If you are a bit of a nerd like me, it is likely you would have heard the word Metaverse thrown around a lot in the headlines over the last six months. As we speak, mega-corporations such as Apple & Google are in a legal battle with Epic Games over app stores, payment systems and more.

Still, every time you go through the documents or hear Tim Sweeny, the controversial CEO of Epic games, speak, the Metaverse keeps coming up.

In fact, Just this month, Facebook entailed plans to put a VR headset on every worker's head to work in a virtual space with other employees from home. I'm sure just reading that sentence has triggered a gut reaction from you, likely the same as mine. 

So, what is the Metaverse?

The Metaverse isn’t a new idea; at the age of 16, I spent my own free time in what would today be defined as a Metaverse. If you are a millennial reading this, the easiest way to think about a Metaverse is to think about Habbo hotel or Playstation Home, but think way bigger. Back in the 2000s, digital spaces would ask you to create an avatar and hang out with friends or strangers in a digital space. Some services like PS Home would even have games, gambling, and cinemas for you to visit without ever having to leave your sofa.

Today, companies are split on how users will access the Metaverse. Some see it in AR, some see it in VR, and others view it as something to be added to existing 2D spaces. Regardless of the interpretation, the end goal is always the same.

The Metaverse is a global interactive space where you can interact with others and shop, work, watch live events and even, Live. Fortnite is the largest and most successful magnification of this idea we currently have. However, no company has successfully built a Wall’E style online utopia that can encompass almost every aspect of your current daily life.

While a lot can be said for this idea, especially after the year we have all had spent away from our loved ones, the reception from those outside of tech is…’why?’ Why are the world’s biggest companies going after this new digital reality?

Why do companies want this?

This is and isn't an easy answer. The obvious reason is money, of course, but it goes a little deeper than that. If we refer back to the ongoing lawsuits between Epic games and Apple, we can see that a big point of contentment is how Apple runs the App Store, which has lead to a monopoly over purchases made on an iPhone. Epic thinks that not only should users be able to use any payment they wish to buy apps, but they should also have the option to launch their own App Store on the platform to give users a choice. While I feel we can all somewhat agree with this argument, it also comes down to Epic's desire to make the amount of money Apple does without building the iPhone. 

Our current digital platforms have monopolies and walled gardens over the devices we purchase. If you buy an Android phone, you are pretty much stuck with the Play Store. (While other options do exist here, the VAST majority of users have no idea how to even to access another app store) or if you buy a Playstation or a Switch, you can only purchase from the store run by the platform holder to purchase games digitally. 

This is a very tight lock-in that funnels massive amounts of cash to a single company. We are also witnessing the rise of subscription services to further lock users in so they spend more money to access content locked behind a sub over a period of time.

This leads us back to the metaverse. 

If you think about going to a shopping centre, even though you are under one roof, you have the choice to purchase from multiple outlets that create a competitive market for the consumer. It's as easy as walking in and out. 

Right now, the leader in the Metaverse space, Epic, want that for the digital world. A user enters a digital world from any device or location and can enjoy experiences from any business that wants to participate. It functions a lot like the web if you remove significant players who dominate their field, like Facebook, Amazon and Google. If you tried to use the web today without directly using one of these companies services, I would be surprised. Their influence runs deep into the foundations of Web 2.0.

Other companies don't see it this way. Right now, Facebook is racing to create a fully realised digital world that you can only access through their line of Oculus Headsets. They want to create a virtual reality where users depend on Facebook to gain access to services and use Facebook's payment systems to cut any transactions in this space. They will also have total control of information from users such as spending habits, work environments, digital living spaces, conversations and more. That's a lot of information to give a single company; you can quickly see how profitable this would be.

What should we as Creatives be looking out for?

The idea of a metaverse, I would argue, is at odds with creativity. While some would say it opens the door to new possibilities, personally, I feel as if we are on the brink of closing the free internet and being stuck with a single entity that controls what happens in the digital world. They can gate-keep services, products and art from being seen by the masses.

However, we are all going to have to get used to it. If you are a marketer like myself, seeing the world’s biggest companies funnel billions into this idea will mean that eventually, it's going to stick. Users will be searching for products walking down the street with AR glasses or at home with their headsets on watching movies with their friends. We are going to need to find a way to market here.

If you build or design websites, who knows how this will change how people shop or interact with businesses. If you can walk into an Asos store and pick up clothing in a digital space, why would customers choose to shop on a website instead?

It's not all gloom and doom; if the Metaverse gets built as an open, new type of web, we will have endless opportunities to create that are now limited to even the web of today.

How fast is this coming?

Honestly, we don’t know. It seems most people are against the idea, but as we all know, it comes down to how these companies market it.

In 2014 we all laughed when Apple told us to wear an iPod on our wrist; today, the Apple Watch outsells the entire Swiss watch industry combined every quarter.

It might seem like this reality is a distant one, but with companies racing to build the next web and Gen-Z spending hours a day in Fortnite, the validity of the Metaverse might already be here.

Thank you for reading our opinion piece on the Metaverse. If you haven’t heard of it before, or want to stay updated on how your brand or career can embrace this new reality, keep in touch with the team at UNBXD as we continue to research, design and create digital campaigns for the future.