Metaverse Could Contribute Up To 2.4% of US GDP By 2035, Study Shows (reuters.com) 88
A study commissioned by Meta has found that the metaverse could contribute around 2.4% to U.S. annual GDP by 2035, equating to as much as $760 billion. Reuters reports: The concept of the metaverse includes augmented and virtual reality technologies that allow users to immerse themselves in a virtual world or overlay information digitally on images of the real world, according to the report by consulting firm Deloitte. Economic gains may come from the use of the technologies in the defense, medical and manufacturing sectors, plus entertainment use cases such as video games and communication, the report said.
Social media giant Meta, which pivoted its focus on building metaverse technologies in 2021, has forecast the tech would eventually replace mobile as the main computing platform. In a separate report, Meta said the European Union may see an increased economic opportunity of up to 489 billion euros ($538.29 billion) in annual GDP by 2035 or about 1.3%-2.4% of its total GDP. The metaverse could contribute between C$45.3 billion ($33.88 billion) and C$85.5 billion to Canada's annual GDP by 2035, Deloitte said. Last year, a Meta-funded report estimated that metaverse adoption would contribute $3.01 trillion by 2031.
Social media giant Meta, which pivoted its focus on building metaverse technologies in 2021, has forecast the tech would eventually replace mobile as the main computing platform. In a separate report, Meta said the European Union may see an increased economic opportunity of up to 489 billion euros ($538.29 billion) in annual GDP by 2035 or about 1.3%-2.4% of its total GDP. The metaverse could contribute between C$45.3 billion ($33.88 billion) and C$85.5 billion to Canada's annual GDP by 2035, Deloitte said. Last year, a Meta-funded report estimated that metaverse adoption would contribute $3.01 trillion by 2031.
old man yells at cloud (Score:1)
"I'm a big deal!"
Old men are the ones still on Facebook (Score:2)
Move out of the way boomer.
Could (Score:5, Insightful)
Australia could be destroyed by a space colony that was supposed to hit Brazil instead.
But will it?
Re: (Score:3)
Well, a study conducted by me has determined that I'll likely be able to command 3b people's views by 2025. I will promote your product for $10m a year, paid up front. First come first serve.
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Indeed, companies which run internal studies before launching a product usually keep the study data confidential so other competing companies don't jump in the bandwagon too quickly. They even usually wait until the product is production ready and try to keep it secret before launch for the same reasons, take apple products for example. Meta seems more and more desperate to me....
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Well, a study conducted by me has determined that I'll likely be able to command 3b people's views by 2025. I will promote your product for $10m a year, paid up front. First come first serve.
I think this is the most concise summary of the article we'll find. Meta wants to make money, so they're promising they'll make money so they can get investors to give them money so they'll make money. And round and round we go.
How can something that only sorta/kinda exist become 2.4% of GDP? Hype and bullshit. I'll wait until I hear anyone outside of Meta itself talking about the metaverse with anything other than disdain or derision before I buy into it. When the techies and non-techies all agree you suck
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Depends on how evil and bald is the person behind the story
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Australia could be destroyed by a space colony that was supposed to hit Brazil instead.
But will it?
Only if it has free porn.
(...which the "Metaverse" won't. QED.)
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"Up to". 0% will still validate the prediction.
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I don't see a lot of companies investing in anti space-colony products, so I'm guessing that the vast majority of people agree that is far less likely.
Economy is pushed by market creation. No one could have predicted in 1990 that mobile technologies would contribute upwards of $1tn in GDP to the economy, but it does. Writing off the Metaverse at a time where a lot of diverse companies with different interests sharing only in common their desire to make money would be a foolish move.
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You should include a reference to Wall-E from your research to give proper credit. Or maybe RPO?
The metaverse won't ever be what it's envisioned if for no other real than they're trying to create a false scarcity "buy up meta real estate" to sell to people/companies.
Client journalism at work... (Score:5, Insightful)
Somebody accidentally wrote "research" when they meant "glorified press release."
Alternative headline: "Company with massive stake in metaverse being huge says metaverse will be huge."
