Ever since Meta announced its big plans for the metaverse, several other big tech companies have echoed the move and announced similar investments in the platform as well. While many were skeptical at first about the metaverse, the reality is, that the integrated network of 3D virtual worlds now provides endless possibilities for them.
From a business point of view, a recent report by McKinsey & Company showed that the metaverse has the potential to grow up to a whopping US$5 trillion in value by 2030, with e-commerce the driving force behind it.
What makes the metaverse work is wearables and the use of augmented and virtual reality. As Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated a year ago, the metaverse works best when experienced with VR goggles to provide users the immersive experience decided. Meta has also been researching other wearables like the haptic glove and suit to give users a real experience while being in the metaverse.
Now, this is what the metaverse is supposed to be. Using VR headsets to have an immersive 3D experience in a virtual world. This includes the ability to even purchase products, attend concerts and meetings via customized avatars. The avatars themselves represent a huge market in the metaverse, which is why large fashion brands are also looking at how they can be a part of the experience.
Apart from Meta’s metaverse, Microsoft is also working on something similar after acquiring Activision while NVIDIA is also trying its best to make a mark in the competition.
More recently, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok has acquired Chinese VR startup PoliQ to cement its foray into the metaverse. According to a report by SCMP, PoliQ, an operator of the once-popular virtual social platform Vyou allows users to create their own avatars. The company was acquired by ByteDance for “tens of millions of yuan”, according to business and trademark registration tracking firm Tianyancha.
Another Chinese tech company, Tencent, has also formed an extended reality division to tap into the metaverse. Reuters reported that the new unit is responsible for creating Tencent’s XR business regarding software and hardware. Earlier this year, there were also reports of Tencent planning to acquire Xiaomi-backed Black Shark, a firm known for its range of gaming smartphones and accessories to boost its impact on the metaverse.
In fact, the state-backed China Computer Industry Association has also formed a metaverse committee amid the country’s growing interest in the concept. Supervised by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Metaverse Industry Professional Committee aims to help members join the new racetrack of the digital economy and to lead the healthy and orderly development of the metaverse industry.
Understanding the real value virtual events
While these big tech companies are investing heavily in technology to perfect their operations in the metaverse, other companies are also riding the metaverse hype but using it more as a marketing gimmick without understanding what the metaverse really is.
The fact is this. The metaverse is a virtual world that a user needs to enjoy with a VR headset. Currently, platforms like Decentraland and the Sandbox work similarly to what the metaverse is. Largely dependent on 3D technology, these platforms together with Meta’s metaverse are reshaping the way people work and do their activities.
Now, while these companies are busy with the real deal, in Southeast Asia, there have been numerous events that claim to be offering a metaverse experience. But in reality, all they are providing is a virtual avenue with basic interaction capabilities for users. VR headsets are not required to access these avenues and users just can attend them from anywhere.
While these virtual events do give a metaverse-like feel to users, they are no where near to providing a fully immersive experience. Users basically just turn on their devices, do not have avatars or are assigned a basic one and have to scroll through the platform, which is often in 2D only.
Tech Wire Asia caught up with an exec from an event company who claimed that a lot of businesses want to host events in the metaverse but unfortunately do not have a full understanding of the concept. For them, the metaverse is merely a virtual platform where people can go and exchange ideas.
Their understanding is not wrong, but business leaders need to understand that there is a lot more that is needed to make the metaverse work, especially with the technology involved to ensure an immersive experience for the users. This includes the ability for a user to create avatars and use them in the metaverse.
With that said, businesses need to realize that there are a lot more details in the metaverse compared to virtual events. Virtual events are a part of the metaverse, representing only a fraction of what it can fully offer to everyone.
Aaron enjoys writing about enterprise technology in the region. He has attended and covered many local and international tech expos, events and forums, speaking to some of the biggest tech personalities in the industry. With over a decade of experience in the media, Aaron previously worked on politics, business, sports and entertainment news.
Yahoo has announced a series of Metaverse and NFT-related activities in Hong Kong, a day after Meta Platforms outlined its own metaverse plans for the region.
