- [Narrator] A tech industry battle
is taking shape over the metaverse.
- What is the metaverse?
- Metaverse.
- In the metaverse. - Metaverse.
- The metaverse will be the successor
to the mobile internet.
- [Narrator] A metaverse is essentially
a massive virtual world
that can be accessed in real time
by millions of people using avatars.
The concept is rooted in science fiction movies
like "Ready Player One."
- [Announcer] A whole virtual universe.
- [Narrator] But now it's playing out in the real world.
Facebook just changed its name to Meta
to better reflect its expansion into the metaverse,
and it joins companies like Roblox,
Epic Games and Microsoft,
and planning to spend billions
to be at the forefront of building out these virtual realms.
- I think we're still in the beginning stages of this.
And so a lot of what's happening
is still just competition, if you will,
between the companies
to establish themselves in the metaverse.
- [Narrator] But how exactly will the metaverse work?
And why do tech giants see it as the next evolution
of the internet?
- For the metaverse, it is a convergence
of physical and digital,
almost like your digital lifestyle catching up
to your physical lifestyle in some ways.
- [Narrator] Cathy Hackl is the chief metaverse officer
and CEO of the Future Intelligence Group,
a consulting company that provides strategic insight
for companies navigating the metaverse space.
- It is enabled by many different technologies,
like augmented reality, virtual reality,
blockchain, obviously NFTs play a big part there.
AI, 5G, cloud computing.
So it's not just about technology,
it's not just one thing.
- [Narrator] For now, most metaverse virtual spaces
will look more like the inside
of a video game than real life.
And some big tech executives envision the metaverse
as an interoperable open platform.
This means no one company
or organization will own it,
and avatars will be able to move freely
between metaverse virtual spaces.
- There's all these different platforms
and the question is sort
of how do you connect all those?
And whether it's gonna be possible
to jump from you have your avatar in Roblox,
can you somehow cross through
and get to Facebook through that?
Are the platforms gonna be connected?
- [Narrator] In some ways,
the metaverse is already here.
Immersive games like Fortnite
and gaming platforms like Roblox
include metaverse-like elements
where gamers can use avatars
to play games and attend events
or use digital currency to buy products.
- Roblox and Fortnite,
so they kind of, I guess some would say
have like authority
because they already have these huge user bases
and they have the platform developed.
They're not building something from scratch.
And so I think that's a huge advantage for them.
So they're really just I think focused
on developing these in-app experiences
or these games.
- [Narrator] For instance, Roblox recently unveiled
what will be a huge overhaul for its avatar system,
allowing players to be more life like and customizable.
- Our vision goes well beyond play.
We're imagining a place where people learn together,
where people work together.
- [Narrator] Meanwhile, Epic Games,
which owns Fortnite,
announced it raised $1 billion in funding
to support its vision for the metaverse.
- They recently made announcements
that they're gonna start to look at potentially working
with blockchain developers,
so that in itself is a big signal
of some level of openness.
- [Narrator] Facebook's name change reflects its ambition
of being a big player in the metaverse race.
- We believe the metaverse
will be the successor to the mobile internet.
We'll be able to feel present,
like we're right there with people,
no matter how far apart we actually are.
- [Narrator] The company, which already owns Oculus VR,
is spending billions on other VR company acquisitions
and hardware development.
And it plans to create 10,000 jobs
in the European Union over the next five years
to build the virtual space.
- We expect to invest many billions of dollars
for years to come before the metaverse reaches scale.
- [Narrator] The company's expansion
into the metaverse comes amid intense criticism
over revelations
in The Wall Street Journal Facebook File series,
which showed the company knows its platforms
are riddled with flaws that cause harm.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the criticism
paints a false picture of the company he co-founded.
- It would be in the best interests of the company
to kind of make sure
that they maybe distance themselves
from the Facebook app,
and some of the things that have come to light.
- [Narrator] Zuckerberg says the name change reflects
the company's goals
to move beyond social media apps.
- Building our social media apps
will always be an important focus for us.
But right now, our brand is so tightly linked
to one product
that it can't possibly represent everything
that we're doing today, let alone in the future.
- [Narrator] Other companies like Microsoft
are focusing on strategic game company acquisitions
that could give them a foothold
in the metaverse space.
The company already have a history in the gaming world.
It created the popular video game console Xbox.
- They closed like a $7.5 billion deal
on the video game company ZeniMax Media earlier this year.
And they also were previously in talks
to buy Discord.
- [Narrator] And in March,
Microsoft announced its new Microsoft Mesh platform,
which enables shared experiences on any device
through mixed reality applications.
Accelerated interest in the metaverse
was fueled in part by the pandemic.
While stuck inside, people spent more time online.
Roblox reported 42.1 million daily active users
in Q1 of 2021,
a 78% increase from the same time the previous year.
- So the pandemic really kind
of set us forward a couple years
in people understanding the convergence
of digital and physical.
And really for us to really think
about the future of the internet.
What comes next?
- [Narrator] For now, the shared ambitions
of these giant corporations
are setting the stage for a high-stakes race
to create this digital world.
- The metaverse is gonna impact every vertical
and every industry in some way.
That's gonna impact the way we socialize,
the way we work, the way we have fun.
So it is gonna touch almost every aspect of our lives.
(pensive music)