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- Jack Dorsey’s social media app rolls out (as invite only)
Jack Dorsey’s social media app rolls out (as invite only)
Meta’s updated AR/VR roadmap, Yuga Labs’ TwelveFold, plus more top stories
🎥 Metaproof Media, Entertainment, IP
Hey friends, this is Sophia from 🎥 Metaproof Media, Entertainment, IP, the weekly newsletter where we keep you informed on how the metaverse and web3 are changing the media, entertainment, and IP industry.
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💌 A quick thanks to our friends…
Shout out to this week’s sponsor CyberBrokers. A project with futuristic, cyberpunk art and immersive storytelling, CyberBrokers tells an exciting story that takes users through the world of the Paradigm Lost. Create, collect, game, and experience in this journey that brings the metaverse to life. Expand your reality today and go explore the Paradigm Lost. Check them out here!
📲 By the numbers
Apple’s rumored entry into the space with a new headset is helping drive metaverse growth (Source):
Despite waning public interest, the metaverse market is expected to hit $615B by 2030.
For the metaverse sector to become a multibillion-dollar market, it relies on reaching a minimum user base of 50 million to 100 million, driven by mass-market headsets that may lead to cheaper versions and bring more consumers into the sphere.
📫 News & trends
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's Bluesky, a social media app and protocol group, is currently undergoing beta testing. It can be remembered that in 2019, when the project started, Dorsey said: “Twitter is funding a small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media.”
The app, designed to promote decentralization and provide users with more control over their data, is an alternative for Twitter users who are uneasy with the constant change and paid product approach. It operates on the AT Protocol, aiming to create a more open and interoperable social media space, where users can easily connect and share information. Bluesky is currently only available for download via the Apple App Store, and it is invite-only at this time.
While doubts about its metaverse intentions remain, Meta has outlined its plans for the future of augmented reality and virtual reality at the business, with its Reality Labs department this week presenting an updated roadmap to personnel.
At this point, Meta's significant milestone map includes:
The next stage of its smart glasses, with a heads-up display element, for a 2025 release
Its first fully fledged AR glasses to be released in 2027
A more powerful Quest 3 headset to be launched later this year
Its photorealistic Codec avatars getting closer to launch (facilitated by more powerful VR headsets)
Snapchat is developing AR Spectacles and Apple is inventing AR goggles, but no company has yet developed a consumer-friendly, discreet AR device that can overlay digital components on visual experience. It might be a huge potential - while it still looks to be an addition to Meta's larger metaverse, which has been mostly focused on VR aspects up to this point - but Meta is seeking to integrate all of these progressions under the “metaverse” name.
Two of the world’s biggest tech giants, Tencent and Huawei, have announced recent moves into the web3 and metaverse space and are set to compete for dominance in this rapidly growing field.
Huawei Cloud, the cloud arm of the Chinese tech firm, launched a metaverse and web3 alliance in partnership with several blockchain players - the first batch of which including BlockChain Solutions, Deepbrain Chain, Morpheus Labs, and Polygon - in aims of developing a comprehensive ecosystem for web3 and metaverse technology and facilitate its adoption with the partners.
This move by Huawei follows Tencent's recent announcement of its “metaverse-in-a-box” service suite, which is targeted at Asian markets such as Singapore and Thailand. The suite is designed to help third-party companies, which operate in fields like gaming, media, entertainment, and retail, build virtual worlds and create immersive experiences.
There is a tremendous surge in the popularity of digital assets, with NFTs and metaverse properties leading the charge. Yet while sales of NFTs hit a staggering $17B in 2021 (indicating a growing appetite for digital assets) and major tech corporations such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon have invested billions of dollars in the space, the barrier to entry appears high and confusing, making mass market adoption a steep climb.
One likely key: powerful information sharing via TV. “It was therefore imperative to me to broadcast NFTme to a global audience as fast as possible and bridge the information gap, enabling the world to adopt web3 faster,” noted Jonny Caplan, founder of broadcast firm Tech Talk Media (TTM). Educating people about blockchain technology and NFTs and their benefits and potential applications goes a long way, encouraging their broad usage.
Yuga Labs has announced the launch of its first Bitcoin-based NFT project, TwelveFold, featuring 300 limited-edition generative art pieces inscribed to the blockchain. It's one of the most famous unveilings up until now through Ordinals, a recently created method of securing artwork and media to Bitcoin by attaching each of them to a single Satoshi, or 1/100,000,000 of a total Bitcoin (BTC).
Combining 3D graphics and hand-drawn features, these 12x12 grids are an homage to the way data is stored on the Bitcoin blockchain. This project was designed and created by Yuga's in-house art team, and has no connection to their Ethereum-based IP. This is deemed a departure from their past offerings, which all live on the Ethereum blockchain.
The rise and fall of Singapore-based metaverse app Bondee is an example of the challenges that metaverse developers in Southeast Asia face in capturing the loyalty of Gen Z users. Despite the initial surge of enthusiasm, the app quickly lost traction as users turned to more established platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Yet, there remains hope for the future of the metaverse in Southeast Asia. Singapore has a burgeoning reputation as an incubator of new ideas, and the potential impact of the metaverse is significant: Some estimates suggest it could bring up to US$1.4 trillion per year by 2035. If they want to see success in this rapidly evolving space, developers must continue to innovate and find new ways to capture users’ attention.
Tech giant Nokia is setting its sights on the industrial metaverse and planning to develop innovative network systems that can sense, think, and act. The industrial metaverse presents new and exciting opportunities for Nokia, and the company is determined to stay at the forefront of this emerging industry as it is working on developing network systems that will be able to understand and analyze vast amounts of data in real time. This will enable industrial systems to operate more efficiently and accurately than ever before, particularly with Nokia's innovative technologies that can enable businesses to streamline their processes, increase productivity, and reduce costs.
🏃♂️Quick hits
Blockchain gaming company The Sandbox has acquired German game development studio Sviper to expand metaverse social and gameplay features for its platform, where Sviper will add senior-level development, engineering, and creative talent to the Animoca Brands subsidiary.
Aespa, K-pop universe’s first metaverse group, recently held its first-ever solo concert, bringing virtual avatars to the center stage and having them dance in sync with their human counterparts.
Sexual predators are starting to contact and abuse children in the metaverse, and experts have identified these red flags and urged parents to take preemptive steps to protect their kids.
Photorealistic metaverse Habytat is offering AI-powered pets in the metaverse, using an AI and machine learning engine that learns from and responds uniquely to each user as they interact with their pet.
Three in five people surveyed by Telus worry over data security in the metaverse, believing brands aren’t ready to protect their identities and personal data in the virtual realm.
💸 Finance buzz
Entertainment NFT firm Orange Comet, which has created digital collectibles for athlete Scottie Pippen and “The Walking Dead," raised $7M in an equity round and plans to raise more capital later this year. (Source)
The Sandbox announced a joint venture with global venture accelerator Brincto to build experiences in Bharatbox, a new cultural hub featuring key partners from India's entertainment, art, and sports sectors. (Source)
🗣️ Quote of the week
“The potential for positive, constructive, community-building activities in the metaverse is almost unimaginable and mostly untapped.”
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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.
If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse.
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