Metaverse Trends; Upcoming Milestones for the Digital Frontier

Metaverse trends refer to a wide variety of different things. Trends in the metaverse are pretty similar to what you see in the physical world around you. It’s new areas to explore, meet people, and enjoy experiences. Knowing upcoming trends means that you’ll be there to enjoy them immediately. You’ll soon discover the most exciting trends of 2022.

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The Fundamental Nature of the Metaverse
Is It Important to Follow Metaverse Trends?
What Are the Latest Metaverse Trends?

The Fundamental Nature of the Metaverse

Metaverse trends often occur in the context of metaverse development. One of the significant points of the metaverse is that it’s still experimental. Everyone contributing to the metaverse has something unique to add. Nobody knows what it’ll become in the end. And the emergent nature of the metaverse means new trends can occur in surprising ways.

This is partly because the metaverse is a vast and boundless 3D environment with no proper barriers. The metaverse is also a social environment filled with people living out unique experiences together. This creates exponential growth in metaverse activities.

Even the methods by which people get online can improve and change thanks to metaverse trends 2022 style. New virtual reality (VR) tech is coming out for various platforms. Computers and game consoles alike have immersive VR headsets. And smart glasses and apps for smartphones are creating new ways of layering the metaverse onto the world through augmented reality (AR). This has made the metaverse a real merging of the physical and digital worlds.

You can find out even more about the metaverse in the “Metaverse Guide; Understanding The Basics Will Open Up a New World” article.

Is It Important to Follow Metaverse Trends?

Trends within any technological sphere are essential for every aspect of business. They can point out markets that are just about to experience exponential growth. Trends are a sign that the public’s eager to explore something new. And if you pay attention to trends, you’re in a position to gain a strong position within new markets. 2021 showed rising interest in metaverse trends. And metaverse trends 2022 style are going to be even more intense. Knowing the metaverse trends means you’ll be in the cultural loop and ready to stay ahead of the curve within a rapidly growing market.

What Are the Latest Metaverse Trends?

Staying on top of the latest metaverse trends can provide a significant advantage. As you’ll soon see, the growing frontier of the metaverse is home to a wide variety of different trends and projects. Each of the following items highlights one of the most important trends within the metaverse. And they all highlight just how fast the metaverse is growing.

The Metaverse is Becoming a Mainstream Topic

Facebook caught the world’s attention when it rebranded under the name Meta. This change heralded public awareness of the metaverse on a level never seen before. This mainstream discussion is itself one of the most critical metaverse trends.

People are discussing every aspect of the metaverse. They’re taking note of all of the corporate interest in it. People see how advanced the technology has become as VR gaming grows in popularity. And they’re seeing article after article about related technologies such as NFTs, virtual worlds, and devices used to access the metaverse.

This trend will continue to grow and as public awareness grows, so does public adoption of the metaverse, and it proves that it’s genuinely the Internet’s future.

The Rise of the Big Players

Dozens of companies from multiple sectors are currently working on metaverse-related projects. Some of these are focused on gaming. Other companies are working on enterprise-level solutions. One common trend is that some of the most prominent players already have a strong background in technologies related to the metaverse.

Companies like NVIDIA and Microsoft produce hardware or software that helps power the metaverse. Gaming platforms like ROBLOX have expanded into the metaverse. And others like Tencent, Sony, and more are turning their platforms into a foundation for new metaverse ventures. This often opens up entry points into the metaverse for customers using their products. These metaverse trends show that it has strong financial backing. Meta alone has budgeted $10 billion toward metaverse development in 2022.

For more information about the big companies building the metaverse, read “Metaverse Companies Building The Future; An Overview”.

Video: NVIDIA Omniverse for Creators

NFT Crypto Projects

People can usually make perfect copies of digital entities. Any reproduction of a text file will be identical to the original. But NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are one-of-a-kind digital items. NFTs are tied into the blockchain as a unique entity.

NFTs are used in a wide variety of crypto projects. For example, Decentraland is a metaverse virtual world where NFT land sales are a thriving industry. And Axie Infinity even ties virtual animals into unique NFTs so that they can be cultivated or sold.

The ever-increasing amount of new NFTs and projects, their popularity, and overall speed make NFTs one of the most essential metaverse trends. You can find out even more about NFT developments in the article “Top 10 Most Interesting Metaverse Crypto Projects”.

Image attribution: Axie Infinity

Rapidly Increasing Investments in Metaverse Technology

Meta’s $10 billion investment into the metaverse is only the tip of the iceberg for corporate interest. Microsoft has already spent over $70 billion on metaverse-related interests. One of the most significant aspects of their investment in their acquisition of Activision Blizard. This deal was part of more substantial acquisition of Weta Digital for $1.6 billion.

There are countless other examples of companies spending vast amounts of money to gain traction within the metaverse. This metaverse trend points to one fundamental truth. The increased interest of corporate entities shows that the metaverse has become extremely valuable. The biggest companies are investing so heavily for a good reason. They’re able to see just how much the metaverse is growing.

Development of Metaverse Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are one of the most recognizable parts of the metaverse. They’re 3D environments where people can do almost anything. This includes playing games, socializing, making art, and even selling the results.

Roblox is one of the largest gaming environments, with literally millions of games to play with others. Meta’s offering, Horizon Worlds, provides a socially active exploration environment. And Decentraland boasts amazing landscapes that sell for equally impressive sums.

