Dom Tait - Research Director
“Metaverse” was likely the leading tech buzzword of 2021 even before the company formerly known as Facebook laid out grand plans for Meta’s future in late 2021. Microsoft, Nvidia, and even Disney share Mark Zuckerberg’s enthusiasm and ambition. It can be confidently expected that MWC will be loaded with stalls promising metaverse-related developments, from the concrete to the somewhat speculative.
Even in more general terms, the role of telcos in providing the metaverse’s gargantuan data transmission needs will be the conference’s bubbling undercurrent. With net neutrality laws fairly widely distributed—and clawing their way back into the US federal statute book—the key question will be “who pays?” even as carriers doubtlessly demonstrate the utility of their 5G networks with metaverse experiences.
Yet while the future is being increasingly staked out by tech giants, it is a very long way from fruition. A true metaverse requiresimmersive internet—enveloping the field of vision, in 3D, and with largely limitless possibilities.
Omdia typically makes five-year forecasts, but immersive internet—that is, internet experiences as delivered by a VR headset—becoming the default consumption mode does not feature within them, even if inroads will be made over the next five years. Indeed, a defining feature of the internet—open, standards-based compatibility and widespread interoperability—is still to be even mapped out for the metaverse. MWC will doubtless feature plenty of alluring ideas for the future, then, but what of the present? Compelling iterations of the metaverse are already developing apace. In recent years, various games have emerged that seek to offer a range of entertainment, social, and cultural activities inside their own worlds while providing a functioning economy that includes commerce between users and from other brands.
Omdia’s Metaverse Games Benchmark, launched in late 2021, assessed and ranked six titles aspiring to offer such a concept, judging Fortnite’s full-court offering to have the edge over the likes of Roblox and Minecraft. But even in the intervening months, these games have added many more features with the intention of providing a fully realized metaverse. At MWC, then, the most enterprising companies will stake out a compelling future while seizing on the opportunities provided now.
Source: Omdia | NB: The six games above were assessed and ranked against five categories: scale, monetization, entertainment, interaction, and technology. Each category was ranked out of 10 and the chart shows the cumulative scores and rankings.
A large array of companies promise a metaverse offering at MWC, including:
“Metaverse, 3D reconstruction, and unmanned AI”
“Powerful metaverse products that span the education, agriculture, pet, and entertainment industries”
“Our 3D machine vision depth sensors serve verticals such as mobile, automotive and AV, metaverse, Industry 4.0, smart city, and more”
“We create the metaverse presence for brands, start ups, corporate innovation, and Industry 4.0”
You can meet with Omdia's expert team at the following events:
GDC (Game Developers Conference) (March 21-25, San Francisco, CA)