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Truly... what does the metaverse give? (Score:4, Interesting)
We saw this stuff with Second Life... it went its own way. We have had metaverses before, be it Illuminati Online's metaverse, even Furcadia.
What does Meta's thing bring us? The fact we have to sit watching a screen to stand in a virtual line to have a problem answered, all the while paying for microtransactions like avatar stuff, line placement, a cooler building instead of a county jail?
Meta brings absolutely zero. If I want games, I fire up Steam. Apps? App store. Day to day applications? installed. Meta can't even replace Microsoft Bob.
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It brings a worse vrchat, even after the terrible decisions vrchat took lately.
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It's PlayStation Home but with worse graphics.
It's Wii Chat but on a more expensive platform.
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What does Meta's thing bring us?
More adverts.
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Existential ennui? [youtube.com]
Once you get through all the schadenfreude and fremdschämen, that is.
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I don't understand why these companies don't see the total lack of interest from everyone who doesn't have a financial stake in the "metaverse".
Nobody but them is clamouring for the metaverse, which seems to me to be the shitty, soulless, commercial bits of this world, recreated even more shittily in VR. The value proposal is "Here's an alternate universe, but it largely follows the hierarchical social and economic rules of this one, so... enjoy being both a real and fantasy pleb!"
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ads, it will brings you ads, everywhere, like in a Futurama episode IIRC
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What does Meta's thing bring us? The fact we have to sit watching a screen to stand in a virtual line to have a problem answered, all the while paying for microtransactions like avatar stuff, line placement, a cooler building instead of a county jail?
A too-little-too-late rival to Second Life, which has been doing all that for nearly 20 years.
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Good callout on Second Life!
Agreed - the metaverse is about creating false scarcity: waiting on line, having to 'travel', needing 'real estate', requiring 'materials' to build your phallic statue, etc.
None of those "problems" exist except for a programmer explicitly creating them and requiring something in return. For gaming, it's the point as entertainment. For something meant to be a parallel to real life, it's just stupid.
Wow, I knew the Marvel franchise was doing well .. (Score:3)
I just had no idea it was producing quite that much income. Wait, is the latest John Wick movie part of it, because that might help explain the huge number.
"Could" (Score:5, Interesting)
I *COULD* receive a $20 Million check from Jeff Bezos next week, and I *could* go on a date with Selena Gomez the day after, which I would happily do in the Lamborghini I *could* be gifted by Vin Diesel...who will hopefully take an afternoon to teach me how to drive it.
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I *COULD* receive a $20 Million check from Jeff Bezos next week
Zero people are currently working to make that a reality. On the flip side multiple companies are investing literal $billions into the Metaverse, so the two things are not equally likely. Markets get created, they don't spontaneously appear. It would be foolish to write it off given the amount of corporate interest in it.
Re: "Could" (Score:2)
No one I cross paths with has ever shown any interest in the Metaverse. I have a 10 year old son, neither he or any of his friends have shown any interest in VR.
To me it appears the investments are being made for a product no one really desires.
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wait till the AI gets a hold of it, i can see AI bots buying and selling AI art and news on Meta. Profit?
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Self promotion is not news!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Meta making baseless claims about its Metaverse, --that nobody wants, uses, or intends to use-- is nothing more than smoke blown up Zuck's asshole. If he needs to waste money on fake studies to have fantasies, he's got bigger problems than anyone ever imagined.
Now, When Zuck realizes he has blown billions of dollars on a boondoggle, and is ready to wake up from his own bullshit, by all means, report on it. But THIS is not news.
Re:Self promotion is not news!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Mr. Zuckerberg is handsome and brilliant and is really onto something with this Meta-whatsit.
He should spend more money on it to make it really successful. He should borrow as much money as he possibly can, even if it looks like Facebook can't afford it and his shareholders start getting worried.
In fact those are just signs of how successful Meta-Doohickey is going to be and he should double down even harder.
There is no possibility that Mark Robot had one good idea 20 years ago and is luckier than he is clever.
