The idea of the metaverse has been here for a while in fine virtual spaces – 2D and 3D alike. However, the concept of the metaverse has gained more attention, especially with the growth of eb3 technologies. Today, people are connecting, playing games, and building products around the metaverse.
In NEARCON2022, Baron Davis, founder of More Than Us; Yat Siu, Co-founder and Chairman of Animoca Brands; and Joe Spano, Ready Layer One spoke about the development of the metaverse.
Baron, who’s a one-time NBA star said that the project he’s working on, SDIC, is designed to create and preserve legacy by using stories to share history with people. An example is the story of NBA stars. This will be done with NFTs, music, sports, and the metaverse.
For Lui who oversees a top Crypto VC firm, the metaverse has been here all the while. Anytime we interact with any virtual world, he continued, we enter the metaverse. And since the virtual world has been part of human life for a long time, then we have been in it.
Difference between Web2 and Web3
In Web2, Lui expantiated, we had a closed metaverse where we don’t own our time. Also, brands created and collected content for us. However, in Web3, we have an open metaverse with control over time. And now, we can create and collect our content while choosing what to do with it.
Baron also shared that in Web2 brands owned and created our content, thereby dictating our stories. But in Web3, users will share their stories in a way that is more authentic for them. Thus, communities won’t be controlled by brands in Web3.
Lui and Baron also added that value will become democratized and not dictated by brands. In Web2, for example, music brands controlled and managed artists in ways that didn’t benefit the artist greatly. However, that will change with an “explosion of intelligence”, awareness of the true market value, and direct fandom connection.
Lui opined that children raised with Web3 products like PlaytoEarn games will be more financially literate than previous generations. This is because these products have inbuilt financial systems like staking, interest, yield and more.
How brands can make money in the metaverse
Lui believes that brands must first connect and belong to the metaverse community before making any proposition. He mentioned Nike and Adidas as examples. They had to go into the Sandbox metaverse as well as buy Bored Ape NFTs to be part of the community.
Brands will also be required to create niche experiences that will be focused on specific markets, Lui explained. This is where money and value will exchange hands.
For this to happen, the Chairman of Animaco brands revealed that big brands must begin to decentralize their systems. Baron added that culture will dictate how brands interact with users.
In closing, Lui believes that between 8 to 23 months, about 300 million people will be on-boarded into the metaverse.
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