Digital Spaces

1ST YEAR ON THE LIST

Digital spaces provide 3D-rendered environments for users’ avatars to congregate, socialize, or work.

KEY INSIGHT

Online experiences are beginning to take place in virtual 3D environments that emulate those in the real world, from households and workplaces to event venues and retail shops. These digital spaces will serve as foundational in the metaverse as our online activities increasingly resemble our offline lives.

EXAMPLES

One of the first sectors to create shared online digital spaces was gaming, with sprawling interactive realms built to simulate environments, landscapes, and structures theoretically feasible in the real world. These gaming environments have recently diversified their offering to users, with platforms like Roblox and Fortnite hosting virtual concerts with big-name artists. In the context of business, Microsoft has previewed its Mesh product, due to launch in 2022, which will allow users to connect via the company’s Teams communication platform by entering a 3D-rendered virtual workspace, rather than a standard video call. By applying mixed reality technology, Microsoft Mesh can also link elements of the virtual workspace to physical features of the users’ actual surroundings, creating a hybrid physical-virtual environment.

DISRUPTIVE IMPACT

Soon digital spaces will be accessible for a broader range of activities, allowing users to have their avatars browse the shelves of virtual shops, enter virtual doctors’ offices for remote consultations, and attend classes in virtual lecture halls, all with 3D spatial environments. As companies across all sectors develop strategies for extending their products and services to the metaverse, the creation of digital spaces will proliferate.

EMERGING PLAYERS

• Fortnite • Meta • Microsoft Mesh • Nvidia Omniverse • OpenSpace3D • Roblox • Spatial • Unity • Unreal Engine • Wave