Gaming experts are divided on whether or not the “Metaverse” is dead

The future of gaming

At the Future of Gaming conference this month, the metaverse was variously declared “dead in the water”, while others insisted it was “crazy” to dismiss the term as mere hype.

“I think she died in the water, it’s safe to say.”

The term “metaverse” was used throughout the Future of Gaming conference this month as something of a pejorative. Delegates pointed to it as representative of the media’s gullibility in chasing whatever shiny new toy is popular at the moment.

To kick off this year’s event, gaming journalist Shay Thompson said That media leader The metaverse “wasn’t my thing initially” and he suggested that the hype for the project was not driven by demand from players, but from suppliers hoping to develop the next big thing.

“It’s really frustrating because you have things like A second life [already] Existing. That was the “transformation.” “So to present it as something completely new and revolutionary was surprising to me,” Thompson said. “Any application of it has never felt like something I should invest my time in.”

Gaming journalist Shay Thompson with Media leaderJack Benjamin in the future of gaming.

I have recognized games like fortnite And Roblox, which today are often referred to by media professionals as the “metaverse”, although viewed by consumers as just standard games with large communities, have existed in other forms for years. “Having to put them in these little boxes was a compromise,” Thompson said.

She added that virtual reality headsets cause her to feel nauseous after only half an hour of using them, and that the technology will not be launched until the user experience is corrected to avoid feelings of nausea and dizziness.

‘The numbers speak for themselves’

Later in the conference, a panel of gaming experts was divided on whether Thompson’s opinion on the demise of the metaverse was accurate.

“I think it’s crazy to say the Metaverse is dead,” responded Laura Ballesteros, head of agency sales strategy at gaming ad tech company Venatus. You’ve showcased what the “Metaverse platformers” like. Roblox And fortnite It is hugely popular and widely profitable, with in-game cosmetic purchases available Epic Games’ total revenue is $5.8 billion in 2021more than the likes of Ralph Lauren or Prada make real clothes.

“This presents huge opportunities for brands. Whoever says that metafire is dead, I think it is quite the opposite. “The numbers speak for themselves.”

Cecilia Dunes, an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia Business School who studies marketing opportunities in new technologies, also expressed optimism about the shift, but warned of confusion with the premium Web 3.0 experience that the likes of Mark Zuckerberg are trying to promote. Its Quest virtual reality headset and the “most ubiquitous” Web 2.0 experience with Roblox And fortnite.

She advised that although the former is the “next fringe area” of technological development, brands should be testing and learning in a more mature Web 2.0 gaming environment to be prepared when AR becomes more prevalent among consumers.

“We have a problem with the M word.”

Phil Rowley, Head of Futures at Omnicom Media Group and Media leader The columnist agreed that the shift is not well defined between Zuckerberg’s vision of Web 3.0 and the reality of Web 2.0 gaming experiences that are more common today.

“I think we have a problem with the M word. We have to either rename it or reword it,” he added. “It’s like confusing a leaf with a branch, a branch with a tree, and a tree with a forest.”

He discussed those decades of science fiction titles such as You see, The Matrix, Lawnmower Man And One ready player It has given existing technology developers and marketers an unrealistic view of the current capability of the metaverse. “We assumed that was the way things were going, but the reality is that the particular iteration may not have been as successful as people had hoped. […] It’s a bit like 3D cinema: everyone thinks it’s back, it’s here now, and then it disappears because it doesn’t work for whatever reason.

He added that there is “a bit of a risk” for marketers who confuse the metaverse with gaming more broadly, and feel very self-conscious about pitching games when they hear from the likes of Thompson that the metaverse is dead. He warned that if marketers “throw the baby out with the bathwater”, they will miss the three billion people globally who are only playing “on the basis that Zuckerberg’s project in particular was difficult to achieve”.

The other media agency representative on the panel, Wavemaker Play President Amy Meikle, agreed with Rowley, going so far as to imply that the negative association of the term “the metaverse” has actually hurt investment in games.

Not only has the definition of the metaverse proven elusive for marketers (“Google uses it one way, Meta uses it another way, Epic Games uses it another way; it’s too broad.”), but the downsides of the metaverse have rarely been discussed until now. Shifting, i.e. how unsafe the environment is for brands and users, has taken a toll on gaming budgets in general. Mickley cited the Channel 4 documentary Inside the Metaverse Are you safe?which she said “put off a lot of brands” about gaming in general.

For Mikkel, regardless of whether the Metafire is dead or not, she currently “wants to bury that word.”