Metaverse trends 2022 style are almost certain to revolve around virtual worlds. Many new virtual worlds are planned for 2022. And further surprises are always around the corner. You can learn even more about the rise of virtual worlds in the article “Metaverse Virtual Worlds; The Best Way To Experience the Metaverse”.

Video: The Sandbox – Alpha Season 2

Metaverse Entertainment Events

The metaverse is helping people celebrate together no matter where they live. Everything from cultural festivals to weddings has been aided by Zoom. New metaverse trends show that telepresence is leaping to the next level.

Travis Scott recently drew a crowd of 12 million rap fans for his performance in Fortnite. The virtual concert was such a success that it’s become known as an unprecedented historical event. The Swedish pop sensation ABBA recently announced that they would take this model to the next level by creating a virtual experience with “ABBA-tars”. These virtual entities will perform in a physical venue within London. And of course, stars like Twenty One Pilots, Ariana Grande, and Justin Bieber have all had successful concerts in virtual worlds.

Video: Roblox presents Twenty One Pilots Concert Experience

Video: ABBA Voyage: Concert Trailer

Corporate Solutions Are Moving Into the Metaverse

The metaverse might seem like it’s only for fun and relaxation. Indeed, socializing in virtual worlds, playing games, and creating art is a big part of the metaverse. But corporate interests and solutions are also well represented within the metaverse. Virtual meetings are one of the most common corporate uses for the metaverse.

Zoom calls are primitive compared to something like Microsoft Mesh’s custom avatars. Likewise, Breakroom offers a more conducive way for employees to communicate with each other remotely. And Metaverse for Corporate even makes virtual expos a snap. This is especially exciting as these metaverse trends point to a more effective way to design workplaces. And augmented reality can even improve real-world locations with metaverse-related augmentation.

Video: Introducing Microsoft Mesh

Video: Breakroom Virtual World Platform

The Growth of Metaverse Games

Gaming is one of the most self-apparent metaverse trends as many games are currently available in the metaverse. Roblox is one of the best examples of people gaming in this medium. It boasts over 164 million monthly active users accessing over a million games.

Horizon Worlds highlights user interaction in virtual spaces. Meta’s introduction of “script blocks” makes it easy for users to write programs inside Horizon Worlds’s metaverse. Blocks can be chained together to create games. But these top contenders face growing competition.

There are many great metaverse games, and even more are coming in 2022. They’ll offer new opportunities and variety. You can see how much metaverse gaming has already grown in the article “Top 10 Popular Metaverse Games To Explore Right Now”.

Video: Roblox 2021 Cinematic

Digital Identity Concerns, Proof, and Verification

The metaverse gives people the ability to traverse digital environments as an avatar. This digital version of yourself can look almost exactly like you. Or it could take on any form you can imagine. This is where the metaverse trend of digital identity credentials comes in.

People can verify each other’s identities at a glance in the offline world. But anyone can take on the appearance of another avatar within the metaverse. Digital cryptographic credentials are already available to prove who you say you are. But it’s expected that these credentials will grow to encompass a greater scope. You’ll be able to enter into various online spaces and instantly identify yourself. This will help ensure access control and trust.

Sophistication of Metaverse Avatars

Metaverse trends also point to avatars becoming more sophisticated. At the moment, avatars can come in a variety of different forms. This ranges from 2D avatars to photorealistic forms that appear almost exactly like people in the offline world.

Meta’s well known for its advanced and nearly-photorealistic avatars. Support for these avatars over all of the company’s products will increase over time. Meanwhile, Microsoft focuses on using AI technology to create avatars that fit into a business environment thanks to responsive animation. Popular apps like Zepeto and OSUVOX make it easy to create avatars and export them into different metaverse implementations.

You can find a full exploration of avatars in the article “Metaverse Avatar Guide; Embody Yourself in the Metaverse”.

Video: Welcome to ZEPETO

Connecting to the Real World Through Displays

Innovative displays are set to become one of the hottest metaverse trends. Augmented reality (AR) brings data from the metaverse into the offline world. It’s coming about through several new technologies.

Naked-eye 3D is already catching people’s attention by providing immersive displays that don’t require any special glasses or gear. This is most commonly used to push branded 3D content onto massive displays in shopping districts. New varieties of this technology will continue to show up in the future.

Curved LED displays can simulate 270 degrees and 3D viewpoints. Smaller form factors are becoming common too. For example, Tesla cars already use a 1920 x 1200 LCD display that provides everything from media to maps. AR will push all of this even further.

Video: Naked Eye 3D LED Screen Video

Adoption and Evolution of the Smart Home

In many ways, the smart-home has already arrived. You might already have a device like Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri ready to help you out at home. These voice assistants can set timers, wake you up, work on shopping lists and help in a variety of different ways. New metaverse trends suggest that they’ll become even more integrated into the home. Early examples of this trend are climate control, lighting, and even opening up locked doors when you get home.

There are a lot of innovations coming in the future. For example, new display technologies could help assistants provide visual feedback or entertainment. You may see a point where digital assistants handle all your video and audio entertainment.

Video: 5 Things You Didn’t Know Alexa Can Do

Metaverse trends show what’s currently happening in the metaverse. But it’s important to remember that these trends also highlight where the metaverse is going. Every event, investment, and opportunity in the metaverse builds a bright future for everyone.