Top 10 Business Brands Exploring The Metaverse

With a global market cap of 100.27 billion in 2022, the metaverse industry has been forecasted to reach  $344.7 billion by 2027. According to experts, 1 in 4 people will spend an hour each day in the metaverse by 2026. Research also found out that by 2026, nearly a third of the world's organisations will offer metaverse products and services.

TL;DR

• The metaverse is gaining a lot of interest.
• People interact using their chosen avatars within the virtual worlds of the metaverse.
• Established business brands are leveraging the metaverse to connect with new and existing customers.
• There seems to be a huge competition by each brand to get a good chunk of the metaverse.

What Is The Metaverse?

The metaverse is a virtual world where people can interact and communicate.

Heralded as the "next big investment theme," the metaverse is a replication or simulation of the physical world  as a Universal virtual world where people are represented by avatars aided by the use of Virtual Reality(VR) and Augmented Reality(AR).

Apart from being a virtual world, the metaverse is also unleashing the vast potentials of immersive gaming. Most metaverse games enable the players to control the game with real life actions through VR and AR headsets. Games like MineCraft, Fortnite, World of Witchcraft are all part of the metaverse.

NFT's and cryptocurrencies are used to purchase services and assets. Blockchain, which is a precursor of the metaverse, is used so assets are permanently non-interchangeable and retain their worth. Also, trading is a key part of the metaverse.

The metaverse is currently being applied  in areas like: productivity improvement, e-commerce, mass-audience interaction, fashion and real estate.

History Of the Metaverse

The first concept of a metaverse dates back to Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist, who had keen interest in perceptual illusion. Many platforms have since been created but  they were intended as games and failed to become popular. One of these platforms was Active Worlds, an online virtual world launched on the 28th of June, 1995. The platform allowed its users to browse the web, make voice chats and send instant messages.

Second Life was the first virtual world to be called a metaverse. The  platform was created by Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Labs. It had been in development since the 1990s but was released on the 23rd of June, 2003. Unlike the previous virtual worlds that made users complete goals and missions,  Second Life is more like social media and users interact in real-time. Also, it features an in-world economy which its predecessors lacked.

In 2017, AltSpaceVR, a VR company, was purchased by Microsoft. Ever since, Microsoft have created avatars and held meetings virtually.

The year 2019 saw Facebook kickstart a social VR company, Facebook Horizon. The  platform is an online video game where users can interact and play games together. As a further sign of the company's dedication to metaverse, Facebook changed its company name to "Meta" and Mark Zuckerberg, the company's chairman made it known that the company is committed to developing a metaverse.

Many metaverses have evolved over the years and many more are still evolving.

The Top Business Brands Exploring The Metaverse

Roblox

Roblox is a creation of  Roblox Corporations. It allows users to create online games which can be accessed by VR headsets. It was founded by two entrepreneurs, David Baszucki and Erik Casel in 2004. The platform was launched in 2006. First a small company, it began growing in  2010 and the Coronavirus Pandemic made its number of  users soar tremendously. The total number of users as at August 2020 is over 164 million monthly users.

The platform made  $1 billion  in November 2019. This figure leaped to $1.5 billion in June 2020. And this number went on to reach $2 billion in October 2020. The company's $20.06 billion market cap as at December 3, 2022, makes it the 497th biggest public company in the United States.

Gucci

The fashion brand is the first in its category to launch an NFT. This subsequently led to its involvement in the metaverse.

On the 21st of May, The Gucci Garden Experience, a virtual party which was a celebration of the brand's 100th year, was set in the Italian city of Florence and had over 20 million attendees. In the same month, Gucci sold one of its virtual Dionysus bags for $4,115.

The Gucci Vault Land created on The Sandbox metaverse is an online store where people can trade and interact and play games for NFT's.

Experts analysts have predicted that luxury NFTs can reach prices as high as $56 billion if their popularity thrives on.

Meta

Formerly known as Facebook, Meta Inc. has invested heavily in the metaverse. From the change of the company's name to the advertisement of virtual reality gadgets that are not yet developed, Meta Inc. has shown its unwavering willingness to explore the metaverse.

Horizon Worlds (formerly known as Facebook Horizon) was launched in December 2021. The game is a virtual-reality, online game that allows users to interact and play together.

Meta reported in February 2022 that its virtual world was receiving 300,000 visitors.

Microsoft

The tech giant known for its mergers and acquisitions first took a step  into the world of metaverse by acquiring the VR-producing company, AltSpaceVR in 2017 and this led to the addition of virtual meetings to the Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams is a communication platform for business created by Microsoft. The platform offers workspace chat and videoconferencing, storage of files, and application integration. Reports revealed that as of 2022, it has about 35,000 monthly active users. It is headed by Microsoft's corporate vice president Brian MacDonald.

This was followed by the purchase of gaming powerhouse Activision Blizzard, which is known for the Call of Duty franchise, for $69 billion in January 2022.

Microsoft has repeatedly made it known that it is determined to compete with Meta Inc for the supremacy of the metaverse. And this is evident as the company has filed for 158 patents in the metaverse which is higher than any company in the metaverse. The company's platform is still in the developing stages.

