The metaverse market is set to grow by leaps and bounds as per data by Brainy Insights. According to Bloomberg, the metaverse could be an $800 billion addressable market by 2024.
By 2030, the virtual reality market will burgeon to $ 678.8 billion.
How fast is metaverse growing?
The metaverse market expected to witness a CAGR of 43.2% over the forecast period, owing to increasing demand from end-use industries, which prominently include media and entertainment, education, and aerospace and defense is anticipated to propel the industry growth over the forecast period.
The metaverse is a decentralized computing platform where virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) devices are expected to accelerate the market growth. Video games have already popularized the metaverse to a certain extent with gamers building infrastructure, conducting transactions, and managing economies.
Fr example, 3D Charades seems like a normal multiplayer online game where players who are represented by their avatars roam around freely, socialize, and play games. Video games have been at the forefront of expansion of the metaverse business.
In 2021, it was estimated that the global metaverse market size stood at $38.85 billion. In 2022, the number is set to rise to $47.48 billion. As the gap between the physical and virtual fades, companies are building their own spot in the metaverse. From Facebook’s Meta Platforms Inc., to McDonald’s celebrating the Lunar New Year, brands are waking up to the potential presented by this new technology.
Facebook and Microsoft have already started capitalizing on the opportunity, as they recognize the metaverse as a place for work and play. In January 2022, Microsoft cut a nearly $70 billion deal with Activision Blizzard to develop games and software within the metaverse in the coming years. Meanwhile, despite growing skepticism about Mark Zuckerberg’s plans, Meta Inc., has splurged close to $10 billion in preparing for the future of the metaverse. Tech giant Google has also invested nearly $39.5 million in a private equity fund for all metaverse projects and CEO Sundar Pichai has hinted at the possibility of providing Google products like Maps and YouTube in a virtual landscape.
What will the metaverse be like in 2030
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says, “The metaverse is coming. Metaverse is not only a place to game. Future worlds will be photorealistic, obey the laws of physics and be inhabited by human avatars and AI beings. We will create a future in these metaverses before actually downloading the blueprints to be fab’ed in the physical world.”
Zuckerberg has previously admitted that the metaverse might not generate any revenue for the next few years but for now they are “laying the groundwork for what I expect to be a very exciting 2030.”
The metaverse will function as a parallel world where creators can interact, build and leverage opportunities to shape a virtual world to their liking.
Augmented reality is expected to propel the growth of the metaverse universe, and in 2021 it dominated the segment with the largest market share of 28% and market revenue of $10.99 billion. Tech leaders have acknowledged the power of virtual reality and have invested heavily into building technologies that support the metaverse universe.
Some have even voiced concerns that the metaverse will be so pervasive that people would prefer the AR world over going outside and engaging in one-on-on interactions.
As per Brainy Insights, the North American region emerged as the largest market for the global metaverse market, with a market share of around 34.5% and $13.54 billion of the market revenue in 2021. The study shows that the creation of the metaverse will be led by technologies like AR, VR, MR, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and artificial intelligence.
Venture capitalists and financial service companies have also taken note of the interest in the metaverse. Goldman Sachs projects that between 15% and 33% of the global spend on digital transactions will eventually switch to the metaverse. Meanwhile, Citigroup predicts that the market value of the metaverse will reach $8 trillion to $13 trillion by 2030.
Although estimates might vary based on the company, a vast majority of industry leaders are in agreement over one thing – the metaverse is the future of the Internet.
