I have a few early observations amidst the ever-growing Metaverse fanfare. Metaverse experiences I’m referring to are the “fully immersed in an entirely new world” very high resolution VR goggle powered experiences Zuck demonstrated during the inaugural Meta launch. .
Life Before and After the Metaverse
I believe we’ll talk about “life before the Metaverse” the way we talk about “life before the Internet”. Not anytime soon but when access to VR devices, bandwidth and content are available; similar to the proliferation of the Internet and and future Metaverse Native generations.
On the topic, there aren’t too many better ways to feel old than telling Gen A you were born BEFORE the Internet and watching the shock on their faces. Don’t even get me started on “When I was young, we didn’t have the Metaverse; we had real life experiences and had to drive or fly places”; I digress.
Metaverse Growth Tied to VR device sales.
A fully immersive VR experience requires a VR device (shocker!), and only 31 million VR and or AR devices are forecast for sale in 2022 versus 1,535 million smartphones (1,535,000,000). I cannot see Metaverse adoption sans the device providing the Metaverse experience, so device access and use are currently one of two key constraints for Metaverse adoption.
Very high speed bandwidth being the second constraint for a Metaverse experience. What kind of GB/s speed (or maybe Decabyte(?)/second?) do I need to support a fluid Metaverse experience?
Metaverse hysteria has a Second Life feel to it.
Metaverse talk takes me back to the Second Life hysteria some years back and the parallels between Second Life and Metaverse today are striking. I remember when everybody believed it would be a revolutionary new experience. It’s a shame that it didn’t permanently resonate with the public. Many wanted to set up a virtual presence on Second Life, people were afraid of missing out on the virtual real estate, companies were scrambling to set up their virtual store or training center, and the Second Life (and now Metaverse) use cases spanned consumer and business use.
I am passing on Metaverse’s real estate.
I’m all for purchasing real estate, virtual or otherwise, with a long-term investment view, but in this case, it is too far off in the future for my concern. There will be a time and (virtual) place, but it’s very early days as of April 2022.
I can’t wait for the Metaverse
I’m excited about what’s ahead. The Internet drastically changed how we live our lives, in countless foreseen and unforeseen ways, and I believe these fully immersive Metaverse experiences will eventually be even more earth-shattering.
Unfortunately, the hysteria will take a few years to meet early adoption in the most optimistic scenarios, long before the Metaverse is commercially applicable.
If everybody got free Oculus 3 glasses when buying a computer (or smartphone), a host of Metaverse experiences (Metagames, Metaapps, Meta vacations, Meta attraction to visits…) were also available; adoption would be quicker. I am happy to adjust my projections.
There are many other areas I would invest in or would recommend our portfolio companies to pursue in the meantime.
PS, subscribe for a future posts on the travel industry and the Metaverse. Exciting times ahead!
