If you don’t keep up with tech news,
the Metaverse may have sounded like an entirely new concept in 2021. That was largely thanks to Meta (formerly Facebook) going all-in on the ambitious digital idea, rebranding it via an expensive marketing campaign. Never mind that the Metaverse has
already existed for over a decade thanks to games like
Roblox,
Fortnite, and even Second Life. With Mark Zuckerberg on board, the public was finally paying attention.
Now that it’s a hip and marketable concept, you can expect companies to get even more explicit about the connection between gaming and the Metaverse in 2022. It’s likely that we’ll see more projects that aren’t so much video games as they are sandboxes where players can hang out in virtual space (with or without a VR headset). Expect more
in-game concerts, special events, and digital goods that can be purchased with V-Bucks style currency. The line between “game” and “experience” is going to get very blurry.