Re: Self promotion is not news!! (Score:2)
Mod parent insightful. All the metaverse detracters are just too stupid to see the future the way handsome Mark Zuckerberg can. It needs a bit more investment now, but once Mark leads the way by sinking his last penny into it, the result will be awesome and everyone will be praising him for making Metaverse the biggest tech success ever.
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Also clever. Probably a genius. Every idea he has turns to gold.
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Meta making baseless claims about its Metaverse, --that nobody wants, uses, or intends to use--
Meta isn't making any claim. This was a 3rd party study, and even if it were Meta's internal one, ignoring the very real investment in this space by multiple major players is foolish. This is beyond just Zuckerberg's feverdream.
When Zuck realizes he has blown billions of dollars on a boondoggle
I'm not sure why Slashdot has such problems with big numbers. Zuckerberg's investment so far has been minor in the scheme of tech company spending on R&D, and very minor in terms of spending as a percentage of revenue. This is monopoly money to them. It only sounds scary to you b
Metaverse is so really really needed, you see (Score:3)
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Show me the money!!! (Score:1)
And Man could be turning into a Ostrich. (Score:2)
Not to be crude but... (Score:5, Funny)
Not to be crude, but Lana Del Rey has a song with a refrain that says her lady bits taste like Pepsi cola, and compared to a statement by Meta about how good it might be at Meta-ing, I find the possibility that Ms. Del Rey's statement is likely closer to truth than anything Meta has ever commented on any topic.
Can we please.... (Score:1)
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Good point, it's actually called Meta Horizon Worlds.
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If I understand correctly, the "Metaverse" encompasses any and all applications that somehow use or interface with the same technologies as Meta Horizon Worlds, which is just one specific product.
That makes the wild predictions even easier to make, since you get to include undefined, imaginary products that someone else might make over the next 12 years in your projection.
That seems to be part of the shtick. "Oh, our Second Life clone is just the beginning. The whole world will be creating crazy-profitable
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"Welcome to the Grid."
Re:Can we please.... (Score:4, Insightful)
We could call it the Metastasis. After all, Facebook was cancer and this is the next stage.
Investment (Score:4, Interesting)
Amusing quote from the actual report:
"Upside scenario: where global metaverse investment is US$270bn per year over the same time period (2022-2029)"
They claim this could add $3.6 trillion to the global gdp. So all they need is a $2.2 trillion investment! (Which is itself about 1.5% of global gdp, albeit not all at once)
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albeit not all at once
GDP is a time dependent unit. It's very disingenuous to say something is a % of GDP while using a different time base than that defined by GDP.
That said the numbers do seem high even if it is 0.28% of GDP.
Wishful (Score:2)
Metaverse may be the completely wrong approach (Score:4, Interesting)
But now, many people, and I suspect most young people have more training interacting with screens and the online world, than with the physical universe. For those people, the metaverse isn't particularly exciting, its just an obsolete UI.
I don't doubt that there will be a lot of applications for virtual reality, but I don't expect to see it becoming a major paradigm shift. That would be "old people" thinking and as an old person, I can recognize it.
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That's a good point, the "Metaverse" already exists as a set of applications on the Internet that we use it everyday. It certain has nothing to do with Meta Horizon Worlds, which is about as poorly thought out to actually use as the CGI animations from most "computer" movies.
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I remember when VR was all the rage in the 90's. Even back then, when computers were evolving by quantum leaps every month, it seemed stupid.
The only thing we got out of all that goggle tech was 3D TV, and that didn't last, either.
A study commission by Facebook? (Score:4, Insightful)
What a waste of time. You really don't need to read beyond the first sentence: "according to a study commissioned by Facebook"
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Yeah because Slashdot loves ad hominem logic so much. Why not actually read the study and comment on the things you find questionable? Leave the low IQ shitposts to Reddit.
And the monkeys flying out of my butt... (Score:3)
Do the Math (Score:2)
By 2035 you'd have to sell how many of the latest Meta VR headsets to have 3% of GDP flowing through the system....
Would it be in the millions? I think it would have to be. Can Meta even produce that many multi-thousand dollar headsets before 2035?
It seems to assume an adoption rate that is insane.
Study is totally on target (Score:3)
You should believe every word of it. The meta verse will soon be 105% of the economy. Don't be left out! Get in early before it's too late.
