Making the metaverse immersive with AR and VR
Enhanced by AR and VR technologies, the metaverse is pushing the boundaries of immersive and interactive virtual experience.
One player at the forefront of this trend is the video game industry. For instance, social VR game Rec Room enables users to build avatars and create immersive virtual ‘rooms’ for play. While the platform was founded in 2016, its popularity has skyrocketed since the pandemic to become a leading metaverse player.6
Also aiming for a slice of the VR game pie, Meta launched a social VR platform called Horizon Worlds in December 2021.7 Players can build custom ‘worlds’ to hang out in – from tranquil spaces for meditation to comedy clubs with live audiences. Meanwhile, AR games built for the metaverse, like NFT All Stars, show how game companies can tap into rich opportunities to merge the digital and physical worlds.
So far, one key barrier to a more immersive metaverse is cybersickness – a motion sickness triggered when poor network latency creates lags in the experience.8
The future of the metaverse, in other words, depends upon connectivity with high bandwidth and low latency. 5G is a key enabler in this, offering the higher throughput and near-zero latency needed to support high-quality AR/VR metaverse experiences.
Building workplaces in the metaverse
As remote work becomes a norm, companies increasingly need advanced tools to help workers stay productive and connected virtually. One next-level solution gaining traction is the metaverse workplace.
Imagine an immersive platform where lifelike avatars of your employees can hold meetings in conference rooms, roam around to chat with colleagues, and customise their office to suit their needs. This metaverse office can provide a social environment for virtual collaboration, helping teams feel less isolated and more engaged. Supported by 5G networks, remote employees can enjoy lag-free interactions from anywhere in the world.
This concept is already a reality with metaverse platforms like NextMeet. Accessible via PC and VR, NextMeet enables work-from-home teams to interact in a 3D virtual world. Meanwhile, Microsoft is set to unveil Mesh for Microsoft Teams, which will allow organisations to build custom immersive spaces for collaboration and conduct meetings with avatars animated by AI motion capture.9
Another workplace need that the metaverse will transform is corporate learning and training. Through hyper-realistic VR simulations of the work environment, instructors can easily demonstrate a hands-on task and have learners follow along next to them.
Transforming industries with digital twins
Digital twins are already bringing operational benefits to diverse industries, and they are poised to be core building blocks in the metaverse.
Digital twins refer to real-time digital replicas of a physical object or system, constructed through IoT sensors that feed real-world data about the system to its virtual representation. Connecting these vast numbers of sensors is 5G, which can reliably support up to 1 million devices per square kilometre.10
Businesses can deploy this technology in the metaverse to build virtual models, which can be used to test out scenarios and optimize systems more efficiently. Research reveals that organisations that use digital twins see an average boost of 15% in operational efficiency and over 25% in system performance.11
Already widely implemented in manufacturing, digital twins will revolutionise many more industries as the metaverse advances. For instance, in smart city planning, enterprises can use digital twins to get a real-time view of road infrastructure and automate road inspections at scale. Retail businesses will be able to easily create twins of their physical stores to monitor and improve their customer journey.
Furthermore, in the metaverse, digital twins can be interconnected and integrated with novel technologies like AR/VR more seamlessly. Nvidia’s Omniverse, for example, enables enterprises to build simulations, with AR/VR capabilities and a powerful data generation engine for training machine learning models.
Unlocking value in the metaverse with NFTs
Another fast-growing Web 3.0 trend, NFTs are unlocking novel opportunities for enterprises to generate revenue in the metaverse. As records of digital ownership, NFTs enable businesses to securely monetise and sell assets in the metaverse.
More importantly, NFTs are inherently unique and one-off – allowing brands to create exclusive collectables that drive hype and consumer engagement. Today’s fashion houses have been quick off the mark to capitalise on NFTs, with leading brands like Nike unveiling metaverse wearables.
Looking ahead, enterprises can explore NFT goods that connect the real and digital worlds, tapping into 5G connectivity to facilitate mixed-reality experiences anytime and anywhere.
AR wearables are one such trend gaining momentum. Shopping metaverse SpatialPort, for example, is set to launch the world’s first luxury 3D NFT watch, which can be ‘worn’ on the wrist via a Snapchat AR filter.12 With 5G’s ultra-low latency, such NFTs can be brought to life with faster load times and maximum responsiveness, even during peak traffic periods like concerts.
Expanding large-scale events to the metaverse
No longer a niche industry, the metaverse is fast becoming a place where thousands can connect and socialise in real-time. In March this year, the world saw its first-ever Metaverse Fashion Week. Hosted in Decentraland with 108,000 attendees, this landmark event saw brands like Dolce & Gabbana dressing up avatars in NFT wearables.13
Metaverse concerts have also been making waves. Lil Nas X’s digital concert on Roblox, for one, has achieved a record-breaking 33 million views, signalling the massive potential of metaverse events.14
Beyond the entertainment industry, large-scale metaverse events are an emerging trend that all enterprises should explore. For MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions), the metaverse will bring new ways to integrate technology and increase engagement.
At hybrid events, organisers can think about using AR to enrich the in-person experience with an overlay of digital content. With all-virtual events in the metaverse, enterprises are equipped to create immersive spaces for social networking – all while staying time-efficient and budget-friendly. When IT services provider DXC organised a metaverse sales conference for over 1,300 attendees, it took only eight weeks of planning.15
While virtual events on such a scale would not have been possible with older network technologies, 5G is changing the game. With 5G’s increased bandwidth, you can bring together an almost limitless number of global attendees without network slowdown.
