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What does Fortnite streamer , Tyler “ Ninja ”
Blevins and Meta ’ s vertical marketing lead , Andy Mihalop have in common ? The answer is , they both believe that within the next two years , VR headsets or goggles will be as ubiquitous as the smartphone .
When I heard Meta ’ s Mihalop express his personal view on-stage at Confex , I was incredulous . But then , a few days later , I watched Ninja share basically the same viewpoint via the on-demand stream coming from SXSW in Austin , Texas .
The only difference to my ears was that Mihalop was predicting accelerated accessibility to metaverse worlds for event planning , whereas Ninja was begging his wife not to leave him if he spent eight hours a day in Ready Player One .
It made me think though , do these two know something the rest of us don ’ t ? Despite the failure of historic eyewear tech ( Google Glass anyone ?), plus humankind ’ s reluctance to ruin its hair by strapping on a headset , VR is getting better and less expensive at a ridiculous pace .
Mihalop may have visibility of the sheer scale and variety of upcoming VR hardware , all at
The future starts here
Contributors
cheaper price-points . But unless that hardware is as light and effortless to put on and remove as standard eyeglasses , the same adoption problems will persist .
Ninja ’ s Ready Player One analogy may actually be closer to the mark . VR ’ s mass adoption moment may only occur alongside breakthrough game technology akin to Halo or Fortnite ( Saber Fight VR just isn ’ t cutting it , if you ’ ll excuse the pun ).
The same is true for metaverse event worlds . Meta , or other creators with ‘ build-it and they will come ’ aspirations will need a ‘ Facebook moment ’ where we collectively opt-in . I give it 10-15 years , powered by 5G and Artificial Intelligence ’ s evolution towards the singularity - the point at which AI can match , and then overtake human smarts . In 2035 , the way we meet , interact and engage with content will look very different from today .
Mike Fletcher Editor Digital Event News
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