Ranking as 10th in the world by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) with its GDP growing from $943.94 billion in 2009 to over $1.63 trillion in 2020 as it retains a firm position as the 4th largest in Asia which has made it a force to appeal with which multi-billion dollar investors have reckoned with is set to raise its bars higher. South Korea has taken a major step to invest $187m in a national metaverse project.
The Metaverse: Gaining More Momentum
The metaverse is a concept of a persistent, online, 3D universe that combines multiple different virtual spaces. You can think of it as a future iteration of the internet as it allows users to work, meet, game, and socialize together in 3D spaces. With the varying strides the metaverse has made, it doesn’t seem to be in full existence, regardless, some platforms contain metaverse-like elements.
Video games currently provide the closest metaverse experience on offer. Developers have pushed the boundaries of what a game is through hosting in-game events and creating virtual economies. In lieu of its affiliation with cryptocurrencies, it has also become a great fit for the metaverse as it allows the creation of a digital economy with different types of utility tokens and virtual collectibles (NFTs).
South Korea Dives into the metaverse
While this is set to kick-off, the government will provide $186.7 million to stimulate the growth of a Metaverse platform that it hopes businesses and industry will thrive in as its fund will be deployed to achieve four major objectives in creating what appears to be an all-encompassing Metaverse ecosystem titled the Expanded Virtual World.
Content creators will enjoy support on multiple fronts to attract the right talent to help build the platform. As the country sets out on this voyage, it’s done with the consciousness of expanding its business sector as well as it expects the metaverse system to yield a global reach, having seamless access to its investors and other prospective deals to create a hyperconnected industry. To bring this to fruition, South Korea’s Ministry of ICT, Science, and Future Planning pledged 223.7 billion KRW ($186.7 million).
Going forward, The Head of Communication and Policy Department at the Ministry Park Yungyu stated in an announcement that the initiative to build a Metaverse platform is part of the broader ‘Digital New Deal’ in South Korea as this New Digital Deal will be a set of policies designed to foster the growth of digital technologies.
The Metaverse and its Boundless Limitations
The Metaverse is currently recruiting aggressively from a number of sources, including Silicon Valley, Apple, and fellow West Coast tech behemoth Microsoft, from which it has poached over 100 people who departed from HoloLens augmented reality headset team last year.
The concept remains elusive to both onlookers and industry veterans as key factors for the metaverse to mature to its next stage of development are hinged on three major frontiers which include: securing skilled talent, making decisive investment moves, and pushing the boundaries on innovative experiences as the companies building the metaverse say it will take years and billions of dollars to realize.
