What happened to the much-discussed Metaverse? Perhaps we have talked about it too much, and too soon. But recent technological and applicative innovations in the field of Extended Reality (XR) open up interesting perspectives. We tell you about them in the first of two dedicated insights.
While 2022 was the year of hype about the Metaverse, relatively little was said about it in 2023, at least in the terms initially ‘announced’. This does not mean, however, that Extended Reality has not continued to grow and that companies in the sector have not gone ahead with the realisation of devices and services dedicated to the new frontier of physical-digital interaction. Regardless of the name it will be given or the form it will take, we are in fact talking about technologies capable of enabling immersive and interactive experiences. So, very dear to the world of professional AV. In short, although the time is not yet ripe for the Metaverse, Extended Reality technologies and virtual worlds – which are their foundations – are evolving rapidly, thanks also to technologies such as spatial computing and artificial intelligence.
This is the positive message conveyed by the experts of the Politecnico di Milano in the latest Extended Reality & Metaverse Observatory. “We want to emphasise how 2023 was the year of awareness,” we can read in the report’s preface. “An important period, of working with our feet on the ground, without the distorted expectations of 2022, typical of promising but not yet ready technologies. There have been fewer virtual worlds and new projects developed by companies, but the initiatives launched have made it clearer why users should enjoy such experiences”.
Examples of Extended Reality
On the consumer side, for example, Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games to implement the Fortnite experience. Gucci developed four virtual spaces to offer specific content to its community (e.g. product launches, fashion show videos, shopping). And Lamborghini asked buyers to customise their car, look at other configurations and participate in a timed competition to obtain exclusive content.
Awareness of the opportunities of virtual worlds has also made its way into the industry. Both to enhance internal processes and to improve remote collaboration between employees, often by developing proprietary solutions. Illustrious cases of Industrial Metaverse include Siemens and Sony, which signed an agreement to integrate Sony’s spatial content creation system into Siemens’ proprietary platform. Dyson has also believed in it, using the XR to design and develop new products.
What does 2024 have in store for us? Let’s talk about it next week!
