Metaverse promises: The future of Web3 or just a commercial gimmick?

The hype around the metaverse has taken a hit after recent turmoil in crypto markets, but industry leaders and stakeholders still see it as the future of Web3.

Analysis

The Metaverse as a concept is an attempt to merge physical reality, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) into one seamless and immersive experience.

The term "metaverse" was first used in Neil Stephenson's 1982 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash. Stephenson's Metaverse was a virtual place the characters could go to escape a grim totalitarian reality. Some of the key metaverse attributes include:

Even before the metaverse becoming a phenomenon amid the non-fungible token (NFT) craze and crypto market boom, the concept was already front and center for Facebook, now Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and several other big companies investing heavily in AR technology since the early 2010s.

In 2014, Meta acquired Oculus VR in a $2 billion deal focused on developing augmented and virtual reality-based games. In the same year, Sony and Samsung announced that they were creating their own VR headsets, and Google launched the Google Glass AR glasses.

In 2020, Apple launched. Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) to iPhones and iPods, which offered better in-depth analysis of photos and introduced AR features. The technology is also paving the way for future mixed reality headsets. In 2021, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta to move from pure social media to leading the metaverse race.

With a downturn in the crypto markets, NFTs and the Metaverse have seen a rapid decline in interest and capital flows. Trending data from Google suggests that the Metaverse was generating interest through January 2022. However, as the bear market progressed, wiping out nearly 70% of market valuation, interest in the Metaverse and NFTs fell.

Google Trends data on se...