The Future Of The Metaverse

Since Facebook changed its name to Meta, the term "metaverse" is everywhere. The metaverse is an immersive, digital alternative to the physical world, that allows virtual avatars to come together to work, shop, play, pursue hobbies, and communicate. Many believe that the metaverse is "the next chapter of the Internet." Although companies are saying that the metaverse will take years and billions of dollars to realize, it is already here. These companies such as Facebook and Microsoft must secure skilled talent and push the boundaries on innovative experience. Due to the metaverse, there is a rise in demand for AR/VR specialists in the market. As such, Meta has announced it would hire 10,000 engineers in Europe to build this next Internet frontier. Similarly, Nvidia has created its own metaverse, titling it the "omniverse." The omniverse already has a subscription service that allows creators to design and collaborate in a shared online simulation platform. For example, BMW is using the omniverse to simulate their manufacturing operations. Microsoft recently acquired the game developer Activision Blizzard for $69 billion citing that the deal would provide building blocks for the metaverse. Microsoft plans to move virtual meetings to the metaverse witin three years. Bill Gates predicts that workers will increasingly rely on using VR headsets and avatars at work. This would only further grow the interest to work from home. Roblox, the gaming company, is planning to bring educational videogames to classrooms, further integrating the metaverse into school and social life. Other platforms are using the metaverse to allow people to gather forr live virtual events, such as concerts (which we have already seen in Fortnite), comedy clubs, or bars. It is interesting to see how rapid the metaverse has grown, and how much it will grow in the future and be integrating into our lives.

Jason Lai: I also found this article interesting because the term "metaverse", which was coined by Mark Zuckerberg, has become a viral concept that everyone is talking about. It is not an exaggeration to say that as a fan who has seen the movie "Ready Player One" for several times, I was really fascinated by the virtual reality universe OASIS created by James Halliday, as there is just so much that can be done in this world. Therefore, while there are still many problems needed to be addressed by developers in building the metaverse, I really hope that one day this concept will become a reality, thus providing people a whole new world like no other.

This article is interesting to me as well! The concept of "mateverse" is becomming overwhelmingly popular these days, but it's potential future development is not clear yet. I like how this article gives us some insight about it.