The pandemic and Metaverse has been making headlines over the last two years. Infact the latter left many intrigued and excited. After all, who wouldn’t want to explore a new immersive reality!

Bloomberg Intelligence has reported that the digital environment is expected to reach 80 billion by the middle of this decade and is expected to multiply to 2.5 trillion by 2030. Another research firm estimates that the market for metaverse technologies — including games, virtual reality headsets, and other emerging gadgets and online services — topped $49 billion in 2020 and will grow by more than 40 percent each year.

With Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of shifting Facebook from a social network to a Metaverse company took the world by storm and following suit were many more companies like Nyidia, Sony and Microsoft. Disney patents Metaverse technology for theme parks that would track visitors while projecting personalized 3D images for them

It will however take a few years (if not decades) for companies to figure out the complexities of creating a world that stays perennially on!

Take on Metaverse…

Recently Anand Mahindra announced that his company had entered the metaverse, an immersive 3D version of the internet that is expected to change the way people work and interact online.

The industrialist said that metaverse is an – “immersive simulation” of the real world where people can interact as “digital avatars”. He also equated the concept with simplicity. He said that simplicity existed not only in people's minds but also in the metaverse as a realm that can simplify life.

As part of a report, Accenture surveyed more than 4,600 business and technology leaders across 23 industries in 35 countries. At this early stage, 71% of executives believe the metaverse will have a positive impact on their organization and 42% believe it will be breakthrough or transformational. To help organizations take advantage of this opportunity, Accenture is launching the Accenture Metaverse Continuum business group.

“The next generation of the internet is unfolding and will drive a new wave of digital transformation far greater than what we’ve seen to date, transforming the way we all live and work,” said Paul Daugherty, group chief executive — Technology and chief technology officer at Accenture.

“This is the evolution of the internet,” said Alex Kipman, who has spent more than a decade shepherding this kind of technology at Microsoft. “If you are a company like Microsoft, you want to participate.”

With everyone going gaga about Metaverse, Elon Musk CEO of SpaceX and Tesla isn’t quite impressed by the Metaverse and is not convinced that we will all be disappearing into this hyper-virtual world anytime soon. This was expressed in an interview with the Youtube channel 'The Babylon Bee'.

What is the Metaverse?

The overlap of physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a shared online space is known as Metaverse.

Metaverse is the expected future of the internet where the environment will allow humans to interact socially and economically as avatars in cyberspace, which acts as a kind of metaphor for the real world; thus breaking down its physical or economic barriers.

Origin of the Metaverse

Interesting to note that in the year 1993, The Metaverse, Steve Jackson Games’ company, presented MOO, a virtual reality system in which several users could be connected at the same time. Since the internet access was not much widespread at that time, the expected success did not happen; moreover, investors were not ready to take a risk at that time. Subsequently, more companies (OZ Virtual, Linden Lab etc.) joined in with similar initiatives, but they have not been successful as well. The world now is getting surer as more and more companies are claiming shift; the future of Metaverse definitely looks promising!

Characteristics of the Metaverse

The characteristics of Metaverse can be extensive, as it is a virtual world but let’s look at the most important ones…

Interactivity: Communication and interaction between users and metaverses.

Interoperability: Avatars and goods can be created and used in any of the metaverses accessed.

Corporeality: although it is a virtual world, it is subject to the laws of physics and has limited resources.

Full-fledged economy: Building on interoperability, goods can be used in any environment, regardless of who manages them.

What can be done in the Metaverse?

When we think of it, Metaverse seems like a world of science fiction, but in reality it will be possible to carry out activities as varied as attending virtual concerts, travelling, shopping, going to the movies, trying on clothes, etc., with Metaverse.

Having said that, the way we work will witness a paradigm shift; where video calls will leave the 2D of a screen for a virtual call-in format.

On the other hand, advantages are manifold as a large-scale industrial workspace. In Metaverse environment all kinds of machines and systems can be tested through digital twins. This facilitates the detection of possible failures and improvements before carrying them out in a physical environment.

Metaverse in the era of the pandemic

Covid has changed the way we live, socialise and work. Many organisations are now following the hybrid or the remote way of working and people have learned to do meetings online. However, it is a known fact that everyone is missing out on the fun and feel of real meetings, events, fun-time and more.

Now imagine a situation – You are desperately missing a friend and want to meet her right-away and lo and behold! She arrives in no time. Is this possible? It definitely is…with Metaverse! A VR headset is all you need to augment the real-world things around you virtually. Although Metaverse’s virtual world is not real, it is close to reality.

We are witnessing how fast technology is advancing and very soon users will also be able to touch and feel in the virtual world through haptic gloves.

Benefits of Metaverse

As more and more people rely on virtual spaces and digital modes of communication like video and web conferencing, the need of the hour is to take this digital experience to the next level and Metaverse is striving to achieve that.

