For better or worse, metaverse became a buzzword in 2022. It got a shoutout in the Super Bowl, received billions of dollars in investments and was selected as Oxford University Press’ runner-up word of the year.
A lot has been said about why this doesn’t tell the full story. The metaverse is still mostly a concept, and early efforts to build it out have been ceaselessly lampooned by the media, critics and armchair tech experts claiming the whole space is vaporware. There’s truth to their grievances, especially given builders don’t currently have a lot to show for their efforts.
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Look closer, however, and you’ll find victories. In 2022, these victories were small in comparison to headline-worthy losses, but they are valuable nonetheless. From the birth of the virtual real estate market to the major strides toward building interoperability, here are eight milestones achieved by the metaverse this year.
Metaverse in the mainstream
While investments poured into metaverse companies and projects, in the background something strange was happening. People—normal people—were becoming familiar with the metaverse concept. In any technology’s development, the impact of culture cannot be understated, and the metaverse in 2022 pierced culture at breakneck speed.
This year’s MTV Video Music Awards featured a new category honoring the “best metaverse performance,” featuring nominees who performed in Roblox and Fortnite; Stephen Colbert aired a segment on Miller Lite’s bar in Decentraland; even chart-topping rapper Jack Harlow shouted out the metaverse in a song featuring Drake.
Perhaps there was no better illustration of the metaverse’s mainstream rise than its placing as runner-up in Oxford University Press’ “Word of the Year” contest. Of course, culture’s embrace of the metaverse was mostly filled with confusion and often criticism (hello, Colbert). But it’s fair to say that for a technology that is complicated, novel and years away from fruition, the fact that anyone in the mainstream is paying attention is a valuable thing.
Equity in the metaverse
The metaverse has major ambitions, but one that is particularly notable—and if successful, might convert even the staunchest of critics—is creating a space far more equitable than the current state of the internet. The ways in which social media discriminates against marginalized communities are well documented, and to an extent, every user is exploited for the data they bring to the table.
But metaverse proponents claim the virtual ecosystem can be built with equity from the start, and this year we saw a hint of what that might look like. Virtual platform The Sandbox hosted a weeklong festival focused on LGBTQ+ communities, Degree held a marathon in Decentraland that was accessible for disabled people and the Down Syndrome community saw the development of its first virtual influencer, Kami.
There were countless other efforts that companies and builders made to highlight the metaverse’s potential as an inclusive space. That said, inclusivity is far from a guarantee. If the virtual world is truly going to be a more equitable ecosystem, these activations will have to continue through 2023.
Strides toward interoperability
Interoperability, or the capacity to move freely with owned assets across platforms, is often touted as a principle of the open metaverse. But can those building the ecosystem really be trusted to champion the concept? The answer in 2022, surprisingly, was yes.
Spearheaded by Web3 gaming giant Animoca Brands, a group of blockchain-based companies formed the “Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3” (OMA3) and will collaborate to build infrastructure for the ideal vision of the metaverse. Partners include metaverse heavyweights The Sandbox (which is owned by Animoca), Decentraland, Dapper Labs and Cryptovoxels, among others.
Even Web2 giants showed a commitment to interoperability by forming a coalition of their own. Microsoft, Meta, Epic Games, Sony and others created “The Metaverse Standards Forum,” which will seek to understand what progress is needed to enhance interoperability in the metaverse, as well as accelerate the impact that a standards group can have on the developing space.
Meta doubles—and triples—down
No company quite had a year like Meta. The tech giant, in its first year since rebranding from Facebook, stayed squarely under the microscope of critics and the media as it focused on building its metaverse product. But there were gaping holes: Meta’s VR headsets are still inaccessible and unwieldy, the virtual reality itself is comically poor and only 200,000 people are visiting Horizon Worlds, its primary metaverse platform, per month. All this and Meta’s Reality Labs is still expecting to lose $10 billion a year for the foreseeable future.
But one thing you do have to hand Meta and The Zuck is their willingness to double and triple down despite all the criticism. In numerous interviews and company presentations this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reiterated Meta’s commitment to the metaverse, saying the project will take years to come to fruition and that the heavy losses are worth the future upside. Most recently, at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Zuckerberg relayed his long-term confidence in the space.
“Skepticism doesn’t bother me too much,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ve had doubters the whole time.”
Rise (and fall) of virtual land sales
The market for virtual real estate took off in 2022, seeing activity from brands, celebrities, enthusiasts, tech companies and more. Many believe that virtual land will be a building block of the developing metaverse, where users can own the space upon which they build—a far cry from the state of Web2 gaming platforms that maintain control of everything built in their ecosystems. The idea caught fire at the beginning of the year, especially on blockchain-based platforms like The Sandbox and Decentraland, where single plots of virtual real estate were fetching an average of $11,000.
The craze did not last long, however; by October the prices of these plots fell roughly 80%. Reports of low usage in Decentraland also ignited a firestorm of mirth and confusion as to whether metaverse land has any staying power at all. According to Web3 advocates, as well as many brands, virtual real estate is here to stay, but as with the entirety of this vision, it’s going to take some time to build out.
Brands and agencies flocked
If you’ve been keeping up with Ad Age’s metaverse blog, then you know that brands have flocked to virtual spaces throughout 2022. This is a major milestone, not only because it’s a sign that mainstream entities are embracing the metaverse, but also because marketing is one of the primary ways in which mass audiences are turned on to a subject. In other words, brands have helped usher countless consumers to metaverse spaces, carving a path to mainstream adoption.
Brands across categories have tapped the virtual, from fashion and food to travel and home goods. Underlying these activations, however, is interest from ad agencies, which undoubtedly has fueled the marketing industry’s embrace of metaverse technologies. A large number of agencies have even built their own virtual offices. When the agencies themselves are establishing a presence where they’re telling their brands to activate, you know that space has potential.
Metaverse trademarks
As traditional brands, companies and players flocked to the metaverse, they made sure to reserve their IP. Numerous entities throughout 2022 filed trademark applications having to do with the metaverse, including but not limited to: UPS, Mastercard, Victoria’s Secret, Chuck E. Cheese, Hugo Boss, Steph Curry, Heidi Klum and Paramount.
According to trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis, the number of monthly trademark applications peaked in March with 773, but never dipped below 334 through October. In total through the first 10 months of 2022, 4,997 U.S. trademark applications were filed for metaverse and virtual goods/services. Through all 12 months of 2021, that number was 1,890.
Metaverse job listings
Another indication of traditional entities’ interest in the metaverse came in the form of job listings dedicated to exploring the space further. Disney made serious headway in this department, poaching Mark Bozon, formerly creative director for Apple’s Apple Arcade, to be its VP of next-generation storytelling and creative experiences—in other words, metaverse strategy. It also was looking for a Web3 attorney to oversee “transactions involving emerging technologies, including NFTs, blockchain, metaverse and decentralized finance.”
Disney was not alone. Warner Music Group created a listing for a senior director of metaverse development, Roblox listed for a senior Web3 software engineer, Spotify listed for a senior manager of innovation and market intelligence with experience in Web3 and even Apple listed for two Web3-knowledgeable personnel for its retail and marketing team. Apple later removed the post. In fact, a new type of CMO position—chief metaverse officer—emerged, seeing appointees at design consultancy Journey, Creative Artists Agency and LVMH, among others.