If Facebook announces a plan to hire 10,000 people to develop its Metaverse, it means that the Metaverse is big – but also that the Web as we know it will soon be outdated. Yet, it also means that Facebook feels a little like a late entrant in the sector and it’s trying to make up for the lost time. Moreover, it also means that Facebook hasn’t found platable Metaverse companies to scoop up from the market: rather than buying something that some other people made (making them astronomously rich in the process), the company prefers to program its own thing.
We hope for Mr. Zuckerberg that he will succeed in his endeavour. Still, this new Facebook initiative bears the risk of reminding of the attempt of Google to enter socials – even forcing users to open up an account on that tragedy called “Google+“.
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But what are the largest Metaverse initiatives to date? Join us into a brief travel around the meta-world to check the state of the art – but be adivsed: there are hundreds of metaverses out there and this is just a brief and partial list, useful to get acquainted with the most common systems.
DECENTRALAND
This gaming platform comes from Argentina and was born in 2016, based on the native token “Mana” that is used to trade goods and services in the city of Genesis. You can buy land (of course secured as NFT) and the ownership of land allows the collection of even more MANA (not very different than the concept of land ownership in Argentina, one might observe…). Compared to Axie itìs way less… pokemonesque as it opts for a more stylized graphic solution. It allows to meet and chat with people and make new friends, mixing the functions of a social sphere with those of a digital marketplace.
The peculiar thing of Decentraland is that the system doesn’t run on a central server, but it is hosted on nodes all around the globe. This means that there is no single owner and that it cannot be switched off (unless, of course, the entire web collapses).
The market cap is almost 1 billion USD.
SOMNIUM SPACE
Somnium Space is defined by very sleek graphics and by the possibility to explore the metaworld 2 or 3D (with visors). It also relies on a blockchain system and appears to be the most “grown-up” metaworld of them all. It has a rich program of meta-events ranging from social meet-ups to concetrs and clubbing.
AXIE INFINITY
Axie Infinity is a gaming metaverse whose basic concept is creating virtual pets that can also be traded. The ownership of the ecosystem is shared through AXS token. It became even more popular during the lockdown and the current market cap (as by the AXS token) is above 7 billion USD.
THE SANDBOX
The Sandbox is a place where users can “Play, create, own, and govern a virtual world made by players”. As of 2021, the platform was produly announcing the entrance of Snoop Dog into the Metaverse: he was building his mansion in the Metaverse and YOU are invited to the party (given that you purchase a pass, of course). Other brands present on the sandbox are “The Wlking Dead”, “Hell’s Kitchen”, “Atari” and “DeadMau5”. It allows to create, buy and sell items, but also to make games. The Sandbox is growing rapidly and land has been sold for up to 150,000 USD. The market cap of the “SAND” token is around 650 million USD.
CRYPTOVEXELS
Cryptovexels is the smallest metaworld to date, but it is rapidly expanding on user-generated content. The system is powered by Ethereum blockchain and as usual you can buy land, stores and galleries.
It appears that the absloute fragmentation of the meta-universe poses challenges not just for users, but also for brands and personalities wishing to expand their presence in the virtual world. Possibly, some degree of order will be brought by a consolidation of the sector depending on new standards allowing interoperability of the world. There are already projects in place on this extent and here we will name only “Acknoledger“, working exactly into this direction. Whether it will work – or whether users do need a consolidation of the metaworlds – is an open question.
