Social metaverses

With Meta Life we aim to create an open world where players can meet friends, cooperate during special events, trade assets, explore stunning environments and live a unique experience through their virtual identity.

In the segment of social metaverses - that is, metaverses that focus on creating an environment that enhances social interactions between players -, operate a certain number of projects either at an early stage (eg Decentraland or Horizon Worlds) or at more mature phases of their existence (eg Second Life or Habbo).

The distinguishing aspect of Meta Life is its decentralized aspect and its use of cutting-edge graphics engine UE5, relying on the blockchain and allowing its users to fully own the assets they use to improve their digital experience while also maintaining a Triple A quality visual experience.

Let's dive in.

While the term 'metaverse' was first used in 1992, its first use cases were found in the early 2010s mostly referring to scenes and visual experiences lived through two combined images or videos (ie the concept of Binocular Vision). But metaverses - that is, virtual spaces where people can meet and interact with each other - actually date back to the early days of the internet.

Second Life

• Created in 2003, considered as the first metaverse and still accessible today

• Over 70 million registered accounts

• Around 500 000 MAUs as of February 2022

• Over $600 million in total revenue generated by June 2021

Habbo

• Created in 2000

• 800,000 monthly users as of January 2021

• 10,5 million $ of revenue generated in 2013 (last public number)

In the early 2000s, when Second Life and Habbo were created, the concept itself of a metaverse was purely speculative and reserved to a scientific core of research that was investigating the future of life-emulating possibilities through AI and Computer Engineering. No-one, back in 2003, considered Second Life or Habbo to be metaverses. It is only now, in the early 2020s, that we look back to such ventures as the first functional, virtual social experiences and label them as 'metaverses'.

As the Metaverse (ie the concept) was gathering market awareness and technology improved accordingly, more businesses and sectors were investigating the possibility to position themselves in an emerging market with promises of creating the next virtual space. Meta is looking into a business and corporate-oriented metaverse with Horizon Worlds. Steven Spielberg envisioned a dystopian world of Virtual and Augmented Reality that he adapted to the movie industry with Ready Player One. Web3 businesses and entrepreneurs began to see an opportunity to combine decentralization of assets and virtual reality to give the power to players (eg Decentraland).

Decentraland

• Open to the public in January 2020

• A record of over 465,000 MAUs by the end of 2021

• Has a governance token, $MANA, whose ATH was $5.48 in November 2021

• Raised $26,203,082 in ETH through its ICO in August 2017

• More than 167,000 asset sales made on its marketplace, for a total volume of over $258 million (September 2022)

Horizon Worlds

• Created in December 2021

• Available in only 5 countries

• 300,000 total users by February 2022

• 10,000 virtual spaces created by its users, in February 2022

• Only accessible via a Meta Quest headset

With a clear focus on functionality and in their aim to answer a niche demand (corporate demand for Horizon Worlds, early Web3 adopters for Decentraland, and adolescents in search of social discovery for Habbo and Second Life), recent metaverses have each put aside visually appealing graphics that would speak to the mass-market.

Meta Life aims to take the best of both recent and mature metaverses to create an unforgettable and optimal social experience for all players to enjoy, on top of marvelous graphics. While our mission isn't to emulate real life, but rather to create a new virtual one, we are still focused on making sure players can thrive together through various activities, games, challenges, events and adventures with the benefit of being the true owners of their in-world assets thanks to Blockchain technology.