Over 2,300 video game developers were surveyed about the metaverse as part of the report”State of the Game Industry 2023“, published ahead of the next edition of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco (March 20-24). Many are skeptical of this concept, which designates large interconnected virtual universes where Internet users can access a multitude of services through avatars. At least on paper. Indeed, 45% of developers surveyed believe that the metaverse will never deliver on its promises. They were only 33% in 2022.
But what is this distrust due to? First to the idea itself of metaverse. The big digital companies, brands and states do not agree on a single definition of this word, which first appeared in the novel “The Virtual Samurai” (“Snow Crash”), published in 1992) by Neal Stephenson. The metaverse is a concept that is all the more difficult to understand as it revolves around technological advances still in development, such as Web3, NFTs and virtual reality. It’s not easy to navigate through this myriad of futuristic terms.
Everything still remains to be done
Technical limitations also hinder the democratization of the metaverse. Virtual reality headsets are still not widely adopted due to their high prices. Count 450 euros for the Meta Quest 2 (formerly known as Oculus Quest), and 639 euros for the HTC Vive Pro 2. The bill can go up quickly if you add accessories such as controllers, position sensors, a case, a strap or a face shield.
Despite this, some digital giants appear to be further ahead than others in shaping what some describe as the next generation of the Internet. Epic Games in the lead. 14% of developers surveyed believe that the publisher of the hit game “Fortnite” is the most likely to tip Internet users into the metaverse, followed by Meta and Microsoft (7%). With this in mind, the American video game publisher recently participated in a fundraiser of 30 million dollars in favor of Hadean. This British start-up aims to make “the processing and computing power of supercomputers available to anyone” – an essential point for building the infrastructure necessary for the metaverse.
But everything remains to be done, according to an anonymous developer quoted in the “State of the Game Industry 2023” report. “It is necessary that [le métavers] be seen as an irreplaceable part of people’s lives. It has to deliver a truly unique experience that you literally can’t get anywhere else—and not just ‘this thing we can already do, but in VR,'” he explained. Meta and other big digital companies s are working on it.