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The Corporate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Metaverse
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The Corporate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Metaverse

Jean-François Bobier, Tibor Mérey, Stephen Robnett, Michael Grebe, Jimmy Feng, Benjamin Rehberg, Kristi Woolsey and Joël Hazan
Boston Consulting Group, 2022
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8

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The term metaverse was first coined in 1992, and there was a lot of hype around the concept in the mid-2000s, but not much came of it. Now commentators think the metaverse concept is finally coming to fruition. In cyber years, it’s been an eternity, but the technology – immersive hardware, like affordable headsets and advances in blockchain – has finally matured enough to usher in Web3. In this Boston Consulting Group special report, you can get a read on what’s coming across the horizon, so your company can get familiar with the new terrain and remain relevant far into the future.

Summary

Overhyped or underestimated? Big names in tech are making big investments in the metaverse.

There’s a lot of hype around the metaverse, but for the most part, the metaverse is just a deeper evolution of the internet. As Wired’s Eric Ravenscraft has said, 90% of the time, when you substitute the word “cyberspace” for “metaverse,” the meaning of your sentence doesn’t change. Then why the hype? Between blockchain technology and XR (extended reality) equipment, buying, selling, work and socializing will all be woven into one life experience, and it will be hard to pick out where physical reality ends and the cyber world begins. 

If that doesn’t sound terribly exciting, consider the money that big tech companies are investing. Over the next year, Meta Platforms (formerly known as Facebook) will be putting $10 billion into its Reality Labs. In 2021, various venture capital funds invested around $25 billion into crypto ventures, and Microsoft will be plunging $70 billion into gaming company Activision Blizzard. Investment...

About the Authors

Jean-François Bobier, Tibor Mérey, Stephen Robnett, Michael Grebe, Jimmy Feng, Benjamin Rehberg, Kristi Woolsey and Joël Hazan are professionals with the Boston Consulting Group.

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