Deloitte Canada’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Research Director Duncan Stewart evaluated the promising future of the ‘metaverse’, which is defined as the ‘big new thing’ after the smartphone.
Stewart, who was in Istanbul for the presentation of the ‘TMT Predictions 2022’ report prepared by Deloitte, said that according to the estimates of investment banks, the ‘metaverse’ contains 8 trillion dollars of opportunity for companies. Emphasizing that the metaverse is still far from the concept in people’s minds, Stewart reminded that many companies still go to collaborations and partnerships to be a part of the metaverse. “There are now many virtual worlds where millions of people live with their avatars, play games, make new friends, go to parties and concerts, shop and trade. Most of them are gaming apps. However, purchased avatars, products, services, and member “Social groups owned by the company are imprisoned in the ‘closed gardens’ of these gaming apps,” he said.
‘There are many miniverses’
This is the ‘virtual universe’ that US writer Neal Stephenson first described in his 1992 book ‘Snow Crash’ (translated into Turkish as ‘Parasite’). Reminding that it does not fit the concept of ‘metaverse’, because people can easily move from one point to another in this universe, with everything next to them, Duncan said, “Therefore, instead of a metaverse in the current sense, there is a group of ‘miniverse’ (small universe).”
‘Waiting for 2025 will miss the train’
Stating that technology companies will invest billions of dollars to develop the metaverse from this year, Stewart said, “Only Facebook, with its new name ‘Meta’, AR and Facebook plans to spend at least $10 billion this year on Reality Labs, the metaverse division responsible for producing VR hardware.”
Duncan Stewart stated that companies that want to take part in the ‘metaverse’ should first follow the opportunities in the ‘virtual universe’ and make experiments, and in this context, it would be important to prepare their employees for the metaverse.
Emphasizing the importance of technology, media and telecom companies deciding what to invest in the metaverse from this year and taking action, Stewart said, “Although it is not too late now, those who do not take action by 2025 will be too late.”
Stewart finally said that the legal authorities should prepare all the necessary regulations as soon as possible to make the metaverse safer for everyone, especially the under-18 group. Stewart added that comprehensive legal regulations should be introduced on many issues such as currency, taxation, money laundering, content editing, censorship.
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