what new features are expected in 2023?

Zilber

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Last year, the metaverse didn’t really deliver on all of its promises. Despite the colossal investments of various giants, the digital worlds accessible in augmented or virtual reality have not yet broken through. The general public, caught up in the economic crisis and inflation, is struggling to take an interest in the metaverse. VR headset sales in 2022 prove it. Over the past year, this market has shrunk by 12% worldwide.

This lack of interest is visible in France. According to a study by publisher GetApp, 49% of French people do not know the metaverse and only 8% of respondents are already connected to a digital world. To convince consumers of the revolution that the metaverse represents, brands will have to roll up their sleeves in 2023. the great novelties in the manufacturers’ boxes for the next twelve months.

Read also: Orange and the major European operators want Big Tech to pay to prepare the metaverse
Main Meta improvements


The metaverse is the great obsession of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Meta. To bring his dream to life, the billionaire injected over $21 billion in Reality Labs, the metaverse division, within two years. So far without success.

metaverse legs horizon worlds

Horizon avatars © Meta

Horizon Worlds, the virtual reality world created by Meta, is the laughing stock of internet users…and corporate employees alike. They regularly fail to connect to the platform, believing it is not up to date. In this context, the metaverse fell short of its objectives. Horizon Worlds doesn’t matter than 200,000 monthly active users, far from Meta’s expectations. Initially, the company hoped to pass the 500,000 user milestone before 2023.

To raise the bar, Mark Zuckerberg announced the arrival of a handful of novelties. First, the company will refine the Horizon Worlds experience. The giant will focus on improved performance and graphics. Meta has indeed committed to ” major Horizon graphics updates », with various supporting illustrations.

Horizon Worlds avatars should also evolve. Mocked on social networks, Mark Zuckerberg promised launch more realistic 3D avatars in the near future. Above all, Meta plans to offer a pair of legs to its metaverse’s avatars. It is clear that the California company wants to move away from simplistic images that scare off internet users.

meta horizon worlds web

An example of a link to the web version of Horizon Worlds shared on Messenger © Meta

In a second step, Meta will launch a version of Horizon Worlds accessible through a web browser, without the need for a virtual reality headset. Thanks to this web version, Meta will be able to build bridges between its still very popular social networks and its unloved metaverse. This version should therefore help the company to attract more internet users. Having aroused the (moderate) curiosity of technophiles, Meta now needs to attract the attention of the general public… and they don’t necessarily want to invest in a helmet.

The long-awaited arrival of Apple


Is this the right time? According to a bundle of leaks, Apple is finally ready to enter the virtual and augmented reality industry. The brand would present a mixed reality headset from June 2023. A first presentation of the accessory is planned at WWDC 2023 developer conference before its launch in the fall. Observers expect Apple’s foray to boost the entire VR market.

To accompany its hybrid headset, the Cupertino group would like to deploy its own metaverse. This digital world would consist of a huge range of 3D experiences, within which internet users could interact. Apple is also said to have developed a video-on-demand service featuring 3D programs produced by big names in Hollywood cinema.

The emergence of augmented reality


Under the impetus of Apple, augmented reality should continue to become popular. The American company has never hidden its appetite for AR experiences. For Apple CEO Tim Cook, augmented reality is elsewhere a breakthrough as crucial as the internet :

“In the future, people will wonder how we ever lived without augmented reality. Just like today, we wonder how people like me grew up without the internet”.
That’s why the brand’s first helmet should be a hybrid accessory, which combines virtual and augmented reality. Meta should also participate in the popularization of augmented reality. Last year, Mark Zuckerberg’s group also unveiled its first mixed reality headset, the Meta Quest Pro. The high-end headset is mainly aimed at professionals and is primarily designed to display AR experiences. Meta has focused its communication on collaborative workwith a virtual desktop that appears to be on top of reality.


At the same time, the outsider HTC continues to enrich its range of AR accessories. The Taiwanese company also lifts the veil on the VIVE XR Elite, a solution that is halfway between the VR headset and the AR glasses. Marketed for over $1,000, it competes directly with Meta’s Quest Pro.

