The Metaverse Is Still Evolving
Without the glare of the spotlight, the metaverse movement pushes on to improve interoperability, avatars and more.
“THE AVATAR IS SO IMPORTANT TO EVERYBODY ON OUR PLATFORM, EVERYBODY IN THE COMMUNITY, INCLUDING BRANDS.” CHRISTINA WOOTTON, ROBLOX
Now that the metaverse has given up its title of “It” technology to artificial intelligence — and it looks like AI won't let go anytime soon — one might be tempted to think of these environments as abandoned buildings ready to be shuttered, as virtual tumbleweeds blow through.
One would be wrong.
The media spotlight may have shifted, but the builders of these virtual worlds have been quite busy. Because there are still brands, users and, for some, bustling gaming communities to serve, along with the same vision of the metaverse as the inevitable online gathering place of the future.
Back in the present, builders have been moving intentionally to improve the experience, add features and refine actions or interactions.
“Fashion in the metaverse is going through a bit of a renaissance this fall,” explained Sam Hamilton, creative director of the Decentraland Foundation. “Our latest addition, the ability to export VRM files [virtual reality model] of your Decentraland avatar for use in other platforms, marks a significant stride in interoperability.
“This feature not only lets users maintain their unique identity across multiple virtual worlds but also provides a golden opportunity for wearable creators in our ecosystem to showcase their designs on various platforms.”
One of the biggest criticisms of the early metaverse was the inability for people to bring their digital belongings or avatarwear from one metaverse to the next. Metaverse Fashion Week in back in the spring featured interoperability as the major overarching theme, with Decentraland partnering with other metaverses, The Sandbox and Over, as cohosts. Now, with VRM, there's a potential standard. If it's adopted broadly, at least by most of the popular platforms, it could go a long way to improving the experience and giving a boost to virtual collectibles and fashion.
Decentraland is slated to hold a special event in collaboration with Mona on Sept. 15 to celebrate VRM, and plans are in the works for the feature to play a central role in the next Metaverse Fashion Week 2024.
Over at Roblox, the company has been revisiting its avatars in recent years, from optionally offering smoother aesthetics than the original blocky forms, once a signature look for the platform since it launched in 2006, to offering facial expressions that can mimic those of their human owners. Most recently, the platform released options for customizable heads and bodies, along with new facial animations.
“What's becoming more and more apparent is how people come together and engage with one another, how they express themselves with their avatars,” said Christina Wootton, chief partnerships officer at Roblox. “That can be creating avatars that feel and look just like them, which makes them even more excited to express themselves for digital fashion and beauty. So the avatar is so important to everybody on our platform, everybody in the community, including brands.”
Wootton cited the company's joint study on metaverse fashion trends released with Parsons School of Design last year, in which 70 percent of Gen Z respondents acknowledged that their avatar and their real-life style influence each other. The same year, Roblox also debuted Layered Clothing, a feature that allowed for more realistic, 3D apparel for its avatars.
New announcements are expected for RDC, the Roblox yearly developer conference in September. Given that the platform has been focused on communication and expressive avatars, it will likely offer more enhancements along this line.
As Decentraland focuses on interoperability, it's worth noting that this is less of a concern for highly populated virtual worlds. While some of these platforms subsist on daily traffic in the three- or four-digit range, Roblox hums with an average of 65.5 million daily active users, according to its latest earnings report. South Korea's top metaverse Zepeto, a chat-based app that also includes gaming features, reports more than 400 million registered users since its launch in 2018. Depending on the list, Minecraft and Fortnite's soaring numbers would apply as well.
Whatever happens to the broader metaverse movement, gaming, as an industry projected at $187.7 billion this year, surely isn't going anywhere. In fact, when it comes to virtual fashion, the sector appears to be doubling down: In May, Epic Games, the Fortnite developer and maker of the Unreal Engine — a game engine also used by numerous companies to create virtual apparel — teamed with CLO Virtual Fashion, a technology typically used for digital design and prototyping, to announce that they have invested in each other.
Numerous firms also told WWD that they're exploring a range of initiatives including newer and more refined wearables; layering augmented reality fashion over blank clothing; artificial intelligence-generated collectibles; “twinning” virtual and physical goods, and more. They are also working on ways to support real-world retail with virtual campaigns, expanded social features and loyalty perks.
Development and investment continue — Zepeto just recently scored a $13 million seed round for its ZTX collaboration with Jump Crypto for an open-world environment, assets and creation tools — while brands such as Gucci, Nike, Balmain, Tommy Hilfiger and others remain on board. In other words, the metaverse and related efforts are still cooking. Only now, it's happening away from the intense heat.