During the opening ceremony of this year’s Augmented World Expo (AWE 2022), Unity Chief Executive John Riccitiello took the stage to discuss emerging Metaverse services.
Riccitiello spoke favourably about the future of Metaverse platforms and stated most 2D websites would become 3D “Metaverse destination(s)” by 2030.
The CEO added fully digital virtual reality (VR) worlds would exist as spaces for users to “live and inhabit” while augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR) Metaverse destinations would alter the real world “in a very powerful way.”
Paul also expressed how successful Metaverse services should exist as a cross-platform extended reality (XR) service.
💡 🤓 @johnriccitiello #AWE2022 pic.twitter.com/0vyGczuhCV
— Unity for Digital Twins (@DigitalTwin) June 1, 2022
Additionally, the Unity CEO noted the importance of real-time 3D (RT3D) technology for emerging Metaverse platforms, which enable Metaverse services such as Decentraland or Meta’s Horizon: Worlds to instantly react to user input.
Metaverses built on RT3D engines like Unity allow users to enjoy interactive immersive experiences, join virtual events, and participate in eCommerce opportunities.
The Unity RT3D engine enables immersive content developers to create Metaverse experiences and other XR services like training, remote guidance, and gaming products.
Unity’s toolset is available for free and democratises the firm’s powerful gaming engine for developers at all levels, while also hosting many third-party plugins to suit each developer’s use case.
The news comes after Unity purchased RT3D character creation suite Ziva Dynamics in February to further democratise avatar and digital human creation tools. In the same month, Unity, alongside Qualcomm and Accenture, joined the XR Association to support the growth of future XR ecosystems.
Additionally, in March, the firm announced five winners of its Unity for Humanity grant, designed to support ethical XR and Metaverse solutions.
$100,000 XR Climate Change Challenge
During AWE 2022, Co-Founder Ori Inbar debuted the $100,000 XR Climate Change Challenge, a year-long innovation fund aimed at supporting XR development teams creating XR solutions to protect the environment.
He added:
“Since 2010, the AWE community of 50,000 AR and VR professionals has been inspiring a movement to advance AR and VR to advance humanity. I am looking forward to seeing firsthand how this contest will galvanize the XR community towards presenting truly innovative solutions”
The AWE will also announce the winner next year, who will receive $100,000 with “no strictures or limitations” and retain full ownership of their submission upon winning the challenge.