Note that augmented reality has established itself as one of the most important trends in the CES 2023. In Las Vegas, industry giants and many start-ups gave demonstrations related to augmented reality. These include TCL’s AR/VR goggles, the RayNeo X2. Powered by a Snapdragon XR2 processor, for example, they can display an instantaneous translation in front of the wearer’s eyes. You will have understood: almost everyone ends up in augmented reality.


snapchat, the video sharing application, will also continue to contribute to the popularity of AR technologies. The app will roll out a host of new experiences later this year. In particular, in collaboration with Orange, Snapchat plans to develop playful AR solutions based on 5G networks.
For Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, it is rather augmented reality that represents the future of the metaverse. Virtual reality, which cuts off the user from the real world, is of less interest to the company. Note that AR experiences have also multiplied on other social networks, including the now essential TikTok. Through filters and other effects, the general public is gradually becoming familiar with this technology.

“More than 250 million people use augmented reality on Snapchat every day”explains Snapchat in a press release.
It’s all abouta first step towards augmented reality. By 2025, pairs of connected AR glasses will flood the market. Meta would like to launch its first AR glasses in 2024. To achieve its goal, the Menlo Park company turned to the specialist Ray-Ban. It is rumored that Apple would start competing with Meta glasses from 2026 the Apple glasses. Even if the latest news from this front indicates rather that the project would be put on hold indefinitely, the time is when available technologies mature. When it arrives, the project should boost sales of AR glasses and accessories… and could boost adoption of the metaverse.

sell future vr headsets

Projection of sales of VR/AR devices. CSS insight
Blockchain metaverse competition


At the same time, blockchain-based digital worlds should continue to offer strong alternatives to Horizon Worlds. Despite the cryptocurrency crash, these platforms have plenty of new things up their sleeves. Early January, The sandpitThe reverse made in Francealso has a new version of the Games makerthe frame that facilitates the design of experiences and games on the blockchain.

Thank you for making last year’s favorite moments a reality and for being a part of this incredible community. Together we are building a decentralized virtual world with $SANDNations #NFTs owned by you!
💙

— The Sandbox (@TheSandboxGame) January 10, 2023
Less well known, the metaverse Somnium space has planned to release its own virtual reality headset later this year, the Somnium VR1. The company allows buyers to design accessories compatible with the helmet using 3D printing.

In addition, another blockchain metaverse will see the light of day in 2023: xWorlds. Based on the blockchain of MultiversX, formerly Elrond, this virtual world promises high-flying graphics and a plethora of features for cryptocurrency and NFT holders.

The invasion of brands curbed


Between 2021 and 2022, numerous brands have entered metaverse under the influence of Meta. For example, Samsung opened a virtual store in Decentraland. In the same world, Netflix has set up a room dedicated to the movie The Gray Man. We also remember Nikeland, Nike’s virtual reality store, within Roblox.


These brands have paid significant sums to buy lots and install virtual properties on them. Asked by 01net, Philippe Buyens, managing director of real estate brokerage Capifrance, believes that brands had no choice but to invest in land in the metaverse:

“Some players, especially those who missed the e-commerce revolution, are taking positions because these will become meeting places for their customers.”
This trend is expected to continue later this year as technologies such as virtual reality become mainstream. The economic crisis must partially curb the passion brands. The impending recession therefore threatens to hamper the boom in virtual real estate. However, it would only be a setback, believes Philippe Buyens:

“The crisis may slow down the democratization of the metaverse a bit, but that won’t stop its development”.
The inevitable combination with AI


There has been a lot of talk in recent months about generative artificial intelligences, such as ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion or Character.AI. Thanks to machine learning, these tools can simulate a conversation, design images in seconds or answer an infinite number of questions.

It can be expected that this trend will not take long to combine with that of the metaverses. For example, by combining technologies such as AI with mixed reality, the internet user can interact with an intelligent and realistic simulation in VR/AR. That chat bots can take care of customer support in virtual stores.

Given recent advances in the language model, this is no longer science fiction. With this in mind, Freshworks, a software publisher specializing in chat botsworks, director Simon Ma explains Tech Wire Asia:

“In the metaverse, users will interact not only with other users, but also with digital avatars that are 3D versions of chat bots. Powered by conversational AI, these digital avatars will be able to respond and […] to help customers shop online”.
We close this article with the prediction of Michael Kagan, Nvidia technical director responsible for the Nvidia Omniverse, the cloud collaborative metaverse:

“If 2022 was the year the metaverse caught global attention, 2023 will be the year it becomes a reality for all types of users: consumers, employees, researchers and more.”
See you on the same date, a year from now, to see if this optimistic momentum has materialized…
 
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