This Week in the Metaverse (W16.2023)
This Week in the Metaverse (W16.2023)
What I read and wrote this week + new episode of Into The Metaverse podcast: A conversation with Michael Kennedy of Microsoft - on metaverse, modern work and immersive workplaces
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.
Let’s dig in!
(1) What I Read This Week
Roblox grows up. The 3D-world for kids is attracting an older audience. It might also be the closest thing we’ve got to a metaverse that already exists. Brands are taking notice.
Epic buys Brazil-based game developer Aquiris to boost Fortnite → interesting move from Epic Games which could mean that Aquiris will develop both original games for the Epic Games Store as well as games for Fortnite Creative (especially following the introduction of UEFN). Plus read my colleague David Taylor’s essay on The New Fortnite Creative Millionaires.
Microsoft reportedly working on its own AI chips that may rival Nvidia’s. The AI race has tech companies scrambling for Nvidia GPUs and Microsoft reportedly accelerating its own on in-house AI chips → with the rise of AI and emergence of the metaverse, the demand for GPUs will only grow as hardware plays a key role in enabling an ever more automated and expansive Internet.
Google is combining Google Brain and DeepMind into one powerhouse AI unit inside Google, called Google DeepMind. Demis Hassabis (founder of DeepMind) will lead the development of Google’s general AI systems.
Meta opens its Horizon Worlds VR metaverse to teenagers. Introducing ‘a robust set of age-appropriate protections and safety defaults’ to make the platform safer for younger users → While the efforts by Meta to make Horizon relevant for today’s youth, it remains to be seen to what extent youth actually cares about Horizon enough to spend time on the platform. Without that audience, Meta wills struggle to attract developers and creators, no matter what the revenue split looks like.
Watch the first demo of Humane’s wearable AI assistant in leaked clips + more commentary here on why it matters → I’m skeptic. It’s incredibly hard to build an integrated hardware-software-content consumer product that people actually want, but more importantly, I’m not seeing why the smartphone won’t continue to be the focal point of our relationship with tech in the near future
Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights from the White House. “Making Automated Systems Work for The American People” → with so much happening in AI, whether you agree with it or not, it’s great to see the President taking action and starting a conversation on what AI could mean for society.
Why fashion houses are getting into video games, and why now is an opportunity to rewrite the beauty code of the future
PUBG Creator to Launch NFT Metaverse Game This Year
Sega acquires Angry Bird’s maker, Rovio, for $776M. Excellent piece from
on the acquisition.Gaming’s Generative AI Boom is Just Getting Started (from Naavik). And Why NFX is even more bullish on Games.
TikTok is turning into gaming’s discovery engine.
The inside story of ChatGPT's astonishing potential. A TED talk.
(2) This week's episode on Into The Metaverse podcast: A conversation with Michael Kennedy of Microsoft - on metaverse, modern work and immersive workplaces
Joining me today is Michael Kennedy, an advisor and public speaker on rapidly evolving metaverse and modern / hybrid work technologies and best practices. His focus is transforming the workplace to deliver increased productivity and business outcomes while improving organizational culture to attract and retain the best employees.
"the way I define the metaverse is really around the enterprise metaverse - an evolving set of enabling capabilities. To create more immersive employee, customer, and industry experiences to foster engagement, inclusivity, collaboration, and digital integration helping people and organizations achieve more."
Listen to the episode on: Apple / Spotify / Anchor.
Watch:
Yon is the founder of CEO of Supersocial, a company that designs, builds, promotes, operates and grow cutting-edge virtual worlds on Roblox and beyond. Thank you for subscribing to Into The Metaverse. We grow when readers who appreciate our work spread the word.