Steady growth of adoption and interest
Ask anyone about the metaverse and 1 out of 5 may be able to answer what it is, this is a lot better than earlier in 2022 when the result woud have been 1 out of 20. In some shape or form web3, NFTs, and the metaverse have become words that are slowly creeping into the minds of many even if they weren’t actively looking for the technology.
According to DAppRadar and a new report covering the current state of the metaverse there seems to be more interest in the technology than ever before. The Metaverse Report#2 has been released by DappRadar and the findings are rather interesting.
According to DappRadar the metaverse is split into a ‘classical” version which is still reliant on web2 technology. This metaverse houses current gaming and social experiences that are fused with augmented reality or virtual reality. The second metaverse is the “blockchain metaverse” which allows for digital commerce in a decentralized manner though technology such as NFTS or virtual real estate.
Declining but not out
In the report, DappRadar noted that trading fell by 91% in virtual metaverse worlds during Q3 to just $90 million and volume of the top 10 metaverse projects fell by 80%. Land sales only saw a 37.54% decline with floor prices of virtual land declining by 75%.
The Sandbox and Decentraland have remained very popular projects even with all of the rumors of very low attendance numbers circulating. The information given by DappRadar states that The Sandbox has an average of 750 wallets interacting with its contracts a day and has a 4x active wallet count in the marketplace. The users on Decentraland are similar at around 792 users a day since May. The consensus made by the DappRadar report is that there is still interest in the growing technology.
“Despite economic uncertainty that the markets currently face, the interest in metaverse platforms keeps consolidating at growing rates.”
This is good news as metaverse- based tokens continue to take a dive in value following in the steps of the crypto market as a whole.
Metaverse worlds such as Decentraland , CryptoVoxels, and Somnium Space are pushing towards a more social utility while The Sandbox, Treeverse, and EmberSword are all play-to-earn with virtual real estate attached. Each world has its own unique offering that can be used to gain the attention of future users.
Though gaming platforms and virtual land has seen big drops it does not signify the death of the technology. More companies are deciding what role the metaverse can play for them as companies such as Meta continue to push forward with their offerings despite dismal numbers in attendance.
The future of the internet is at stake as we build towards a web3 future, whether that future entails the use of NFTs, VR, AR,or AI infrastructure is still up for debate. The metaverse does not have a direct definition as of yet and could possibly need a few more years before it is even established to a point of being used by the masses.
Currently there may not be many who can tell you what NFTs, web3, or the metaverse is , you may not have a friend who understands the technology at all, and it could take a while for them to wrap their head around it. The fact is that the metaverse is here and web3 is in every facet of news lately; TV, Radio, the internet, social media. As the technology continues to grow and the various different use cases continue to come to light one can be assured that the metaverse will be even more of a conversational topic in the future.