Facebook's goal is actually to make Meta a virtual space where people can interact, play, work and get to know each other.
However, Meta is not the only first step toward the metaverse. What other companies are moving in this direction?
First of all, Microsoft. Even Redmond's Big Tech has decided to invest in the metaverse, starting with Microsoft's own Teams platform, which supported many organizations during the pandemic in implementing remote or hybrid work and is still one of the most widely used collaboration platforms.
It was announced at Ignite, Microsoft's annual conference dedicated to IT professionals, held in early November, that as early as mid-2022, on Teams, you will be able to participate in online meetings through avatars, to which users will give the characteristics they want: rather than virtual reality, in this case it seems we are simply talking about the creation of an avatar, like the Memoji of Wii.
All this transformation will be supported by MESH, the interactive platform for virtual reality that will be used and that almost certainly will be supported, at least for Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality, by visors similar to Apple's Oculus.
Another product that will be optimized for the metaverse, and which was itself announced at the Ignite conference, is Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces, a project regarding the management of people's movements in spaces, health and safety in hybrid work environments. In addition to this, Microsoft is also expected to implement innovations for gaming, both for its XBOX product and for some games such as Flight Simulator and Minecraft.
Second but not least, Nike: the company has in fact announced, shortly after Facebook's rebranding into Meta, that it intends to enter the metaverse. How? By creating its own virtual space Nikeland through Roblox, an online gaming platform with a base of about 43 million daily active users, specialized in the creation of experiences, such as amusement park construction simulators up to games like Call of Duty.
Nikeland lands on this platform allowing users to:
It's not just in the US, however, that metaverse is being talked about a plenty. Also, in China some big Tech, Social and e-Commerce giants are moving the first steps towards this new reality. Precisely, Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company, launched for the so-called "Singles' Day" on November 11, the Metaverse Art Exhibition.
Users were guided by Ayayi, Alibaba's first virtual employee, NFT (non-fungible tokens) artist and fashion brand manager.
Inside the "Metaverse Art Exhibition," users could view and explore NFT artworks sponsored by brands such as Burberry, Coach and Longines.
Tencent Music, a Chinese music entertainment platform, also announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with VR performance service provider Wave.