens development and acquisition of AltspaceVR. However, Microsoft and Meta are not the only players in the race. Many businesses have begun to use platforms such as Spatial to provide virtual environments for conferences, presentations, and partnerships.

The Future Of Metaverse

The metaverse technology is still in its early phases since the software and gadgets are still evolving. VR is still in its initial phases of development, and AR isn’t even highly-developed yet.

For the time being, the most relevant application for VR is training and teaching. This involves understanding how to operate or fix pieces of equipment, perform a maintenance process, or just pick up a new skill. Furthermore, employing VR for teaching, customer support, and promotion are suitable applications for businesses who want to try out the technology.

The present workforce, on the other hand, may serve as a deterrent to the metaverse. The metaverse will need a large amount of computational power, as well as a large number of software developers, strategists, and network engineers to organize, develop, and build the required infrastructure.

A strong and high-end computing network is yet another important element. Smart urban networks may benefit the metaverse and some cities are already considering placing high-bandwidth micro data centers in public spaces to enable smart city efforts.

VR has now been utilized to provide full 360-degree immersive experiences for consumers. And, as new types of interconnected gadgets and inventions emerge, the metaverse will become more open to the rest of the world. Finally, a lot of metaverse access points, such as IoT and 5G mobile network infrastructure, are also getting considerable investment and will expand massively within the following years.

References

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https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-says-it-has-metaverse-plans-for-halo-minecraft-and-other-games/

Luthra, E. (2021, October 10). The Metaverse, play-to-earn and the new economic model of gaming. Retrieved from Cointelegraph:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-metaverse-play-to-earn-and-the-new-economic-model-of-gaming

Muroff, J., Melinek, J., Strack, B., Beckford, B., Wagner, C., Reynolds, S., & Peterson, M. (2021a, November 5). FTX, Solana Ventures and lightspeed create $100M Web3 gaming investment. Retrieved from Blockworks:

https://blockworks.co/ftx-solana-ventures-and-lightspeed-create-100m-web3-gaming-investment/

Muroff, J., Melinek, J., Strack, B., Beckford, B., Wagner, C., Reynolds, S., & Peterson, M. (2021b, November 5). Sam bankman-fried: Gaming NFTs have mainstream potential. Retrieved from Blockworks:

https://blockworks.co/sam-bankman-fried-gaming-nfts-have-mainstream-potential/

Roach, J. (2021, November 2). Mesh for Microsoft Teams aims to make collaboration in the ‘metaverse’ personal and fun. Retrieved from Microsoft.Com: https://news.microsoft.com/innovation-stories/mesh-for-microsoft-teams/

Tan, E. (2021, August 3). A Crypto Guide to the Metaverse. Retrieved from CoinDesk:

https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/08/03/a-crypto-guide-to-the-metaverse/

Top Metaverse coins by market capitalization. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2021, from Coin Gecko:

https://www.coingecko.com/en/categories/metaverse

Top metaverse coins by market capitalization. (n.d.) Retrieved November 10, 2021, from Crypto:

https://crypto.com/price/categories/metaverse

Warren, T. (2021, November 2). Microsoft Teams enters the metaverse race with 3D avatars and immersive meetings. Retrieved from The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/2/22758974/microsoft-teams-metaverse-mesh-3d-avatars-meetings-features

What is the Metaverse? Crypto Games with NFTs. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2021, from Gemini:

https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/what-is-metaverse-crypto-nft-game-blockchain