Just a couple of years ago, the word “metaverse” was on everyone’s lips. Driven by Facebook’s rebranding to Meta and promises of an imminent revolution, the idea of an immersive, three-dimensional internet captured the world’s imagination. Then, as often happens with major tech hype cycles, winter arrived. Skepticism replaced euphoria, and many declared the concept dead. However, that would be a misread. The metaverse hasn’t disappeared; it has simply entered a quieter, more mature phase, away from speculative spotlights and focused on building real, sustainable applications.
The promise of a single universal metaverse, interconnected like in sci-fi, remains a distant horizon. What we’re witnessing today is the emergence of multiple “metaverses” or islands of activity laying the groundwork for what could become the next era of digital interaction. Understanding its current state requires looking beyond avatars and headlines.
The reality of the metaverse: from the factory to the concert hall
While the mass-consumer metaverse progresses at a slower pace, it is in the industrial sector where the technology is showing tangible, immediate value. The concept of a “digital twin” —an exact virtual replica of a physical object or system— is revolutionizing manufacturing. Companies create simulations of their factories to optimize processes, predict failures, and train employees in a safe environment without production costs. A surgeon can practice a complex operation on a digital twin of a patient before entering the operating room.
On the consumer side, though more fragmented, real activity centers exist as well:
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Social platforms: VRChat or Rec Room allow users to create spaces and avatars to interact in ways video calls cannot match.
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Proto-metaverses in gaming: Games like Roblox or Fortnite have transcended their category to become social platforms where users build worlds, attend concerts by artists like Travis Scott or Ariana Grande, and socialize.
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Decentralized virtual worlds: Platforms like Decentraland or The Sandbox explore a user-owned model based on blockchain technology.
The Economy of Virtual Worlds
The true disruptive potential of the metaverse lies in creating a new economic layer with its own assets, markets, and professions.
Digital ownership: the role of NFTs
In the physical economy, ownership is backed by documents and registries. In the metaverse, this role is fulfilled by Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). An NFT acts as a unique, incorruptible digital certificate of ownership for a virtual asset, whether a plot of “land” in Decentraland, a limited-edition sneaker for an avatar, or a piece of digital art. This concept of real, verifiable ownership is the cornerstone of the metaverse economy.
New business models and professions
The metaverse opens doors to innovative business models:
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Direct-to-Avatar Commerce (D2A): Fashion brands like Nike or Gucci no longer just sell physical clothes but also digital wearables for avatars—a market with exponential growth potential.
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Immersive events and experiences: From concerts to fashion shows or corporate conferences, virtual events offer new avenues for monetization and global participation.
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Native advertising: Virtual billboards or sponsorships inside digital worlds represent a new frontier for marketing.
This, in turn, is spawning professions that didn’t exist five years ago: metaverse architects, digital fashion designers, virtual community managers, or data analysts specialized in virtual economies.
The virtual society: identity, community, and its shadows
The metaverse is not just an economic platform but also a social one, with deep implications.
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Fluid identity: Avatars give us the freedom to present ourselves however we want, exploring facets of our personality we might not show in real life. This plasticity can be liberating but also raises risks of dissociation or deception.
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Communities without borders: It enables the creation of global communities united by shared interests, without geographical barriers. Support groups, fan clubs, or artist collectives find belonging in these spaces.
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Ethical challenges: This new frontier is not without dangers. Data privacy (especially biometric data collected by VR headsets), harassment and behavior moderation in immersive environments, digital addiction, and the risk of widening the digital divide are critical challenges that need to be addressed from the design phase.
The battle for the metaverse’s soul: open or closed?
Perhaps the most important debate about the metaverse’s future is both philosophical and technical: will it be an open ecosystem or a set of walled gardens?
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Open Metaverse (Web3): Driven by the crypto community, it advocates a decentralized, interoperable system based on open standards. In this vision, you truly own your identity and digital assets and can freely move them across different worlds and platforms.
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Closed Metaverse (Corporate): This is the vision of large corporations seeking to create their own controlled ecosystems. They offer a more polished and simple user experience, but in exchange, the company sets the rules, takes a cut of all transactions, and assets cannot leave their platform.
The tension between these two visions will define whether the metaverse becomes a true extension of our world, with freedom and rights, or merely a more immersive and controlled version of the social networks we already know. The building of this new reality has only just begun, and the decisions we make today about its fundamental architecture will shape its impact on future generations.
Sources:
- McKinsey & Company: Value creation in the metaverse
- Wired: The Metaverse Is a Mess. Here’s How to Fix It
- Observatorio Nacional de Tecnología y Sociedad (ONTSI): El metaverso: nuevos universos, nuevos retos y nuevas profesiones
- The Verge: What Is the Metaverse?
- Matthew Ball: The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything
