Metaverse (or metavers), deeptech, NFT, web3... the Internet seems to have entered a new revolution in recent months. In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook's parent company, Meta, announced with great fanfare the company's transition to the "metaverse", predicting a new revolution in the web sector.
A veritable fusion between the physical and digital worlds, where everyone lives as a digitized double, this device, already in the making at Microsoft, Apple and other digital players, is still struggling to convince some people. Between the promises of metaverses, the crypto revolution and new digital uses (NFT, virtual reality...), does what is already being called "web3" have the potential to become a "deeptech" and change the world profoundly?
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The metaverse: a breakthrough innovation?
We speak of "deeptech" to name innovations capable of creating disruption, and changing society in a lasting way. Uberization and social media, to take just two examples, can be qualified as such in view of their fundamental impact on today's world.
Yet it's hard to know whether the metaverse will have the same revolutionary potential tomorrow.
Metaverses are generally defined as persistent, massively multi-user 3D universes capable of ushering in the era of a new Internet. Originally based on limited interfaces (keyboard/mouse), the digital world may well in future be accessible via haptic devices capable of physically bringing users into a new, more complete experience.
For expert Frédéric Cavazza, we need to be wary of a metaverse theorized in earlier years, when digital technology was in its infancy, and focus instead on current technological developments. Today's innovations, in fields as diverse as professional collaboration, entertainment, advertising and video games, are undoubtedly more likely to foreshadow the metaverse than the Epinal images that would have us believe that the metaverse is a vast, interoperable and paradisiacal virtual universe... and probably idealized.
Metaverses are generally defined as persistent, massively multi-user 3D universes capable of ushering in the era of a new Internet.
The metaverse, the gateway to new (virtual) worlds?
Surfing on the gradual but seemingly inexorable metamorphosis of gaming platforms into versatile metaverses, many companies are investing heavily in the field. Several GAFAMs are actively working on the subject:
- Meta, of course, recently announced that its social network would soon be overhauled in the form of a unified metaverse (dedicated to users' social experience and data collection), a logical development that fits in with the long-term strategy of the company that bought Oculus VR, now Meta Quest, in 2014.
- Then there's Microsoft, which is seeking to unify all the collaboration spaces offered by its online tools (Teams, in particular) within a "collaborator metaverse", the ultimate connected experience for office life (and teleworking in particular) and the professional collaboration of tomorrow.
In this context, the interoperability of services and technologies is already shaping up to be a key factor in the development of metaverses. The plural is de rigueur, as all services are likely to coexist within a galaxy of competing offerings, as are gaming networks and platforms, for example.
Hybridization of metaverse technologies
In France, numerous start-ups, including several valued as unicorns, are already proposing exciting developments in our web uses - working in particular on the fusion between digital and physical uses.
Far removed, a priori, from the tech sector, other brands are developing their value proposition by hybridizing metaverse technologies with their area of specialty. This is the case in the sports sector, where the image of innovator is crucial, where Adidas buys space in Sandbox, and Nike in Roblox. The latter had already announced its intention to launch virtual sneaker lines in the metaverse, by acquiring specialized agency RTFKT.
How can these companies be transformed into virtual retailers? While certain professions (in design and communications) could find unprecedented opportunities here, others (such as industrial manufacturing) will be irrevocably called upon to change if this trend becomes more pronounced among such long-established players in fashion and sportswear.
But the American giants aren't the only ones seizing on the eminently promising subject of "Web 3". In France, a number of start-ups, including several valued as unicorns, are already proposing exciting developments in our use of the web - working in particular on the fusion between digital and physical uses.
- Ledger, which combines cryptocurrency wallets with use in the physical world or by reinventing well-established uses, at the frontier between traditional sectors and new ways of experiencing them.
- Sorare, which renews card games thanks to NFT technology, and hybridizes sports betting with the collection of virtual objects valued in crypto.
There are countless potential uses for these "Web 3" technologies in inventing the economies of tomorrow. And the GAFAMs are not the only ones capable of innovating to create tomorrow's "blue ocean". All sectors are potentially affected. And many players are beginning to seize on it in the supply chainWhat about replacing physical travel?
At a time of successive confinements and the explosion of remote contacts, the subject seems more promising than ever, and should have an impact on all sectors of communication, of course, but also financial exchanges, data, and no doubt even tourism, catering and culture. Some local authorities have already understood this: Seoul is one of the first cities to announce the development of its own localized metaverse, for example.
It's up to each industry to seize on metaverses and similar technologies to disrupt their markets and transform society to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Metaverses also have their detractors
Yet the metaverse is not universally appealing. For Elon Musk, a major influencer of global tech trends, these technologies are merely a buzzword. The SpaceX and Tesla boss sees other territories to explore, space-based ones in particular, rather than the prospect of having "a screen glued to your eyes all day." From another perspective, but with a similar tone of voice, Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, recently expressed his distrust of economic bubbles, making it clear that a luxury economy must remain rooted in reality.
The digital scarcity of NFTs, seen as artificial, attracts his distrust while fanning the flames of potential risks to his brands' image (as is already the case with social networks). For Bernard Arnault, the vocation of a luxury brand is not to "sell virtual sneakers for 10 euros". No doubt Nike's decision-makers don't share this vision.
At the same time, the development of web3 is not without its inevitable ecological challenges: between the growing need for energy and rare earths for terminal design, and the exponential consumption of bandwidth requiring an explosion in connection needs. These needs are already growing, according to a study by the French Senate, and web3 could only fuel an explosion in demand.
Acculturation for innovation
As fascinating as they are divisive, "web3" and the metaverse share the revolutionary potential of all deeptech. In the same way that digital technology initially groped and provoked mistrust before finding its function, and integrating usage, from the first forums to networks and Web 2.0, the massive disruption of metaverses will take place over time, and will associate persistent worlds, cryptocurrencies and decentralized exchanges.
At every level of the economic fabric, at every point in the value chain, it would be a pity, even a shame, for all businesses to neglect the potential of these technologies. Not necessarily to overturn their practices and objectives overnight, but to develop an active watch, curiosity and innovation projects capable of opening up the perspectives of these new technologies. Without over-investing in these subjects, it's up to companies to seize the opportunity to explore the business and social possibilities of these new virtual territories.
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