In October 2021, Facebook (now Meta) CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the tech company would be rebranding its name to focus on the metaverse, a virtual world that’s supposedly going to change the way we work, learn and connect with friends and family online.
Meta is now amongst the six companies in the world to reach a market cap of $1 trillion. Although the metaverse is still a nascent space, Zuckerberg calls it “the future of the internet” and is investing billions in the metaverse to reach global adoption.
Many people (including the company’s investors) are not convinced of the metaverse’s potential to become the next big thing. However, reports have shown that the metaverse could be worth $13 trillion by 2030.
A new report by CoinKickoff has revealed the countries and U.S. states that are most interested and supportive of metaverses by analysing 1.6 million tweets and 19 of the most popular metaverses and ascertaining Google search volumes for metaverse-related keywords in over 190 countries.
Countries that are most interested in the metaverse
The report shows that people living in the Philippines are more interested in the metaverse with 2,421 Google searches per 1,000 individuals. Grenada comes second with 1,472 while Peru is third with 1,375 Google searches per 1,000 people.
Conversely, the report shows that experts in the U.S. are divided on the importance of the nascent space with only 54% believing the metaverse will tangibly impact our lives by 2040. Florida residents are the keenest to explore the metaverse with 670 searches per 1,000 individuals.
Support for the metaverse
It would be impossible for the metaverse to reach global adoption without support from both Millennials and Gen Z. The report estimates that the two generations will spend up to five hours per day in the metaverse, with 52% of users believing that it will revolutionise the video games industry starting with games like Fortnite, Pokémon Go and Roblox.
The report analysed over 1.6 million tweets and found that individuals in Vietnam are more fond of metaverses than other countries with 56.8% of posts in favour of the nascent space with the Philippines (56.2%), Ukraine (54.9%), Nigeria (51.4%) and Indonesia (49.9%).
However, not all countries of the world are in support of the metaverse, especially in Ireland with 14.4% of negative tweets aimed at the virtual world. Denmark comes second with 13.2%, New Zealand (12.8%), the United States (12.2%), Canada (12.0%), Norway (11.7%) and the United Kingdom (10.4%).
How big are metaverse worlds compared to real life?
The metaverse will bring virtual-visually constructed and artificial world simulations where the need for appropriate, curated and accurate experiences is key. And as the virtual market expands, owning a virtual plot of land is becoming more popular after real estate sales surpassed $500 million in 2021.
Decentraland is the smallest metaverse in the report at 1,449,616 m² and is 40% the size of Central Park. The Sandbox, on the other hand, is 20% the size of Disney World with 15, 980, 554 m² with NFT Worlds being the largest metaverse with 500,000,000,000 m² which is 60% the size of Brazil.
Ultimately, the metaverse is still in its infancy but it does have the potential to become revolutionary. Owning a virtual plot will be held in high regard years down the line because the metaverse will allow users to build in spaces where there is no space. It’ll allow users to expand their physical environments more than they could ever imagine.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.