The Metaverse is Dead

Hype Title engaged. But all seriousness The Metaverse is dead was a headline I saw in at least 5 publications this week. Its so not the case.

News headlines everywhere are highlighting tech layoffs in masses, Meta abandoning Instagram and Facebook NFTs, the expense of VR Headsets, Disney cutting its Metaverse workforce and other bad press articles its no wonder a dark cloud hangs over the entire Web 3 space. Add to that absolute gut punches from Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, Luna, Silicon Valley Bank, and regulation this is why you could believe that things are starting to look grim.

If you actually read the content it's clear the publishers think the Metaverse is a Facebook thing. How I view the Metaverse is more like the internet in terms of it is what all these companies use to build on/in and not belonging to a company.

The one Yat Siu believes in an open Metaverse where each person owns their data and digital property rights. This belief means no one corporation should own it and its instead a collective shift towards openly working together.
For me, every Metaverse I've been in feels more like a video game than an experience realm, at least for now it feels like a video game where I move about and do things but it's not an extension of my life or the environment that I'm in.
Not yet!

Image: The Sandbox

To be clear the Metaverse is open to interpretation. My Metaverse may be different to yours, or The Sandbox or Spatials. It isnt a game and its not a platform or space. To me I see Metaverse more as an overlaid realm of enhancements to our everyday lives. This means a layer that VR, and AR can show us more information, and possibilities to open up a new way of living.
These omni direction VR platforms are cool but its not the Metaverse.

At Animoca Brands the vision is to push towards an open Metaverse where true digital ownership is part of everything we do. Build games, apps, platforms that push the vision closer to being a reality.

If I was building a Metaverse I would focus on these things

1. The Digital Identity of the person joining the Metaverse
2. The Display Avatar attached to that Digital Identity
3. The Ownership mechanism (Wallet) for digital assets

Id also focus on making these more accessible, a heck of a lot easier to create and then use and then easier to work across blockchains, platforms, devices.
For those in the space this sounds damn near impossible, but its what needs to happen or we will be a dead Metaverse without the billions of users our revolutionary wave of technology disruption is going to stagnate.

The digital identity is on its way, there will be some universal standard of protocol embraced and then this will be the new passport, drivers license and identity. DIDs put the trust back into an online persona moving more away from anon trolls and more towards this is my online self all verified and certified. But people will have options to show parts of or all of themselves online.
Smart contracts & DIDs give identity an immutable way of provenance universally.


Maybe I watch a lot of movies but how are bad guys still getting fake passports and driver's licenses in 2023. An immutable identity that is chain or platform agnostic and tied to you as a person issued from a verified source makes more sense to me than plastic cards that can be Mclovind.

Decentralization is the dream end state of everything we build. We cant start there for most projects that we build as the tech stack is not fully ready for a decentralized state. We are patching platforms together to achieve as close to as we can within budget, within timeframes, and within reason.
I am aiming for the majority of the stack to be decentralized enough to thwart any censorship and control of digital assets before the big boys (Meta, Amazon, Microsoft) lock it up and consume mass markets by the sheer size of their operations.

Also, how can we be defeated already when there are so many cool projects in their early stages, like these noteworthy Web 3 projects:

1. Walker World - https://walkerworld.io/
2. Endora World - https://www.endoraworld.io/
3. Manyworld - https://manyworlds.run/

It feels like people sprouting comments around Metaverse is dead is probably a Facebook/Meta fan and just following what they have read somewhere or overheard at the over 60's bowls club and not actually involved in the space. Its hard to keep up with the rapid development and Im in the space. The builders are full steam ahead developing some next level projects.
Like the Sage that he is Brent Annells says, don't hate on the naysayers, instead encourage every developer and everyone having a go to stay focused and build a better version of their product. It could not ring more true in Web 3.
Where people can point the finger and critize the Metaverse is in the communication of just how rapidly the space is advancing with all these AI toolkits that can help build landscapes, game assets, worlds and storylines the Metaverse has evolved a lot! but the promotion is not keeping up with the space.
Owning digital property isnt a cash grab by a Metaverse just to prop the company until the next VC pumps them. Land ownership in a game or a Metaverse is a very real thing with not just speculative gains, you can rent the land, build on the land, farm the land or sit on it. The point is that its your land to do what you want with.

The Sandbox sells plots of land with various rare traits for resources, farming, and development into whatever you imagine. The land is yours to manage, and it plays into the game in a web 3 version of Minecraft meets Axie Infinity.

Owning digital land, wearables, cool profile pictures of monkeys, or holding tokens is all very real and not going away. The use cases for it are too strong.
The Metaverse is still developing and will be around for the foreseeable future. The tech will catch up, Brands will learn how to leverage it better and rights to your digital assets & data will be the future.