Metaverse brings a range of real-world capabilities to users in a 3-D immersive world; giving a feel of real interaction.

In the workplace, Metaverse has the potential to address all the existing challenges of remote work. It will provide managers with a virtual environment where they can meet employees (their avatars), communicate with them, read their body language, and retain in-person interaction.

Doesn’t that sound like a sci-fi movie? Well, only difference being – the sci-fi movie will soon get real!

 Which industries will shift to Metaverse?

In due course maximum industries will make this interesting and progressive shift but some sure shot industries which would in all probability shift to Metaverse earlier than the rest are – Film industry, OTT, Advertising, Retail, Photography & Videography, Culinary, Healthcare, Tech industry, Real Estate and Art.

 Let us see how Metaverse will help these industries…

The Film Industry

Gone are the days when Musicians had to spend hours and large amounts of money to record their music. Today with the advent of various apps and tools, high quality music can be recorded even in one’s home.

In the same way, the film industry will experience a phenomenal change with the inclusion of Metaverse. Complex 3D sets would be able to host a range of tools and therein add innovation to the movie creation. Users would be able to login to the Metaverse using a VR headset, enter their project and then drag and drop various set props, adjust lighting, add special effects and even create characters using artificial intelligence (AI) to tell their story.  

Unreal Engine offers multiple tools for movie creation already. These tools have been used in various movies including the upcoming Batman film.

Streaming Entertainment Industry (OTT)

When content will start being created by Metaverse, OTTs like Netflix, Amazon Prime etc., will have more content to stream. Users will experience a new form of entertainment, for instance; a user could put on a VR headset, “walk” to the Netflix virtual building in the Metaverse, go into the Horror cinema section and watch the latest release of Nightmare on Elmstreet.

This sure would be an experience worth trying!

The Advertising Industry

Advertisement industry will now be fun with all boring repetitive 2D ads getting a 3D spin. Characters and models would come alive. Imagine being able to interact with a food chain mascot…

Now, that sure would be fun and interesting!

The Retail Industry

Shopping is fun and now it will get to the next level with the use of VR. Metaverse will allow us to try our clothes virtually, skip the long tiring queues and get everything delivered right at our doorstep.

The Photography/Video Industry

With new apps that help us capture our moment on the go, photography and videography has definitely become fun and advanced. Now, with the advent of Metaverse, one can actually capture the entire environment in 3D. This would not only give Photography and Videography an innovative touch; it would also enable users to relive time bygone in an almost real way!

The Culinary Industry

Metaverse will take the culinary experience to the next level. Users could actually sit in a restaurant in their city, put on a VR mask and be transported to Noma in Copenhagen. The chef would create real world flavours and complementing aromas to challenge how the brain perceives the food we eat.

So, Metaverse will actually allow us to virtually travel and experience places without physically going there.

The Healthcare Industry

With Metaverse, doctors could delve into in-depth diagnosis using VR/AR technology to walk through patients' problems and perhaps even consult with other doctors from around the world to solve these issues in real time. Additionally, collaborative experiences could exist in a Metaverse hospital where doctors and patients meet to dissect complex medical problems and provide educated solutions to anyone with access to the Metaverse from the comfort of their home.  

The Tech Industry

Imagine getting an animated solution to our search!

Well, we currently use search engines such as Google to find what we’re looking for, Metaverse could animate this function and offer users a virtual assistant but as a 3D character that carries out the search and guides the user to the best options.

That would be something to experience, right?!

The Real Estate Industry

It is difficult to imagine Real Estate thriving through virtual reality. But, Metaverse will enable the real estate industry to transform in myriad ways; such as being able to purchase virtual property and experiencing virtual walkthroughs of real world developments.

 But, why would one ever want to own virtual property?

Hang on! In Metaverse the real estate can be used as a prime location to advertise products and services to a vast amount of people/avatars. This means virtual consumers having access to your business with no physical contact required if you had a virtual store. This concept seems far out but it is currently happening on virtual platforms like Decentraland.

This concept may be even further expanded to host virtual walkthroughs of real-world property using VR technology to attract budding investors to new building developments.

The Art industry

Though Art cannot completely shift to a virtual platform, transition has already begun. Digital artwork is picking up and interesting to note that Southeby’s launched a virtual gallery in Decentraland. The art gallery was a digital replica of its London headquarters and even had a digital version of Hans Lomulder to greet new visitors at the door.

Apart from the industries mentioned in this article there will be many other industries taking to Metaverse like Technical Security, Education, Workplace Training, Sports, Fitness, Fashion, Architecture etc. The Metaverse will not only bring about an innovative twist to doing things, it will bring about new businesses that provide experiences that don’t exist today and with that new job opportunities will be born.

Summing up, any enterprise/community/industry that has a vision for making interactive products and services will have their eyes on the Metaverse.

*Disclaimer – Brand names used here are just for reference. The content has been researched from the internet.