New virtual economy: what does the rise of The Metaverse mean?

Huge amounts of money are being poured into the metaverse, an alternative world where you can work, play and meet people without ever leaving your home. But, will the rise of this vast virtual space blur the lines of reality and redefine the way we consume and communicate forever?

The Metaverse - right now, it’s all anyone can talk about, whether it’s online or offline. It may seem like a recent buzzword, but the idea has actually been around since 1992, first appearing in a sci-fi novel. It’s hard to define exactly what the metaverse means, as the technology behind it is evolving to include many aspects of virtual reality. Put simply, it’s an all-encompassing digital world that exists in parallel to the real world. 

The company Somnium Space was one of the earliest open source metaverse platforms on the market. The Exchange spoke to its founder and CEO Artur Sychov to find out more about what it's like to live, work and play in this alternate environment. 

"When you are in virtual reality like I am right now, I'm fully connected to the environment. I am here mentally and let's say physical mentally, right? Because my brain, my eyes, everything I see, I believe that I'm inside the space," said Sychov. 

Growing metaverse economy

Somnium Space may have been one of the pioneer metaverse platforms, but it’s seen many rivals joining the race in recent times.

Facebook recently rebranded itself into Meta, showing its commitment to making the metaverse a big part of its business strategy. But the likes of Microsoft, Alphabet, Roblox and NVIDIA have also invested heavily into VR.

The metaverse economy offers the potential of a wide range of revenue streams, with some estimates predicting it could become an $800 billion-dollar market