The term ‘Metaverse’ was first coined by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson in 1992, three years after the invention of the internet, to describe a 3D virtual space. The rise of Metaverse amid the increasing adoption of blockchain technology has paved the way for improved interaction of the community across industries. The global metaverse market size stood at $47.69 billion in 2020 and is forecasted to reach $828.95 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 43.3%. The concept is set to transform the online gaming and entertainment industries. Let’s dive deeper to understand the impact of metaverse on the entertainment industry.
Contrary to popular belief, the utility of metaverse extends beyond gaming. However, the gaming industry remains one of the early adopters of the concept. The evolution of metaverse gaming environments has increased engagement significantly while allowing users to create and control an avatar. The growth of the Metaverse industry is powered by the emergence of AR and VR. Metaverse has brought a radical change in the world of virtual gaming. According to a report, revenue from virtual gaming worlds alone could grow to $400 billion by 2025. Several major companies globally have realized the true potential of Metaverse. “The market opportunity for bringing the Metaverse to life may be worth over $1 trillion in annual revenue and may compete with Web 2.0 companies worth $15 trillion in market value today,” Grayscale says in its report titled The Metaverse, Web 3.0 Virtual Cloud Economies. A report by Gartner predicts that 25% of the global population will spend at least one hour per day in the Metaverse by 2026.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse
As many as 9 big companies, including Google, Facebook, NVIDIA, Autodesk, and Microsoft, have jumped on the metaverse bandwagon. Facebook has renamed itself as Meta to work on Metaverse, with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg referring to the concept as the next frontier, just like social networking. While gaming remains one of the major industries benefiting from the rise of Metaverse, several other industries continue to realize the concept’s potential. These developments present a clear picture of the impact of metaverse on the entertainment industry.
Metaverse Gaming and Play-2-Earn
Gaming platforms are incorporating metaverse and augmented reality to transform the future of gaming by boosting engagement. With the emergence of Play-2-Earn gaming, the gaming industry is witnessing the utility of NFTs and metaverse within the ecosystem. Several gaming platforms witnessed a significant surge in the number of users during the pandemic. Play-2-Earn and crypto gaming platform Axie Infinity has more than 8.3 million users and is expected to achieve the milestone of 10 million users soon.
Source: https://www.telusinternational.com/articles/the-metaverse-and-the-future-of-gaming
The gaming industry has been the biggest beneficiary of the concept of Metaverse so far. Play-2-Earn gaming is transforming the online gaming industry by empowering the community. Gamers can contribute to the ecosystem and earn NFTs as rewards for their contributions. Roblox, a gaming platform operating since 2004, is creating a digitized skateboarding park, Vans World. Epic Games is another leading gaming platform that is actively investing in building the metaverse.
Metaverse in Entertainment Industry
Technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) are already changing the way people consume content. VR allows audiences to engage with online content, exhibitions, movies, concerts, museums, etc., in ways that were previously unthinkable. Metaverse is powered by technologies like AR, VR, and cryptocurrency, and the individual adoption of these technologies is bound to widen the use cases of the concept as well. The entertainment industry relies heavily on engagement and audience interaction, and the introduction of Metaverse in media and entertainment is bound to increase engagement manifolds. Entertainment companies can work on three fronts: storytelling, world-building, and audience interaction, through Metaverse.
Immersive Storytelling With Metaverse
Metaverse is giving a subtle makeover to storytelling with a highly engaging environment created with technologies like AR, VR and blockchain. Metaverse is essentially a blend of virtual and real-life applications, making things look more realistic. Erin Reilly, the founding director of the Texas Immersive Institute, identifies Metaverse as “an extension of our lives enhanced by technology.” Entertainment company Disneyland recently approved a patent for a “virtual simulator in a real-world setting.” Metaverse Animal Concerts is another entertainment company that plans to increase its exposure to South Korea’s entertainment industry by leveraging Metaverse.
Source: https://blooloop.com/museum/in-depth/immersive-storytelling-studio-national-theatre/
Unlocking Fan Creativity
The entertainment industry has been a one-way street so far, with media and entertainment companies serving content and the audiences consuming it. But Metaverse is set to transform this concept by enabling the fans/users to collaborate with media companies and contribute to the space. The impact of collaboration with users is already visible in the gaming industry with the emergence of concepts like P2E. Unlocking full creative potentials is one of the biggest takeaways as far as the impact of metaverse on the entertainment industry is concerned.
Collaboration with audiences is indeed a tricky task, but the rise of platforms like Instagram and TikTok is a testament to the impact of collaborating with users for content creation. With blockchain being the key technology fueling the rise of concepts like Metaverse, the democratization of digital creativity is the way forward. Gaming platforms like Redattack and Vulcan Forged are leading the transformation in the gaming industry by allowing community members to create their own skins, NFTs, etc., and rewarding them for their contributions through cryptocurrencies or rare NFTs. The same can be emulated in media and entertainment as well. It would be safe to say that the transformation has already started. One prime example of this is Fortnite’s exclusive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker event, where fans got a sneak peek at the movie, played with lightsabers, and danced with director J.J. Abrams’ avatar. All of this happened inside a game. Amusing much?
Fighting Piracy & Safeguarding Ownership
Piracy remains one of the biggest problems in the media and entertainment industry. A 2019 report states that global digital piracy costs the US film and TV industry at least an estimated $29.2 billion and as much as $71 billion annually. Add 560,000 job losses to the number, and the impact is drastic, to say the least. With blockchain at the core of global platforms adopting metaverse, film and TV companies can improve the efficiency of IP ownership by leveraging the aforementioned technologies. Metaverse also has the potential to bring transparency to the revenue model within the media industry. FilmChain is an Ethereum-based platform that collects, allocates, and analyzes revenues in film, TV, and other digital media. The platform is boosting transparency in the distribution process by eliminating the need for middlemen, thereby reducing the chances of piracy as well.
Source: https://www.publish0x.com/an-alleged-case-in-the-digital-metaverse/how-can-blockchain-fight-piracy-xvyonyj
What lies ahead?
There’s still sometime before the utility of Metaverse in the media and entertainment industry expands beyond 3D spectacles inside the theatres of VR headsets. Since the concept is still evolving on the basis of outcomes, the next few years could be categorized as the experimental phase. Virtual events are the future, and we are talking about one step beyond the concept of features lie Instagram live or Zoom meetings. Metaverse could shape the future of entertainment as well as networking through hybrid events. The emergence of platforms like Pathos Metaverse, the first browser-based 3D events platform, is just the beginning of a paradigm shift in the field of entertainment and networking.
Soon we will see big conferences and meeting happening virtually with participants sitting in various parts of the globe, interacting in a real-world-like setup. Thanks to 3D virtual spaces and technologies like AR and VR, we could soon witness the metaverse redefining the definition of engagement and interaction.