How democratizing the metaverse will drive its growth

As the metaverse buzz surges and more organizations continue to discuss and adopt emerging technologies like Web3 and blockchain, the metaverse is poised to become “the future of the internet,” according to Scott Keeney, chief metaverse officer at TSX Entertainment. The numbers of early adopters are rising, with Statista reporting 74% of U.S. adults are joining or considering joining the metaverse. A report by McKinsey further indicates 57% of companies that are aware of the metaverse have become early adopters. 

Another survey by McKinsey reveals investors spent over $120 billion on metaverse development in the first five months of 2022 — over double the $57 billion invested in 2021. As a result, the metaverse is on track to becoming a $5 trillion industry in the next 8 years. For context, this is the size of Japan’s economy, which is the third-largest in the world. So, it’s no surprise that leaders across diverse industries are gradually positioning themselves as key players in the metaverse and Web3.

However, access inequality, technical barriers, privacy, security and other challenges will continue to threaten the growth of the metaverse and Web3, if left unattended. Some of these limitations inspired cofounders Danny Mozlin (CEO) and Zach Hirsch (CMO) to build Mozverse. With Mozverse, they aim to democratize the metaverse by “providing a virtual platform that’s compatible with more hardware and not limited to users with high-performance desktops.”

In an interview with VentureBeat, Hirsch detailed how the Miami-based company is contributing to the adoption of the metaverse by creating products that help companies establish a presence, create digital asset marketplaces and launch virtual worlds in Web3.

The possibilities of the metaverse and Web3 are endless, but there’s also the dark side. Tech leaders describe the metaverse and Web3 as decentralized ecosystems where users are also decision-makers, but there are concerns about Web2 tech giants seeking to monopolize these emerging technologies. In addition, many also complain about the complexity of the metaverse. 

According to the Harvey Nash Group’s Digital Leadership Report 2021, 67% of businesses already cannot keep up with the pace of digital change because of a lack of skills — a situation likely to be worsened as the likes of the metaverse increase the complexity of technology needed. Besides this challenge, consumers need high-tech and expensive devices, as well as strong and reliable connectivity, to enjoy virtual reality experiences.

To address these challenges, Mozverse is providing companies with simple tools to create, sell and distribute their digital assets without writing a single line of code. Mozverse’s mission is to build a more inclusive and accessible system that guides users on their Web3 journey.

Joining the quest to make the metaverse more accessible to everyone is Oorbit, which is “on a mission to bring the entire world to the metaverse, a network of virtual worlds,” according to the company’s website. At MetaBeat 2022, Oorbit’s cofounders (and brothers) Ash Koosha and Pooya Koosha admitted that accessibility remains a challenge in the metaverse, adding that interoperability is the key to building an accessible metaverse for everyone. “Oorbit’s computing platform enables everyone to enjoy the highest graphics quality of 3D and gaming applications on any device,” according to the siblings.

In addition to the problem of accessibility is security in the metaverse, according to Hirsch. It’s evident the metaverse and Web3 will have access to data of millions of users worldwide, making the virtual world prone to cyberattacks. “A sad consequence of new technologies are the emerging forms of exploitation around them,” Hirsch said, agreeing with other consumers who have expressed similar concerns. To address these concerns, Hirsch said Mozverse is actively contributing to improving the privacy and security of the metaverse and Web3 with “NFT verification protocol, multisig wallets for safe holding of crypto assets, insurance coverage for NFT hacks.”

Easing the path of businesses into Web3

To ease the path of business owners into Web3, regardless of their level of technical skill, Hirsch said Mozverse has created a toolkit that allows startups and small and medium businesses (SMBs) to build out a metaverse of their own, an NFT marketplace, and everything needed to support their new Web3 ecosystem like computing, infrastructure and intelligence.

For instance, businesses without technical expertise can use their smart contract builder or NFT collection kit to create and sell inside Mozverse’s NFT marketplace with just a few clicks. As for technically inclined businesses, they can use the Mozverse NFT API to integrate NFTs into whatever services the company offers. Also, according to Hirsch, “Mozverse’s NFT marketplace users can set up royalty payment distribution and licensing, generate unlockable content, mint gas free, create timed or fixed auctions, and collect royalties on their digital assets for eternity.”

Mozverse connects businesses to the world’s most popular blockchain platforms, like Ethereum, Polygon and Solana. Enterprises can create fully immersive 3D virtual worlds that enable their consumers to transact, socialize, game and wear their digital gear through a web browser or desktop application. Atlantic International Capital, Delchain and Worldstar are some brands already using Mozverse’s products.

To enjoy the potential of the metaverse, some large corporations are seeing the need for a “chief metaverse officer” in their organizations. Speaking on how enterprises can create proper roadmaps that yield positive returns on their investments, Hirsch said “IT decision-makers need to look at how to incorporate Web3 into their overall technical strategy,” adding that Mozverse wants to help with Web3 computing, storage, infrastructure and intelligence, making it easy to build out your own presence in the metaverse.

“It’s important for all key decision-makers, from technology to marketing, to work with the chief metaverse officer,” he said.

Regarding revenue, Hirsch said Mozverse offers a fair distribution by “providing new mechanisms for driving monetization to creators via NFTs, creator-made NPCs, virtual world creation tools, and to consumers via play-to-own frameworks.” He added that Mozverse will “ensure ownership of assets is always in control of asset owners,” giving them the best version of the new Web3 creator economy. 

Mozverse is developing and close to launching a hyper-realistic live entertainment experience that will be called “Live Stadium,” according to Hirsch, who said immersive live entertainment is one of the early trends that’s driving significant audiences to the metaverse. “Going back two years, the Fortnite Travis Scott show did more to introduce metaverse-type experiences in one night than the billions of dollars that were spent on various virtual land plays in 2022,” he said. 

He added that Mozverse’s ultranode technology is a performance and scalability accelerator designed for the Web3 development platform and the reason for its leading node response times. “It’s faster and has less latency than any of the major competitors,” he said. 

Although Hirsch admits Mozverse faces competition from several metaverse companies, he said the diverse backgrounds and experiences of Mozverse’s founders differentiates the company from competitors, helping it to “build a successful, democratized metaverse based on core principles of interoperability and decentralization.”

In Hirsch’s words, “there are many metaverse projects out there, but most involve companies buying some piece of virtual land and calling that a metaverse. Mozverse differs from that because we allow companies to build their own presence in the metaverse, where they control their brand identity and benefit from their brand equity. We also provide all the import technology, data, and infrastructure to power businesses in the new meta economy.”