Leading US institution Morgan Stanley has estimated that global spend on the core metaverse technologies — virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) — will exceed $73 billion by 2024 (up from $12 billion in 2020). These numbers are hard to ignore.
The concept of metaverses — virtual worlds and communities — is not new. Digital universes have existed in video games for many years, albeit with continuous (and exponential) enhancement in terms of the sophistication of their virtual reality experience and their transactional functionality (such as the ability to purchase ‘add-ons’ within the context of the game). Digital metaverses including Decentraland, The Sandbox and Somnium Space take the (now old school) concept of The Sims and SimCity to a whole new level of immersive experience. Greengage has partnered with the innovative metaverse and specialized Web 3.0 financial hub Eldora to explore innovative e-money solutions for new crypto and digital assets companies and traditional SMEs (more to follow in a separate article).
Most recently, metaverse development has embraced property and real estate, with huge transactions happening in this space — an estimated billion dollars of virtual real estate transactions have taken place in 2022 alone. The arts and fashion industries are also investing heavily in the development of digital assets such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and virtual worlds in which to hold, display and sell them. Meta Dubai, in beta testing, offers ‘a complete Dubai experience’ including virtual sightseeing and shopping in virtual stores and malls. Before long, it will become commonplace to shop for high end designer goods in virtual stores, and to enjoy the full customer service experience associated with such purchases, from the comfort of home.
Read more on Greengage now