Whose metaverse is it, anyway?

The latest essay for WARC by Oliver Feldwick, head of innovation at integrated marketing agency The&Partnership, sets out how we should think about the metaverse: an idea that has existed for decades, a set of experiences that exist right now, and a collection of several theories about how the internet will be in the near-future.

Why it matters

New technologies, behaviours and innovations are emerging, and we can learn from historic and current behaviour around metaverse-like experiences. It may offer inventive and rich ways for brands to connect with audiences. It may also teach us new ways to view experiences, and point towards an interesting evolution of media. It may also be none of these things – but still be worth being part of.

Highlights

• The key features tend to include the tech to access the metaverse, the world of the metaverse, the avatar we use within it, the events and experiences happening there, and the economy, society and governance that runs it.
• It has largely evolved as part of the broader gaming experience and community – and one of the key tests will be whether this becomes more mainstream.
• There are key questions around who owns, controls, and creates the metaverse – while the term has been co-opted by Facebook/Meta, it is a collectively defined concept and space.
• The future of the metaverse is very much in flux – and it will be interesting to see where it ends up.