Metaverse can be described as “hot fried chicken” in the science and technology industry in 2022, which has led many technology giants to compete. According to a recent report on Forbes Biweekly website, the global metaverse market size is expected to reach 5 trillion US dollars in 2030. 2023 may be the key year to determine its development direction, and lists 4 major development trends in the metaverse field next year.

Fierce Rivals Race to Control the Highland

Just as search engines and social media are the technical drivers behind Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 respectively, marketing and advertising will become the driving force to promote the entry into public life of Metaverse (Web 3.0).

Although this concept has not been fully recognized, all have begun to establish their own metaverse from international financial giants to global fashion giants. The attraction of this model is obvious: Metaverse focuses on customer experience and one-to-one contact, which is another communication channel.

Most importantly, social media and search engines have been basically controlled by companies like Google and Meta. However, the metaverse is still a field in which the rivals compete and the winner is unknown.

In 2023, enterprises will go all out to seize the virtual highland - whether by building their own platform or occupying the existing platform. For example, Meta has created its own virtual reality social platform Horizon to let people create their own virtual avatars in the virtual world. Fortnite has developed from a popular multiplayer game to an online space for people to socialize and for big-name musicians to hold virtual concerts. The virtual reality platform Decentraland, as a completely decentralized and user-owned virtual world on the blockchain, will have a large number of activities every day, including art exhibitions, music festivals, game competitions, and enterprise press conferences. Last year, more than 80 American stars held a concert in Decentraland with virtual images.

No one knows exactly what the winning strategy is, but one thing is certain - you must participate in it.

Metaverse Collaborates with Digital Twins

Forbes Biweekly website pointed out that in 2023, people can expect metaverse and digital twins (virtual simulation of products, processes or operations in the real world) to merge with each other: from wind power plants to F1 racing cars, designers are re-creating physical objects in the virtual world and conducting pressure tests on their efficiency.

Another use of Metaverse technology in the corporate world is for staff training and other tasks. For example, the consulting giant Accenture has created a metaverse environment called “Layer N”, which has the main characteristics of a real office and allows employees to perform many tasks related to human resources in the virtual world.

Metaverse collaborative working environment, such as BMW’s augmented reality laboratory, which is used to design new products and produce models, will also become more and more popular, because the team can still keep in touch with colleagues while researching new remote working methods.

In fact, as early as 2021, Mark Zuckerberg, the head of the Metaverse Platform Company, proposed the infinite office project, which is a space that uses the Metaverse to further share the work of remote office. Each employee has his or her own avatar and can enter the virtual office from every corner of the world and interact with the avatar of colleagues. This is more in line with the physical world experience than the simple remote office.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Are Booming

The core of metaverse is to provide immersive experience. Therefore, many ideas people interact with involve immersive technology, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality and extended reality.

The giants have also made great efforts in this direction, and there will be a lot of new developments in this field in 2023. For example, the metaverse platform company will launch a new version of its popular Quest virtual reality helmet in 2023. Apple, Google and Microsoft will also release new VR/AR/MR helmets.

In addition, the field of whole-body tactile suit will also usher in a new era. The ultimate goal of virtual reality scenarios is to provide people with a real virtual world, so there must be five senses involved. With the continuous upgrading of visual and auditory technologies, the public’s demand for immersion in digital olfaction has naturally increased. At present, many startups are experimenting with technologies that can introduce smell into people’s virtual experience.

For example, the American technology company OVR Technology has developed a method to integrate smell into virtual reality. The company has developed a product the size of a candy box, which is installed on a virtual helmet. When users wear the helmet, they will enter a virtual world. A box full of roses will appear in front of them, and users can smell the real flowers. The company hopes to create a more immersive metaverse through the smell dimension.

More Advanced Avatar Technologies Are Thriving

To realize ideas about the metaverse, it involves people’s avatar in the digital world - the image of users in the virtual world when interacting with other users. This avatar may look like us, or like cartoon characters, or like some wonderful things that can never exist in the real world.

The metaverse platform company has recently developed almost photo level technology to make users look almost the same in the virtual world as in the real world. However, technologies such as Ready Player Me and Zepeto allow people to create avatars and put them into many different virtual worlds and environments, rather than limited to specific platforms.

In 2023, we will see the emergence and improvement of more relevant advanced technologies, such as motion capture technology, which can enable our avatars to use their own unique gestures and body language. Now, a paper published in September said that the metaverse platform company has proposed a solution to achieve whole-body motion capture only through Quest virtual reality glasses, which is mainly driven by the predictive ability of AI.