This Week in the Metaverse (W13.2023)

Weekly news roundup + Spotlighting a previous episode on Into The Metaverse podcast: A conversation with Richard Ward, former Head of Metaverse at McKinsey

Yonatan Raz-Fridman

Apr 2, 2023

Hey, Yon here! Welcome to Into The Metaverse. My mission is to help you understand what is the metaverse, how it will impact our lives, and what opportunities it unlocks. If you are a marketer, entrepreneur, investor or simply a curious professional, Into The Metaverse is for you. Subscribe to get access to every letter and podcast show that I publish.

Here’s what I’ve got for you this week:

Weekly News Roundup
Spotlighting a previous episode on Into The Metaverse podcast: A conversation with Richard Ward, former Head of Metaverse at McKinsey

Let’s dig in!

(1) Weekly News Roundup

Roblox and Around the Metaverse

Karlie Kloss thinks Roblox is the future of fashion
Kids are obsessed with Roblox. Can a 30-year-old love it, too?
Nedbank the first African bank to launch a Roblox game
Comic Relief launches metaverse fundraiser to fight poverty
Immersive ads are rolling out on Roblox. Good tie-in with reading “Gaming is A goldmine for advertisers, but only if they put gamers first”, and Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney ‘hates advertising in games’. Read more on the Q&A with him and Saxx Persson on the future of Fortnite and Unreal Engine.
VP of the Economy Product at Roblox, Enrico D’Angelo joins CEO Dave Baszucki to discuss their vision for the Roblox economy. In this podcast episode, they’ll discuss how virtual economies can mirror the real world, the opportunities ahead for Roblox, and some of the technical challenges we’ll need to solve to get there.
What could bloom in the metaverse winter (Politico) → I was quoted in the article which covers the Disney layoffs and overall metaverse momentum: “Yonatan Raz-Fridman, co-founder and CEO of the Roblox-focused gaming company Supersocial, saw it similarly when I spoke with him this morning: “With a company like Disney, and definitely with Iger, they understand there are fundamental shifts happening with these emerging technologies,” he told me. “They’re just going to be more thoughtful and strategic on what that means over the next 10 or 20 years, versus doubling down on any new tech buzzword that comes along.”
At Apple, rare dissent over a new product: interactive goggles. The company’s WWDC 2023 keynote will take place on June 5
Disney reportedly scraps its metaverse unit
Elon Musk bids farewell to the Metaverse
The State of the VR in 2023 by Naavik
Neal Stephenson’s Lamina1 unveils early access program for open metaverse ecosystem

A World of AI

1,100+ notable signatories signed an open letter asking ‘all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months
ChatGPT banned in Italy over privacy concerns
The ChatGPT King Isn’t Worried, but He Knows You Might Be
A Foundation Model Primer → a presentation by the investing team at Innovation Endeavors
AI Safety: Technology vs Species Threats

A World of Wonder, Expression, Beauty & Fashion

Gucci and Bored Ape creator want to take high fashion to the metaverse
Tommy Hilfiger launches a multi-metaverse hub
Diablo is haute as hell at Milan Fashion Week
Virtual Couture? Vivienne Tam’s First NFT Dress Struts Around Metaverse Fashion Week

Music, Gaming & Entertainment

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Kills Two Birds with One Stone
TikTok makes its gaming case
Ryan Cohen’s grand plans for GameStop keep shrinking
Ticketmaster debuts NFT-gated ticket sales, starting with Avenged Sevenfold

Other Items That Are Worth Your Time

The Internet Is Ruined. The Metaverse Can Still Be Saved
Ready Player One was (a little) smarter than anyone gave it credit for
Matthew Ball published The Streaming Book → A free and chart-filled mini-book on where we are in the Streaming Wars, have been, and will go
Stop siloing tech trends and start looking at the bigger picture
AI and the Myths of the Metaverse
Make no mistake, the metaverse will host an entire economy

Fundraising, New Companies & Personnel

Misfits Gaming launches creator-led Roblox studio Pixel Playground
Hathora raises $7.6M to democratize multiplayer game development
Ex-Blizzard leaders create new studio Magic Soup Games
Former Diablo devs launch Gas Giant Games
Emmett Shear resigns as Twitch CEO after 16 years

Richard Ward is the former Head of Metaverse at McKinsey, the leading management consulting firm, where he focuses on advising clients on metaverse and web3 strategy, as well as providing expertise on the role of augmented reality and virtual reality.

In a fascinating conversation, Richard and I we discuss in detail the stage we’re at with the evolution of the metaverse; what is full-body computing and why it matters to truly grasp how the metaverse should “feel”; what should decision makers consider when making investment decisions on metaverse-related experiments; and how web3 fits in (if at all).

Listen to the episode on: Apple / Spotify / Anchor.

Watch:

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