7 Top Technologies for Metaverse Development

The metaverse is an emerging, evolving space whose definition can vary greatly depending on who you ask. At this point in time, the challenge is to compile a comprehensive and reliable list of technologies that will help the metaverse thrive over the next decade. We managed it.

“We look at metaverses as not a specific group of technologies per se, because they are made up of multiple technologies,” observed Marty Resnick, vice president analyst at Gartner. Instead, “we see them as technology themes.” Spatial computing, digital humans, virtual spaces, shared experiences, games and signed assets are among these themes, Resnick said, and they encompass a range of technologies that will help power the metaverse’s development. .

Similarly, Forrester Research characterizes these types of technologies as “enablers of 3D development environments” that can do sophisticated modeling, according to JP Gownder, vice president and principal analyst. As a result, he explained, organizations will need professionals skilled in 3D modeling and familiar with Unity and Unreal game engines. Other required skills will depend on what is being programmed – for example IoT skills for digital twins. “Most companies will not have these skills right now,” Gownder noted, “and will have to outsource or recruit talent.”

Metaverse-enabling technologies can range from game engines to digital twins to augmented reality that converge to address real-world problems in new ways, added Jason Warnke, senior managing director and global digital experience leader at IT consultancy Accenture. “A nascent company could completely build out its own metaverse before ever making a real move into the real world,” Warnke surmised. “It can build a digital twin that lays out exactly what a factory will look like before a brick is ever laid. Before they take a single dollar or swipe a credit card, they might have laid out its own NFT system.”

“The Corporate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Metaverse,” by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), identifies the following three categories of technologies that define the metaverse:

Metaverse worlds (M-worlds). Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR). Web3 and virtual assets.

M-worlds are immersive applications that offer companies new ways to reach audiences, especially Generation Z users. M-worlds can work on mobile devices, as well as computers and AR/VR headsets. Web3 is in its early stages, but according to the BCG guide’s authors, “is already powering a vibrant virtual asset economy that includes cryptocurrencies, NFTs. [non-fungible tokens] and smart contracts.” The consulting firm expects Web3 and traditional financial transactions to co-exist for the foreseeable future. In fact, the authors see “much of the value of the metaverse may ultimately lie not in consumers but in business applications.” includes virtual meetings, training sessions, new product designs and providing virtual tours of homes to prospective clients.

Based on expert opinions and extensive research, we narrowed our list down to seven of the most mentioned technologies that will help power the metaverse and its development.

1. Artificial intelligence

AI plays a core role in the development of bots and chatbots, bringing intelligence to computer vision in the real world. But according to BCG, only 10% of companies report significant AI benefits from their deployment. AI’s processing capabilities can create metaverse avatars, enhance the characteristics of digital humans to make them more lifelike, and be applied to non-player characters that interact with players in game environments.

2. Internet of things

The Blockchain Council refers to IoT as “an important pillar of the metaverse infrastructure.” For example, the metaverse and IoT integrated together can “unlock new opportunities for industrial domain, individual needs and social requirements,” the council reported. IoT will allow virtual spaces to seamlessly access and interact with the real world, while the metaverse will provide the 3D user interface for the IoT device cluster, leading to what the council calls “a user-centric IoT and metaverse experience.” In a factory where the digital twin of each machine has sensors, for example, sensor data can be used to explore environments and provide feedback, Gownder said.

3. Augmented reality

AR, VR and MR technologies will transform the way businesses visualize and use data by moving from 2D to 3D for more realistic experiences and digital displays that better synchronize with head movements, according to BCG. When AR glasses become more mainstream, computer vision will help people understand the environment and detect the right information. Augmented reality (XR) is already used, for example, in Microsoft’s HoloLens, which allows users to experience 3D holographic images as if they were part of their environment.

4. Brain-computer interfaces

Although the World Economic Forum (WEF) includes brain-computer interfaces on its list of technologies that will shape the metaverse, Gownder believes BCIs are “science fiction for now … Find me someone using BCI for business.” WEF acknowledges that BCI is “perhaps the most far-reaching vision for the metaverse” as the technology aims to replace traditional control screens and physical hardware. Still, the forum noted that BCI and XR combined “position themselves as the next computing platforms in their own right.”

5. 3D modeling and reconstruction

3D reconstruction captures the shape and appearance of real objects and will make the metaverse a reality. The technology includes tools such as 3D modeling to provide a three-dimensional framework and prototype of a specific process or product. For perspective, the global 3D reconstruction technology market is expected to double over the next few years to more than $2 billion by 2030, according to a SkyQuest Technology Consulting report.

6. Spatial and edge calculation

Spatial computing combines AR, VR and MR to interact with the real world, and edge computing can provide the fast response time to user actions that mimic reality and keep users immersed in the metaverse. Any kind of spatial technology — including computer vision — is very relevant to metaverse, Gownder said, adding “being able to place an avatar, collaboration, it’s all about the spatial dimension.”

7. Blockchain

Blockchain isn’t “super relative to employee or enterprise metaverses today,” Gownder surmised. Yet discussions focus on how the technology can be used to secure digital content and data in the metaverse. Blockchain can play a role in decentralizing the metaverse to avoid delays or single points of failure.

What’s on the horizon

Deloitte defines digital humans as avatars – AI-powered humanoid virtual beings – that can engage in human conversation by interpreting a customer’s language and returning not only the facts the customer needs, but also the appropriate nonverbal response.

Gartner’s Resnick pointed to a use case in which a company is building a virtual customer experience center for networking, socializing or transactions. “When you think about the scale of the metaverse,” he surmised, “I can’t staff [it] 24 hours a day and I can’t handle a large number of people coming into that room. So, I can use digital people to be that conversational AI or … non-player characters that can act as a representative of my organization.” Companies can provide a presence, engage with customers and build trust. “I want seeing a face of the organization as opposed to billboards,” Resnick added. “That’s one of the many use cases we’re seeing.”

Gartner also predicts that enterprises will likely focus first on virtual spaces and shared experiences. Probably the biggest area of ​​investment in the next few years will be in what Gartner calls intraverse technologies. “An intraverse,” Resnick explained, “is essentially how we look at building internal virtual environments for the use of employee communication, collaboration, onboarding and training. It’s another way of saying we create our own virtual office.” By 2027, Gartner predicted, fully virtual workspaces will reimagine the office experience and account for 30% of enterprise investment growth in metaverse technologies.

Esther Shein is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in various online and print publications. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of Datamation.com. She was also a senior writer at eWeek (formerly PC Week) magazine and worked at The Associated Press and for community newspapers. She has a BS in broadcast journalism from Boston University. She is a member of the Internet Press Guild.