Yahoo, a US-based internet media company, revealed that it will host a series of virtual events and concerts for Hong Kong residents in the Decentraland metaverse.
According to Lorraine Cheung, the head of audience at Yahoo Hong Kong, the company sees the Metaverse as an attractive alternative for Hong Kong residents looking to engage in social activities while pandemic restrictions remain in force. On Thursday last week, a nation-wide mandate was introduced requiring that a negative Covid test be provided to enter all public venues such bars and restaurants.
“We hope to use the Metaverse to connect people regardless of time and physical location.”
Yahoo will also launch a non-fungible token (NFT) exhibition called The Abyss of Kwun Tong, which will see local artists virtually recreate the historic neighborhood of Kwun Tong which has been heavily impacted by redevelopment.
Creative Producer Leung Ching-hsuan said that the goal of the NFT exhibition was to “retain humanity using technology.”
On Tuesday, the social-media giant Meta put forward a strategy to work alongside local businesses and organizations such as cafes, schools and art galleries to create ‘“first-hand” Metaverse experiences for residents.
Major companies are increasingly embracing the Metaverse with international consulting firm McKinsey releasing a report this week predicting that Metaverse-related spending could be worth nearly $5 trillion by 2030.
Earlier this year, JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States, made headlines by releasing a report that called Metaverse technology a “one trillion-dollar opportunity”, alongside opening their own virtual headquarters in the Decentraland metaverse.
Tech company EventX has purchased a piece of land on The Sandbox as part of its effort to move virtual events to the metaverse.
The company said that purchase was the result of the evolving event trends. The purchased virtual land will be used for building an event-focused digital world. It will also allow organisers and marketers to hold conferences and events, create virtual experiences to shift from Web2 to Web3 in light of the metaverse’s emergence, and prepare for a more digital future.
“Hybrid events are likely to overtake in-person events even in the post-pandemic world, and the world will expect more advanced technology to enhance the experience of going to an event. Striving for continuous growth, we will be ramping up our metaverse strategy to get our clients prepared for the new digital age,” said Sum Wong, CEO of EventX.
Moving forward, EventX said it will further tap into metaverse-related solutions that “support in a digitalised world and stay ahead of advances in this ever-changing technological environment.”
Previously, the company conducted a survey to study event trends. The company surveyed 1,500 event organisers and experts across large enterprises and SMBs in Asia about their views on event settings. 70% of the respondents said they had planned to host hybrid or virtual events in the coming 12 months, with “digital footprint for analysis”, “enabling digital transformation”, and “provision of flexibility and variability” being the first three most important elements needed for online experiences.
Respondents also rated “education and learning”, “employee engagement”, “showcase”, “entertainment streaming” and “eCommerce” as the top five beneficiary sectors for running virtual events.
Moreover, over 80% of marketers believed that holding events on the metaverse could bring a positive impact on their organisation’s revenue. The company added that running virtual events can help save 90% of the cost.
In addition to its expansion to the metaverse, EventX also expanded its operations to Southeast Asia last year with the official launch of its Singapore operations to support growth efforts in the region. The expansion came just months after EventX closed its US$10,000,000 series B funding round.
The company claimed that its business in Asia had grown significantly in recent years, and EventX was committed to continuing to expand its already strong presence in the key Asian markets. The company claimed to have rocketed 60% month-over-month user growth in 2021, with over 5,000,000 satisfied attendees in over 20,000 online, hybrid and offline events in the past years.
Instead, it purchased digital real estate in Decentraland, a blockchain-based game that allows players to interact with each other through virtual avatars in a 3D virtual world and buy land within this virtual world, and even sell or rent it to other brands or individuals.
The virtual space Atom bought is now the company’s metaverse office, which it hopes to use to reach out to global clients and use as a place for ‘metaverse’ events and interactions too in the near future.
Yash Kulshreshtha, the national creative head of Mumbai-based firm, says those in their early 30s are already too old for today’s internet. He believes that much like how the older generation found the shift from newspapers to online articles drastic, the ‘90s generation is today content with what the present internet, or Web 2.0, already offers.
