Put simply: Because it will soon change all our lives as the "future of the Internet. That's what the Fortnite makers from Epic Games think, for example, who already invested billions of dollars two years ago. Microsoft has also announced that it is developing an "enterprise metaverse." And, of course, most notoriously: Facebook, which even changed its name to Meta in October 2021 because it is fully committed to the Metaverse and thus really fueled the hype.
What exactly is the metaverse?
Does anyone remember "Second Life?" Linden Lab's virtual world created a lot of excitement for a few years starting around 2005, and can be considered a sort of precursor to the future Metaverse. In Second Life, "people can interact, play, trade, and otherwise communicate through avatars" - albeit at a level that is now significantly outdated in terms of technology and graphics. The future Metaverse, as planned by the IT giants, on the other hand, is a "combinatorial innovation" that uses all current and upcoming technical possibilities - including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), "head-mounted" displays (HMD), 5-G broadband and artificial intelligence (AI) - to create a virtual, three-dimensional shared space out of it. Users can immersively immerse themselves in this vast, networked virtual world with the latest AR and VR technology, which is a kind of simulation of the physical world: "The vision of the future is the metaverse as the future of the Internet, its own digital economy, a virtual spitting image to the real, physical world," is how the crypto blog coincierge.de sums it up.
People will move around in this virtual world with avatars. They will meet each other, play games, go shopping, keep appointments at the university, at doctors' offices or at government agencies, or even attend concerts and go on vacation to places that are inaccessible to them in the real world. The "new generation of the Internet" (Mark Zuckerberg), the "Web 3.0," does not work independently of devices and is not owned by a single provider. Like cryptocurrencies, it is based on the blockchain, with decentralized storage of information. And it likewise uses digital currencies and assets (NFT).
Just a marketing stunt - or soon to be a reality?
How real is the Metaverse already? Will it really soon be so far that we put on our AR and VR glasses and go to work or university with our avatar? We can be curious. The Metaverse is now most likely to take shape in the gaming sector. But it is also making headway in other application areas. Microsoft, for example, has long been in the process of creating virtual reality for the working world, with meetings and avatars in digital conference rooms. AR and VR glasses, for example, are to be integrated into Microsoft Teams as early as the end of this year.
Gartner IT consultants and market researchers predict "that by 2026, about 25 percent of people will spend at least an hour a day in the Metaverse for work, shopping, education, social media and/or entertainment." But even though many large corporations, even e-commerce companies, are already making investments in the Metaverse: A "real" metaverse does not yet exist, but "only individual platforms that can do a bit of it," says, for example, Philipp Rauschnabel, a professor of digital marketing and media innovation. Many experts do not expect a fully developed metaverse for another 20 years or so. The main reason for this is the huge computing power needed to make it all happen.
The hype around the metaverse peaked with Facebook's rebranding in the fall of 2021, but has steadily declined since the spring of 2022. Google search volume is currently just about one-tenth of what it was at the beginning of 2022 - mainly because other mega-topics like ChatGPT are "interfering."
What does the IT industry expect from the Metaverse?
The tech companies are naturally hoping for the immense economic opportunities of this new market. Financial services provider Bloomberg expects revenues to reach $800 billion as early as 2030, and the trillion-dollar mark is expected to be cracked shortly thereafter, according to analysts. Logically, to plan, build and keep the metaverse running, IT professionals are needed. Many new professions will emerge, such as Metaverse Planners and Researchers, Ecosystem Developers, Metaverse Hardware Builders and several more. There will also be Metaverse real estate agents, lawyers or avatar designers in the future, the job potential of the new virtual world is huge in any case.
GECO has experts for your Metaverse project
Currently, there is still a lot of theory and imponderables involved in metaverse. However, numerous companies are already driving the topic forward at various levels. Among others, IT experts in VR, AR and collaboration systems are currently in demand, as well as know-how in consumer electronics, spatial computing or cyber security. Experts with these and many other exciting skills can be found with us, your leading IT staffing provider. Our consultants will find the right IT staff for your Metaverse project and look forward to your call!