The event host and panel discussion moderator was Mark Forster, Chairman of Mobile Task Force at IAB Switzerland and founder of Adello and GeoCTRL. Thomas Hutter, the CEO of the advertising consultancy company Hutter Consult AG held his keynote speech. Dr. Margarethe Dopf, the Chief Business Development Officer at the digital tourism organization Speed U Up Suisse, participated in the panel discussion.
During the event, the speakers discussed the most debatable question of today:
What is Metaverse: an overrated phenomenon or the digital gamechanger?
Mark Forster started his introduction speech with the history of the metaverse development. Since Zuckerberg’s big announcement of Facebook being renamed into Meta and shifting its main focus to the metaverse development, the “Metaverse” has become a widely discussed topic.
Entering metaverses could be possible already in the near future. According to Mark, Metaverse can be accessed with an advanced VR set, which has the ability to move in 6 dimensions, and sensor gloves, which are designed to provide tactile sensations.
Forster continued with his explanation on preconditions to the metaverse development. The metaverse took its roots already in the first wave of gaming in the 70s. Since then, the gaming industry has dramatically evolved. With the rapid advancement and proliferation of mobile devices and the breakthrough of the revolutionary iPhone in 2007, gaming became more widespread. The next milestone was achieved when mobile became sensory, it transformed the whole gaming process making it more interactive. Today mobile games constitute more than half of the gaming market.
The second precondition that Forster mentioned was the spread of the internet which opened tremendous opportunities for innovations. 2003 was a significant year for the digital industries when Facebook (now Meta) and One Life, the first game that has similar traits with Metaverse, came to the market.
The internet speed has changed from 2G to 5G, accelerating from the time when sending a text message would take minutes to when a movie can be downloaded in seconds. For instance, the 3G, also known as the mobile internet of its time, had only a speed of 3.1Mbps. Today within 5G, the internet speed can reach 10-50Gbps. Moreover, internet latency rapidly decreases, positively affecting the video and gaming industry.
Another factor that affected the growing interest in the Metaverse is the positive dynamic of the cryptocurrency. Just a decade ago, cryptocurrency was considered a “dubious occupation.” Today it is claimed to be the “potential future of economics.” The main growth of cryptocurrency happened between 2017 and 2018 and later again in 2020. This dynamic consequently paved the way for the NFTs, which is another big topic today.
Forster continued disclosing what benefits and disadvantages the Metaverse can bring in the future. The opinions are divided. Some say that the Metaverse will create an absolutely new world full of various opportunities. Others claim it’s an overhyped trick, and everyone will soon forget about it.
For the moment, the future is uncertain, but time will show what the Metaverse can offer us.
