How Do You Build a Digital City?
How Do You Build a Digital City?
Many companies are currently following Zuckerberg’s Metaverse investment strategy, even as some industry experts predict it may take decades for the metaverse to be fully realized. Beyond companies, some cities are already trying to make those worlds a reality by actively developing virtual environments for citizens. Seoul has invested approximately $3 million in “Metaverse Seoul” as parts of its Vision 2030 plan. While only a smartphone pilot has been released, plans for the service include a virtual city hall and space to host and attend cultural events.
Dubai, which holds the 18th spot in that Economist ranking, in July unveiled plans to become “one of the world’s top 10 metaverse economies” by 2030. In the Caribbean, Barbados established a diplomatic embassy on a competing platform called Decentraland.
Individual developers and large corporations are creating metaverse spaces that could function as essential parts. Office spaces are being built up by many teams around the world, such as South Korean start-up Zigbang’s virtual office program ‘Soma’ and video-based teleworking platforms like Gather or Meta’s Horizon Workrooms.
Consultants forecast profitable opportunities. BCG predicts that the total AR/VR/MR markets will approach $47 billion by 2025 from $16 billion just last year, with VR accounting for roughly half of that valuation and mass adoption coming by the end of the decade.
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