Bain & Company, a prominent American management consulting company, has claimed in a press release that the metaverse market size could reach up to a massive $900 billions by the end of 2030, despite recent headlines that suggested the hype is dying down.
The virtual world has undoubtedly managed to attract astronomical steam around the globe with dozens of companies splurging tens of thousands of dollars to ramp up their virtual presence. Leading companies like Meta and Google are taking bold steps toward creating their own versions of virtual worlds.
In recent years, a variety of industries including car brands, luxury fashion giants, insurance companies, banking firms, and a number of real estate companies among many others are increasingly capitalizing on the endless possibilities the metaverse offers, which could be a potential trillion-dollar opportunity in the near future.
Firms Engaging in Metaverse Will Become Market Winners
Owing to this tremendous traction, Bain & Company has just revealed that the metaverse could reach up to $900 billion by 2030, although it may remain in the “seed stage” for at least another five to ten years.
The seed stage is the earliest stage of a company/concept’s development. The consulting firm suggested companies that engage in the metaverse’s seed stage, over the next five to 10 years, are more likely to become the “market winners”.
According to the official press release, Bain & Company emphasized that the virtual world offers a diverse and rich set of growing economic opportunities for businesses, extending new ways to engage with users including other benefits such as increased flexibility, improved collaboration, and enhanced customer engagement.
It will revolutionize e-commerce
In fact, this interconnected virtual reality is poised to revolutionize not only an individual’s social life but also the very fabric of business and commerce. In addition, Bain’s new report, “Taking the Hyperbole Out of the Metaverse” suggested that it is unlikely the virtual world will emerge as one singular platform.
Instead, platforms with large user bases today may take steps to become increasingly immersive and engaging, while smaller, metaverse-like environments will try to attract bigger user bases. Chris Johnson, a partner in Bain’s Technology practice, said,
“While it’s not immediately clear how the metaverse landscape will shift, our research shows there are five competitive battlegrounds that executives should be considering if they wish to get ahead and eventually scale. This is an ongoing journey toward more immersive and collaborative experiences, enabled by rapid improvements in the underlying technology.”
As suggested by Johnson, the five key competitive battlegrounds that executives should consider if they want to gain market share in the metaverse are – Virtual experiences, Content-creation tools, App stores and operating systems, Devices and Computing and infrastructure.
Not only Bain & Company but scores of other market experts believe the virtual experiences presents a huge opportunity for businesses to create new revenue streams and engage with customers in innovative ways. Recently, Pew Research Center and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center conducted a survey regarding the impact of the metaverse by 2040.
Out of the 624 participants, 54% said that they expect by 2040 the metaverse will be a much-more-refined and truly fully-immersive, well-functioning aspect of daily life for a half billion or more people globally and emerge as a powerful platform for commerce, featuring virtual stores, shopping centers, and even virtual real estate.
Is the Metaverse really dying?
Meanwhile, in regards to “metaverse hype dying down”, Vishal Shah, Meta’s VP of Meta’s Metaverse, had recently explained, “It’s not the metaverse itself that perished, but rather the hype surrounding it.” He noted the market appears bleak from an outsider’s viewpoint, as leading companies continue to shut down their virtual reality divisions at an alarming rate, including Disney and Microsoft.
Vishal Shah has new priorities amid the metaverse bust. https://t.co/l1Gty4fkWf
— FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) July 12, 2023
However, in reality, Shah claimed the metaverse isn’t dying or already dead, noting that everyone has just been looking in the wrong direction. The Meta exec added,
“I think the metaverse hype is dead. I think we were in a hype cycle. Like any new thing, and those invested last year, because it wasn’t the hype. We didn’t invest for the hype, we have been investing in the space for years.”