This message was paid for by the Friends Of The Zuck Foundation
"A study commissioned by Meta..." (Score:5, Insightful)
I believe it. (Score:4, Insightful)
2.4% is not an insanely huge amount, and VR has a huge amount of potential that is strangely untapped. However, Meta/Facebook is trash, and always will be, and THEIR contribution to that 2.4% aside perhaps from some headset sales to help people get the hardware to access OTHER vr software that does not have the Meta/Facebook stain on it, will be negligible.
I would NEVER do any work inside something Facebook owns, I would never have a chat I didn't want published for all the world to see, I would never trust them or their platform to keep ANYTHING private. They literally have stated they don't believe in privacy. I don't even trust the E2E encryption on WhatsApp ever since they bought it. Maybe the lowercase meta verse will be 2.4% of the economy, but facebook's part in it (other than headsets) will be less than 0.000001%.
Re:I believe it. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
"VR has a huge amount of potential that is strangely untapped"
It's not strange, and it's not untapped. Most people don't want it in its current form and for 99% of applications it's simply a gimmick. Maybe in the distant future when we have the technology to incorporate full sensory feedback so you can feel like you're moving around a real space, maybe it'll be more than a one-and-done thing at that point, but right now it's for casual games and the occasional tech demo.
killer app (Score:3)
Could? Maybe (Score:1)
Lets make sure it never does.
Or it could be a complete failure (Score:2)
Looks more like it will be a complete failure. If they really wanted to safe this old and used idea, they would put in a lot of sex and porn.
That's horrible news (Score:3)
I knew the US economy is shrinking, but this sounds like we're about to party like it's 1929.
Or how about this ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Title should spell out this study was bankrolled b (Score:1)
Second Life could be bigger than FB (Score:2)
But it isn't.
Let's watch FB destroy itself by wasting more and more money on the rehashing Second Life.
Meta lost $4 billion on VR projects this quarter (Score:2)
This "study" is little more than a desperate attempt to justify the huge loses that Meta's VR division keeps racking up (over $17 billion and counting).
There is little chance of the Metaverse ever being any significant part of the GDP. A lot of people and companies jumped in when it first came out because of the novelty of it, but the majority of them left just as fast because novelty isn't enough; you need to provide value or everyone moves on to the next novelty. So far, there's nothing particularly val
Next headlines (Score:2)
"Study paid for by Meta says You'll be Happier and Healthier the more you spend in the Metaverse"
Meta study reveals "Investing more of your time and money in Metaverse will make the world a better place for... reasons"
Stupid Helmets for Everyone! (Score:2)
This is going to be great! Meta helmets will make people the new Glassholes!
Sure... (Score:1)
Whatever you say, Mr. Zuck!
The moron market (Score:2)
Pure Self Promotion (Score:2)
This remnids me of... (Score:2)
...all the dumbies who claimed "VR IS THE FUTURE!" back in the 90s... LOL
Really (Score:1)
Thus proving that it's physically possible... (Score:2)
To blow smoke up your own ass.
Who can't use it ... (Score:2)
A surprisingly large number of people can't use VR (or it is horrible to use) .. 20% of people can't see VR or 3D movies properly ...
30% get massive motion sickness
the majority get mild motion sickness and/or eye strain after a fairly short time
It's the next "touchscreen is the future", where so many people are discovering that thy are fine for short term interactions but hopeless for any length of use longer than a few minutes
This is good news for me... (Score:2)
I always wanted to buy a bridge.
Perespective (Score:2)
The study claims the Metaverse is supposed to be 2.4% of US GDP in 2035. To put that in perspective, in 12 years Meta expects this to go from being worth 0.0% to being worth more than:
-Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (basically, all food production), which is 0.9% of GDP.
-Mining, including oil and natural gas, which is 1.4% of GDP. Please note that these fist two combined, representing the value of pretty much all of the countries natural resources, is 2.3%, still less than the claimed value of t
Ah another magic word. (Score:2)
What About Big Tobacco? (Score:1)
Maybe money isn't the only thing that matters?