Into the metaverse: Asia’s early adopters can’t get enough – but pitfalls remain in virtual future

Investors and companies are scrambling to carve out a piece of the internet’s ‘next chapter’, which promises to revolutionise how people interact online

Amid a flurry of global interest, Asia has not been immune – but some question whether Big Tech should be allowed to dominate metaverse development

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A visitor experiences a virtual reality headset at the 4th China International Import Expo in Shanghai last month. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:30am, 4 Dec 2021Updated: 9:12pm, 4 Dec 2021

Imagine a shared virtual world where you could socialise, game and live as an avatar, try out the latest fashions without ever leaving the comfort of your own home and use cryptocurrency to buy intangible representations of almost anything you liked, backed by non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or other digital assets. This is the future that awaits us, if tech enthusiasts’ “metaverse” predictions come true.

Touted as the next stage in the development of the internet, the metaverse is a broad concept that is fast becoming a buzzword in the worlds of technology and business. A portmanteau of “meta” – meaning “beyond” or “after” – and “universe”, the word first appeared in 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash to refer to a futuristic digital world that was near-indistinguishable from the real thing.

No such fully realised metaverse yet exists but that has not stopped US tech companies from falling over themselves in recent months to announce their own forays into the space. The flurry of interest has shown few signs of abating and Asia is not immune to the trend, as around the world investors and companies scramble to latch onto what many see as the next big thing.

In the metaverse, you could buy an NFT of some limited edition Nike trainers, for example, to exchange for the actual pair of shoes from one of the company’s physical stores. Or you could, as Singapore’s DBS bank imagined, pull on a full-body haptic suit made by Tesla and virtually visit a Lululemon store in New York City to faithfully simulate the experience of trying on clothes before you buy.

The metaverse market will be worth an estimated US$800 billion by 2024, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, and items that can only be accessed in the virtual realm are already changing hands for eye-watering sums. In The Sandbox – a virtual world where players can build, own and monetise their gaming experiences – one user recently bought an NFT of an ultra-luxury mega yacht that features a DJ booth, two helipads and a hot tub for around US$650,000. Singaporean mandopop star JJ Lin, meanwhile, blew about US$90,000 last month on three virtual plots of land in the online world Decentraland.

While excitement is high and money is pouring in, with numerous tech giants clamouring to build out their own virtual worlds, analysts are more conservative about the internet’s newest frontier and say that the one metaverse to rule them all is still years away.

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