Facebook It is no longer Facebook: it is now Goal. The ‘surgery’ operation to which the technology company has undergone, to which the ‘makeup’ fell short after its latest scandals, draws before investors a sea of opportunities on the stock market. Now, what is that metaverse?
The answer lies, as (almost) always, in the word’s own etymological roots. In this case, metaverse refers to traveling beyond the universe itself.
That is where virtual reality comes into play, the prop around which the ecosystem presented by Mark Zuckerberg to reinvent (and reimagine) Facebook. Common denominator of multiple works of science fiction, some experts point out that this metaverse can be equal to or greater than the Internet.
All this is very good, but what about the figures that support it? According Bloomberg Intelligence, the metaverse may reach a value of 800,000 million in 2024. At the same time, the AR (Artificial Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) sectors, faithful squires of this ambitious universe, will grow at a compound annual rate of 59% in the next lustrum.
What uses will it have? From virtually ‘going’ to a concert in 3D to Infinite Office, a space promoted by Facebook itself to design your own workplace thanks to virtual reality, through video games, a digital world that will house all our avatars.
Where do I invest? The most obvious title is own Goal, which until now was Facebook, with a market capitalization of 926,000 million. Another company known to the general public is Nvidia, the chip and semiconductor manufacturer that will feed the metaverse with its processing power.
Disney is another company that plans to build a long-term “theme park metaverse”, ensuring that there will be a time when they will no longer depend on physical barriers for their enjoyment. Continuing with the architecture, we find the company Autodesk, which allows engineers and designers, among others, to create virtually all types of infrastructures.
Another very obvious alternative to invest is Amazon, the main ‘home’ of the cloud of large technology companies that, therefore, will have a lot to say in this new metaverse. Who knows if in the future we will be able to go shopping in a virtual mall that Jeff bezos put at our disposal.
In the video game sector we find several names such as Unity, which has one of the two great 3D engines in use today. Also be careful with Roblox, which as you read these lines you have already created the foundation for the metaverse within your own game.
These are just some examples of the many companies that are oriented to this new ecosystem and that can be consulted in the following image provided by the ‘Wall Street Journal’:
AND THE CHINESE METAVERSE?
The US is not the only great power with exposure to this metaverse. China may also move the trade war between the world’s two largest economies to the digital spectrum through Tencent.
The Chinese technological colossus is precisely the ‘publisher’ of Roblox in China. According to experts at Bloomberg Technology, “the company may be even better positioned than Meta to make this sci-fi concept a reality.”
In his words, Tencent’s metaverse in China may be something like this: Design your own 3D avatar in the QQ chat app and use it in streaming video calls with co-workers thanks to Tencent Meeting. After finishing the working day, our avatar would appear in a PUBG Mobile game and win a ticket for a virtual Kugou Music concert.
Since the date of the concert is bad for you, even if you don’t have to travel to the venue, you sell the ticket through WeChat in exchange for a new haircut for your avatar. All of this would involve video games, social media, e-commerce, money transactions, and streaming. And all, through apps and businesses that Tencent already has in its portfolio.
