Event Recap: Now Presenting the Metaverse

The term “metaverse” has been around for years, but what’s the state of it today—and where is it going next? Jillian Goodman, opinion editor of The Information, sat down for a virtual discussion with Kevan Yalowitz, software and platform global industries lead at Accenture, Vince Cacace, founder and CEO of Vertebrae, a Snap company, and Sosti Ropaitis, an executive vice president at MediaLink, to discuss how the metaverse is evolving.]

What is the metaverse?

Goodman started off the discussion with a bit of level setting, asking each of the panelists to define what the metaverse means to them. Keven Yalowitz of Accenture expressed his point of view: “We have to have some willingness to let our definition of the metaverse evolve, particularly given the state of the market as it exists today, which is fast-moving and likely to play out in a way that’s different than how we see it today.”

Vince Cacace of Vertebrae built on that idea, saying, “The metaverse is a new way to experience the world, hopefully in a more frictionless, natural way. For the purposes of this discussion, I’m defining the metaverse as AR and VR and the blockchain applications behind it.”

Has the metaverse lived up to the hype?

A lot of consumer expectations have been placed on the metaverse. But have those expectations been fulfilled? Goodman made a good point: “The metaverse has become a loaded term. There was a sense that it was overhyped. Is it here? When will it get here?”

Yalowitz of Accenture believes the hype has set up some unrealistic expectations. “I do think we’ve maybe gotten ahead of ourselves in terms of the hype. There needs to be an understanding that the metaverse is very much a continuum. Probably for the first time ever, we’re watching disruptive technology evolve in front of us, and we’re eager to get to where this is leading us.”

The case for portability across platforms

The metaverse isn’t just one place. It’s a connection between different worlds within the larger one and includes more than one platform. Sosti Ropaitis of MediaLink said, “My thoughts on the opportunities in the metaverse are centered on interoperability. Right now you have a lot of experiences that are disconnected. The user experience, user behavior and expression will become interoperable across platforms. At some point, users and marketers will be able to look at an environment that has portable elements. This is an exciting opportunity for all of us.”

What do consumers really want from the metaverse?

To make the metaverse truly marketable, it has to respond to the audience’s needs. Yalowitz brought up what he’s seen from recent Accenture studies. “More than half the participants want to spend time in the metaverse within the next year. And there are use cases that consumers are pointing to—unprompted—that they want to do in a more immersive way, like media and retail. People also want to explore healthcare and travel. I think that we’re going to see a diversity of use cases even at the beginning.”

The next problem to tackle: privacy

Privacy and safety standards simply don’t exist yet in the metaverse. As Ropaitis said, “This is not a time to be anonymous,” citing money laundering and cybercrime. “While there needs to be some sort of identifier, we also need to respect privacy within the same constraints that we have in advertising today. That hasn’t been figured out yet because there’s no such thing as cookies in this world, or other mechanisms that exist on the internet now. We need to design a system that preserves the rights and identity of the user in a way that makes sense.”

Businesses need to take the reins now

The opportunities of the metaverse are abundant. But it’s incumbent upon businesses to invest in those opportunities today. As Yalowitz said, “We are not in a time where it’s OK to sit back and let this evolve around you. Now is the time to be making foundational bets that give you options in the metaverse.”

The reality is that the metaverse is already here in the form of augmented reality and virtual reality—and the opportunities for both consumers and companies are almost endless. But if businesses hope to capitalize on the likely future of the virtual world, the panelists agreed: The time to set that groundwork is now