Nike

Another fashion brand in the world of virtual reality, Nike is fastidiously exploring the metaverse.

NIKELAND, hosted on Roblox, was created on November 21. It was created for users to play mini-games and sports. Nike purchased RTFKT, a studio that specialises in making NFT sneakers and avatar accessories. The acquisition led to Nike and RTFKT's first NFT drop, CryptoKicks which  was well-received by users. As of August 2022, Nike has made $185 million dollars in NFT's sales and sales are expected to skyrocket.

Google

Google's failure and humiliation with the AR glasses back in 2014 has surely faded. The company, not to be outdone by its rivals, decided to invest in metaverse in January 2022.  The company sees virtual reality as a way to enhance its services like the Google Map and achieve the company's goal of virtual reality.

Reports show Google has invested over $39 million in developing its metaverse, a project led by the company's SVP, Clay Bavor.

Samsung

In collaboration with the metaverse platform, ZEPETO, Samsung's first venture into the world of metaverse was "My House". Described as “a space-decorating experience” by the company, visitors can decorate their metaverse homes using various Samsung products represented in virtual format. My House as of January 2022 had over 4 million users per month.

In January 2022, Samsung launched its metaverse store using the Decentraland platform. The virtual world store, Samsung 837x is structured  after the physical store located at 837 Washington Street, New York City. Over 120,000 users visited the platform.

Samsung 837x was first built as a store for users to buy collections or carry out quests. But the company redeveloped the store for a more virtual-worldy feeling where users can embark on adventures, chat and interact with in-game  characters, and accomplish missions.

Samsung showed it was not ready to step away from the metaverse when it invested $25 million into the South Korean metaverse startup, DoubleMe. With 122 patents, Samsung is the company with the second highest number of patents in the metaverse.

Hyundai

The car-makers accelerated into the metaverse in 2021 when the "Roblox Mobility Adventure" was launched in collaboration with Roblox. Virtual cars can be bought with cryptocurrencies. Car races are also a key part.

Hyundai Motor Group has invested over $82 million in metaverse Entertainment.

The Future Of The Metaverse

The Metaverse promises to change the world in the near future. Because of the Metaverse's enormous features, speed and scalability are key requirements for creating a metaverse, hence metaverse developers are seeking for more efficient blockchains to build atop. The Aptos Network is causing quite a stir because of its TPS efficiency and scalability.

Aptos is a highly secure and scalable Layer-1 blockchain. When compared to other Layer-1 blockchains, Aptos has the greatest transaction per second (TPS) and the fastest time to finality. Aptos positions itself as the heir of Diem's legacy, a Meta-created stablecoin and is  dedicated to expanding its ecosystem by  offering incentives to developers and projects who want to build on the Aptos Network.

Over 100 projects have been established on the Aptos blockchain so far, with applications spanning from DeFi to NFT to metaverses.

Aptos Metaverse Projects

Retroverse

The Retroverse is currently being developed to become Aptos' first metaverse. The Retroverse is an immersive 3D metaverse styled as a collection museum and various universes. This museum will ultimately house all of Aptos' NFTs and artefacts. The museum will be a primary and basic planet of the Retroverse, serving as a gateway to other worlds.

The RetroBoys are a 2D NFT collection that will allow you to access the Retroverse Metaverse. The NFTs are of several varieties, each having entirely unique and randomised qualities such as boy, alien, robot, and so on. In the Retroverse,The RetroBoys NFTs will be the gateway to their holders' planet.

Aptos Land

Aptos Land also joins the quest to create Aptos' first Metaverse. Aptos Land is a utility-based initiative dedicated to provide metatools and commercial possibilities to the Aptos community.

Aptosland recently sold out of its Genesis pass, which had an initial quantity of 2,500 gold and silver passes that would function as the Aptosland ecosystem's keys.

Aptos Ant Club

Aptos Ant Club is a metaverse community of 10,000 extraordinary ants. The project's goal is to build a strong community while also giving a Web3 brand image to all holders. Owners of OG and WL will have first and exclusive complete rights to the minting process.

The Uglies

Aptos' first Ugliest NFT, reanimated by Aptoka's evil energies, is The Uglies (a planet from the metaverse where Uglies dominate). The team has created a strategy for NFT holders that includes uglies DAO, the creation of an authoritative Aptoka token, exploring the metaverse, and collaborating with other projects in order to build a larger and more powerful community and become more influential.

Afterthoughts

Aside from Metaverses, more projects are eager to build on Aptos, the most notable of which is Pontem Network, which is dedicated to developing professional products ranging from Defi to gaming on the Aptos Blockchain.

Pontem is a product studio dedicated to the development of the Aptos Ecosystem and the MOVE language. As the metaverse and other blockchain-based technologies and networks progress, it is critical to have both outstanding technology and partnerships, and Pontem Network has an experienced team in addition to an excellent community devoted to expanding the Aptos Ecosystem.

For more updates about Pontem, visit pontem.network