Diving into the metaverse

The metaverse is currently a hot topic. In July 2021, Mark Zuckerberg declared the future of Facebook to be the metaverse, but this as a concept is not new – author Neal Stephenson first coined the term in his 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash. According to Cathy Hackl, self-proclaimed godmother of the metaverse: “The term will not be defined by one single person or company, it will be defined by many, and it will evolve.”

WGSN has been tracking the concept of the metaverse since 2019, when we published Future Innovations 2022. Tune into this podcast episode to hear our experts discuss the signs that brands and consumers are moving towards this immersive phygital world. We explain how brands can enter it, look at the parties transforming it and the vast potential it holds for the future. Welcome to the metaverse.

NFT marketplaces on the rise

“We’re closely tracking the rise of metacommerce, or decentralised marketplaces, immersive shopping environments and new digital credit cards. While many luxury brands have really started experimenting with NFTs recently, we’re starting to see the rise of dedicated luxury NFT marketplaces.”
– Cassandra Napoli, Senior Strategist, WGSN Insight

Widespread adoption of hardware

“The hardware is really the key medium that will truly drive adoption and popularity. This hardware comes in the form of extended reality headsets, but they’re getting smaller, thinner, lighter and there’s been loads of interesting iterations of eyewear. It’s actually been projected that nearly 75% of the global population will be frequent AR users by 2025.”
– Caitlin Monahan, Strategist, WGSN Consumer Tech

Cross-platform innovations

“Every major games company will be trying to get you to purchase items that you can use within their worlds, but obviously within larger decentralised worlds like Decentraland, there’s a standardised format where you can take assets between different programmes and applications. RTFKT put out a sneaker you can use in Decentraland, but you can also import it into a Snapchat filter and put it on your feet.”
– Kraggy, Prints & Graphics Strategist, WGSN Fashion

To hear the full discussion tune into Episode 34 of our Create Tomorrow podcast, Into the Metaverse on Anchor, Apple and Spotify.