One of the biggest revelations in recent years is the idea of a virtual metaverse becoming the center of everything we do in the future. The metaverse is essentially the online world in a nutshell. In the metaverse, you can create your own avatar, purchase real estate, and conduct business as needed. In an article written by The Wall Street Journal, McKinsey & Co. predicts that the amount of money spent globally in the metaverse could reach up to $5 trillion by the year 2030. Half of that number could be represented by E-Commerce, while another 140-200 billion could be represented by advertising. For more on that article, click here. The metaverse functions as a result of Augmented and Virtual Reality, and it is a term that is very new. Although the metaverse has been making some early waves, several major players have taken the initiative to set standards that will drive the metaverse for years to come. In this article, we will be talking about Roblox, Unity, and Epic Games, and how they are already making moves to create an ideal metaverse for everyone.

Epic Games

If you take a look at recent months, it’s easy to see how Epic Games is really striving to create a better metaverse for everyone. This past April, Epic Games announced a partnership with The LEGO Group in order to set standards that will surely drive the metaverse in the future. In their announcement, Epic Games announced the following key points from their partnership: 

  • Protect children’s right to play by making safety and wellbeing a priority.
  • Safeguard children’s privacy by putting their best interests first.
  • Empower children and adults with tools that give them control over their digital experience.

There will be uncertainty in the metaverse, so putting these ideas into action will help Children understand the metaverse and help them guide their way into the metaverse as well.

Epic Games hasn’t stopped there. Earlier in June, Epic Games announced a partnership with Volvo Cars to create “photorealistic” cars inside vehicles using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. In this partnership. Epic Games and Volvo will be creating the newest “Human-Machine Interface” for the cars of the future. In short, Epic Games will be assisting in the way how humans interact with vehicles. While not directly related to the metaverse, it’s clear that Epic Games is thinking long-term outside of the gaming landscape.

Roblox

Roblox has been one of the early adopters of the metaverse and Web3.0. Founded in 2004, Roblox Corporation released the behemoth of Roblox in 2006, which has seen over 150 million people per month use its platform. The company went public back in 2021 at a $40 billion evaluation which has seen increase to about $70 billion since then,

The question is for a free-to-play platform, how does Roblox make its money? There are a couple of reasons why. The main factor is that Roblox uses a Freemium-Based Model. A freemium-based model is a model in which people can download the platform for free, and buy items or enhancements in the game to make their avatar and experience of playing Roblox. Furthermore, Roblox partners with the biggest names in entertainment. Whether it’s Marvel, Warner Bros., LEGO, or Toy’s R Us to name a few, Roblox partners with these companies in order to create exclusive content and items that are a part of their respective license agreements. Furthermore, Roblox has produced virtual live concerts with the likes of KSI singing in order to bring in new users and larger audiences.

Considering that Roblox is one of the biggest contributors to the metaverse, one of the better aspects about the platform is that it is one of the leaders of education when it comes to the digital world. In an article done by Giovani Rodriguez, he explains that Roblox offers free educational tools in order to use its platform. When you start Roblox, you are sent to a virtual classroom where you can learn the basics of using Roblox in a user-friendly way. After learning the basics of Roblox, you can access hands-on collaborative in order to enhance your experience of using Roblox. Considering that Roblox is one of the biggest virtual platforms out there, and it will become bigger and bigger, it’s great to know that Roblox has these tools for free. Roblox didn’t have these tools right when it came out nack in 2006.

And it seems like the future generation is already learning about coding. According to an article done by theinformation.com, a camp in Silicon Valley, Camp Integem is offering kids aged 5-18 can learn about the basics of coding, game design, and animation for the metaverse. From a business and job perspective, gaining these skills at a young age can help an individual learn about key skills needed to secure a job working for a company like Roblox, or help them learn about the things they like and don’t like.

Unity

In my opinion, Unity is the most unique company when it comes to talking about the key competitors in the Metaverse. Unity is the tech service focal point for companies when it comes to creating the future of the Metaverse. A perfect example of this is Unity’s recent partnership with Gala Games, a $20 million deal which sees Unity assist in developing real-life 3-D platforms for VOXVerse, Gala Games’s Metaverse Platform. Gala Games currently has over 1 million active users every month and currently has 28 games in development. It’s clear that Unity has several projects in store and is one of the key companies shaping the metaverse.

Another key factor of Unity is that it has developed its technology through its Mixed and Augmented Reality Studio (MARS). MARS is the newest platform for developers to help increase the productivity and creativity for creating content for Web3.0 and the Metaverse. Based on an article done by xrterra.com, the key finding is that MARS allows developers to save time and increase productivity. MARS can save developers on average 3-10 minutes per surface and environment they are working on. Furthermore, the biggest feature of the MARS studio is the Simulation View. The Simulation View allows for a user to create a virtual environment and test something in different settings such as a house, office, jungle etc. Having this type of platform can allow for developers and decision makers to really create the most-unique and creative content out there.

While it is certain that the metaverse will shake the future of society up, I don’t think it will make an impact for a good period of time. The concept is still very new, and people won’t become distracted with the virtual world so much that they forget they are in the real world. So while the metaverse won’t shake things up quite yet, it’s still good to understand what the future of business and life will look like.