While the company has four virtual avatars to cater to this virtual space right now, Kulshreshtha says that one day, this facility could become just as valuable as the agency’s physical office – and in fact help the company expand its footprint beyond India. “The thing with the metaverse is that the young generation growing up today will find it completely natural,” he insists.
The ‘metaverse’, as of today, remains a vaguely defined and understood area of technology. While some, such as Meta (erstwhile Facebook), Nvidia, Microsoft and the likes have showcased virtual worlds with avatars that resemble the real person, items scaled to the real world, replication of actual areas, roads and much more, others have often used the ‘metaverse’ as a catch phrase given all the hype and attention around it.
In the distant future, the metaverse is supposed to be a single virtual world which runs parallel to our physical world, akin to worlds imagined in movies like Ready Player One.
Atom is just one among the many event management companies that are exploring this space.
In January 2022, Punjab-based events agency, Cryptic Entertainments, hosted what they claimed to be ‘India’s first metaverse concert’ on Ethereum-based 3D virtual platform, Somnium Space. About 30 individuals ‘attended’ the concert by 23-year-old Indian singer, Sparsh Dangwal. Since then, India has also seen its first ‘metaverse wedding’.
Such events show a rising trend of curiosity among individuals and organisers alike in terms of exploring a new technology. As Gautam Seth, co-founder and director of virtual event company Dreamcast Global, said, “Over the past year or so, there are many event companies in India that are trying to understand how the metaverse can apply to events. Some of the early movers are looking at ready metaverse platforms such as Decentraland and Spatial, and use their non-fungible token (NFT) avatars for their characters to design an event.”
Dinesh Dulhani, founder of Immersive Realities, a firm that develops immersive virtual experiences, adds a similar narrative. Over the past decade, Dulhani has offered virtual reality (VR)-based experiences in events that involve product showcases, or converted an audio-visual clip into a VR one. Today, Dulhani says that there is an increasing volume of attention in this space, for sure. “I have received enquiries and interest from the Singapore-based Publicis Group regarding hosting a metaverse event, and I have pitched such ideas to many of my clients as well,” he said.
Atom’s Kulshreshtha said that as of now, he has received queries from an Indian e-commerce platform regarding creating a metaverse platform, and has also pitched a metaverse concept to an FMCG brand regarding one of their promotional activities. Such plans, though, are still in early-stage conversations – showcasing the flipside of the ‘metaverse’ buzzword.
“Numerous brands are looking at a slightly toned-down solution, or more of a VR experience rather than the full-scale metaverse experience that platforms such as Decentraland provide. These brands typically want more control over what an attendee in their virtual event can do,” said Seth.
Alongside brands being conscious of what these experiences can bring to the table, Seth further said the technology is also a hindrance. “Today, the basic cardboard-like VR headsets are not good enough for metaverse events, because they are not really interactive. As an organizer, I cannot expect all individuals attending a metaverse event to have an Oculus Rift or similar VR headsets, along with a powerful computer, at home,” he added.
Dulhani, in fact, believes that even over the next couple of years, even as more companies express interest in ‘metaverse’ events, the experience will largely remain a non-VR one. “Back when Facebook acquired Oculus, everyone thought VR has arrived. But it still failed to get large-scale adoption from consumers, because of the issues with the headset. Over the past 4-5 years, VR has seen increasing adoption in enterprise use cases and gaming, but for it to become truly mainstream, the hardware has to evolve a lot,” he said.
To sum up, Kulshreshtha believes it is obviously a nascent phase for agencies and companies exploring the metaverse. “It may seem like a small augmentation of the virtual interaction experience that we have today, but for the generation that will follow us, interacting through a metaverse workplace will feel more natural. Such opportunities will let us advertise our products well beyond our present market, and take our agency global,” Kulshreshtha said.
“Look at Nike’s investment in RTFKT. If such big brands are making a push for NFTs and the metaverse, there’s definitely a big scope in the industry,” he added.
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