The pandemic-led virtualisation of life has sparked greater interest in the metaverse as many now know virtual reality is more than just video games. How can businesses get in?
Group Research – Equities6 Jul 2022
- The digital lives of people could become more important than their physical ones
- Some users may eventually earn, spend, and invest most of their money in digital worlds
- We see the formation of a “multiverse” of metaverses instead of a single homogenous metaverse
- Interoperability is crucial to connect multiple metaverses and the real world
- This will require partnerships between companies operating in the virtual and physical realms
The metaverse is an alternate digital reality that gives humans a chance to break free from the constraints of the physical world and experience what is otherwise impractical or impossible. We define the metaverse as one where humanity is living, playing, and working in a digital reality and that digital reality is interacting with the physical.
While a lot has been published about the metaverse, we think it could be bigger than what most people imagine. Actualising the metaverse would blur the boundary between the physical and online worlds. We believe it may be influential enough that, at some point, the digital lives of people could become more important than their physical ones. Some users – especially younger ones – may eventually earn, spend, and invest most of their money in digital worlds.
Who might win in the metaverse? The premise of the metaverse is an experiential offering engaging a wide band of human senses. Yet those senses need to be engaged in a way that sparks imagination. Successful metaverses will be those with superior, immersive, and engaging content. We expect content owners and providers to decide the technology infrastructure, and not the other way around. Persistent and immersive content experience will be a big change from the way content is being consumed today.
No man is an island, and the same can be said of metaverses. We hope to see multiple metaverses built by decentralised players and those built by traditional players. Hence, we see a “multiverse” of metaverses, instead of a single homogenous metaverse. Interoperability is crucial to connect multiple metaverses, the same way it happens in the real world where we move from one place to another.
Financial players as partners for value-transfer across metaverses. There is no doubt that users would like to travel between metaverses and physical worlds while bringing their accumulated digital assets with them. Currency earned in the metaverse would also require a bridge, in the event a user chooses to convert it to fiat currency. Financial service providers are well positioned to facilitate this seamless interoperability, in partnership with metaverse players. A seamless movement through the metaverses and the real world will require partnerships between companies operating in the virtual and physical realms, and DBS welcomes engagement from the community. For more key findings, read our full report.