In 1992, Neal Stephenson published a science fiction novel that described a virtual world called Metaverse. This may be the first time the word Metaverse appeared. After that, people began to use Metaverse to refer to the digital world, virtual reality, immersive Internet and other "beyond reality" worlds.
In recent years, with the continuous development of technology, VR/AR, blockchain, 5G, AI... people's acceptance of the virtual world is getting higher and higher. Major platforms have played the metaverse card. Some Facebook brands have been renamed Meta. Microsoft announced that it will build the chat and conference application Microsoft Teams into the metaverse. The Xbox gaming platform will also join the metaverse in the future. NVIDIA launched the Omniverse platform... We are witnessing a new world gradually walking into our lives from the novelist's conception.
Any business model will inevitably encounter various bottlenecks and challenges in the process from concept to large-scale commercialization. AC Capital specially invited the front-line builders of the Metaverse project to discuss how the Metaverse project will be implemented and its future development form from the builders' perspective, and explore the opportunities and challenges of the Metaverse track.
Guests included:
Xuan Rui 丨 Investment Manager @AC Capital
Austin ｜ Co-founder@Matterverse
Niya｜China Ambassador @Lifeform
Jeff | CEO & Founder of Spike @Oasis
Q1: Meta's Instagram will have built-in NFT functions, and Arweave, Matic and others have risen in value. What do you think will be the combination of Web2 giants and Web3 in the future? Is it worth looking forward to? Or will Web3 applications naturally grow into a completely different ecosystem?
@Jeff: In a short period of time, Web2 giants with more than 100 million DAU like Facebook, Tiktok, and Twitter are actually difficult to replace. They will access Web3 interfaces such as Arweave, Lens Protocol, Mask, Chainlink, IPFS, etc. more quickly, and then better integrate into Web3. I think this is a trend.
At the same time, I also think that the opportunity for Web3 native platforms should be in the native environment where the means of production and production links are all on the chain. For example, Uniswap interacts on the chain, and NFTs like BAYC are directly generated on the chain. This kind of chain-native product may become a unique opportunity for Web3 and will be staggered with Web2.
@Austin: I think we should not oppose Web2 and Web3. The two should be organically combined in a macro sense, just like Web1 and Web2. Email is a very Web1 thing, but now most European and American apps are logged in with Gmail and other email accounts.
In addition, Web3 has many things that only Web3 can do. They will create many new experiences in the future, such as the metaverse. You play the game of project A on a universal metaverse platform, get tokens and NFTs, and can seamlessly bring them to store B to buy new things and services with token A. This is something that Web2 cannot do.
@Niya: I think the entry of Web2 giants into Web3 is indeed a positive development for the industry. Moreover, Web2 users are still full of yearning and expectations for Web3. Most people just lack a low-threshold entry point and do not fully understand the crypto industry. I am looking forward to some creative ideas from Web2 being integrated into the Web3 world, making Web3 products more diversified and practical.
The Web3 ecosystem will evolve around the main principle of respecting user data ownership, and will derive more products and ecosystems that put users in a dominant position. Web3 is expected to become the plus version of the super 10,000-dimensional world, because it puts user needs above the most dominant technology giants, and users will truly have more control over their data.
Q2: The concept of the Metaverse has been popular for a long time, but many ordinary users have a weak perception of it. In what areas do you think the Metaverse will have the most direct and influential connection points in the lives of ordinary people?
@Jeff: I think the fastest connection will be composed of two parts. The first is that users can intuitively feel the private property rights. For example, in the brave browser, all advertising fees are settled directly to users. In other words, users will receive advertising fees from advertisers when they watch advertisements online every day, and the platform no longer collects money, so the user experience is magical.
The second is online virtual activities, such as the office work done by GatherTown, and the online party and watching football games done by Oasis in the past, which completely move the behaviors in the past life online. They are presented with a better experience, and in fact, this experience will make users feel more intuitive, so I think the whole property rights and virtual event experience will give users the most direct sense of connection.
@Austin: I think the core lies in two directions: 1. Games, 2. Social e-commerce, because these two tracks are already very mature and have a complete value generation mechanism. People will consume for games/socializing and shopping. Only when consumption becomes the mainstream will the metaverse truly break the circle.
@Niya: I think the most intuitive aspect is actually reflected in games. Based on the characteristics of the metaverse itself, VR and AR, which are popular among users, are naturally compatible with games. This is also the point that the general public can most easily access and generate stickiness. However, the playability of most of these games still needs to be improved. More users in the crypto industry focus on the To earn level, and the playability of the game is more one-sidedly judged by the income from gold farming to determine whether it is worth playing.
So I am looking forward to the existence of a game that can take care of the user experience and achieve to earn from web2 to web3. Metaverse games similar to web2 King of Glory will definitely be the detonation point of the industry and will also attract more web2 users to web3.
Q3: As an entrepreneur or practitioner, what do you think is the best entry point for the future development of the cosmic track? Can you elaborate on it based on the entry point of previous projects?
@Jeff: I think it is best to choose something related to your own interests, because new practitioners and new entrepreneurs do not have the resources and experience in this new track, whether it is entertainment, social networking, games, content industry, transactions, etc. If you can choose a direction that you are really interested in, the interest point is the edge, and it also promotes trust and maintains curiosity in the long run, and it can be the motivation for continuous exploration. So I think this is a small suggestion for newcomers to participate in this industry.
@Austin:: For people with a technical background, AIGC and other AI algorithms to accelerate the creation speed of Metaverse content, the creation accuracy and reduce the difficulty of content distribution will be a 100 billion market in the future. For others, I think everyone can learn 3D content production and 3D native IP development, because 3D assets can not only be used in the Metaverse/games, but also allow you to make videos and greatly reduce the marginal cost of picture content.
@Niya: First of all, from the perspective of a practitioner, the entire Metaverse market has gone from being a bubble at the beginning to being gradually de-bubbled, and concrete and practical applications have gradually appeared, which is a good signal for both the market and users. For the Metaverse track, I believe that the essence of the Metaverse project from concept to implementation must be the product itself. It is based on creating a product that can really be implemented and has a low threshold for users to use.
Q4: Looking ahead to the next 1-2 years, which metaverse sub-sector do you think will be the first to explode?
@Jeff: I personally think that entertainment and games have opportunities because they are very close to users. At the same time, I think AIGC is a better, faster, and smarter way to explain content, which will satisfy users' current demands for rich content. This is also very clear, because now, for example, on TikTok and other content platforms, users today are pursuing more personalized content that is more in line with their interests and hobbies.
@Niya: The opinions in the market are mainly about virtual communities at the VR level, metaverse ecological land, and metaverse infrastructure. I personally think that the DID and virtual human tracks will usher in an explosion. Projects like Lifeform that can produce landing products are fully capable of leading the development of the industry, or achieving real landing breakthroughs.
For the Metaverse, we are facing more challenges than new technologies, but an understanding and inspiration of new civilizations. Imagine that in the Metaverse, for the sub-track of virtual humans, will there be a film creation team starring virtual humans based on 3D virtual humans in the future? Or will there be the emergence of virtual human internet celebrity companies and virtual human social software platforms?
Q5: We know that the Metaverse still has many unresolved pain points. Sandbox and Decentraland are somewhat closed and cannot truly achieve interoperability. This type of problem also troubles many Web3 users. How does @Lifeform's cross-ecological solution solve this industry problem?
@Niya: There are indeed some closed problems in the industry and ecological development. For example, users of Decentraland cannot bring their same identities to Sandbox, which has caused the closedness of the current metaverse and the inability to achieve interoperability. However, these problems are actually the inspiration for the products created by the Lifeform team. Visual DID is the solution entrance of Lifeform. Lifeform also focuses on hyper-realistic 3D Avatar, which can truly serve as login credentials for all Web3 applications.
The Avatar created by users using Lifeform's products is an NFT that can be connected to your Web3 wallet and provide login credentials for any application across Web3. This means that your experience and status in the metaverse or Web3 ecosystem can be used anywhere you need it.
Moreover, each Lifeform Avater image can be used as a user's login logo across ecosystems, allowing users to quickly enter new metaverse worlds and game network applications while also having the same visual image, status, data, and assets.
Q6: @Oasis has more than 25 million registered users overseas in just half a year, while some products are struggling to grow their users. Can you share your experience with Oasis products and growth?
@Jeff: First of all, I think today's Metaverse products should not set too many thresholds, because Metaverse products require a large user base to build a real social network and user interaction behavior. Therefore, in the early days of @Oasis, users did not need to have a wallet or purchase NFTs.
The second thing to pay attention to is the retention and duration of the product itself. At that time, @Oasis's retention was two or three times the industry average, and each user played for about 100 minutes a day. If retention and duration are not done well, you can see that many metaverse products may have millions of users at the beginning, but only a few hundred users are left after a month. This problem is very common in the Web3 field, so we still have to pay attention to the core indicators of this product - retention and duration.
Finally, we still believe that a product should achieve a single breakthrough in a certain region or community. At that time, @Oasis performed very well in Brazil and ranked first in the overall ranking. It is because of the breakthrough in a single region that users can form a more active and high-frequency interaction.
Q7: @Matterverse’s recent Beta version has already gained 10 business partners. What are your latest product developments?
@Austin: Matterverse is doing two things recently. One is that we are updating our open world movement mode so that everyone can imagine climbing walls and running on rooftops like in Assassin's Creed. This is also compatible with our previous editor, so everyone can create various different worlds to play the game.
At the same time, we are also working on an ancient Chinese world, "Assassin's Creed - China", and we are also expanding our AIGC compatibility capabilities, which can organically allow external AIGC algorithms to be connected and allow AI to participate in the construction of the Matterverse world. Secondly, in China, we are also working on some customized e-commerce and cultural tourism applications, which should be launched in the near future.
