This regular roundup brings you a selection of the latest news and updates on the development of the metaverse. Top metaverse stories: Apple enters the headset market; Industrial and enterprise metaverse 'exceeding expectations'; and Microsoft's Activision Blizzard takeover blocked. The metaverse real estate market has been in development for years.

Understanding the Context

Some of the world's largest businesses and retailers are already buying land and building a virtual property. These early adopters snapping up virtual properties are keen to put down foundations in the metaverse in a rush to beat their competitors. The word 'metaverse' has entered common usage, but there remain different ways of conceptualizing and defining it. The metaverse will be shaped by the technology we use to access it, which could include virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and brain-computer interfaces (BCI).

Key Insights

Major technology companies including Apple, Google, Meta Platforms (Facebook), Microsoft, Niantic, and Valve ... The metaverse is an immersive, interoperable and synchronous digital world forecast to become an $800 billion market by 2024. The metaverse presents a momentous opportunity, but also brings about new challenges. The World Economic Forum is bringing together government, academia, business and civil society to guide the development of a safe and inclusive, equitable, interoperable and ... The metaverse has gained increasing attention, but its real potential isn't obvious.

Final Thoughts

In this episode of Experts Explain, Stanford University’s Jeremy Bailenson helps us understand the fast-evolving technology. He says the metaverse is still a work in progress whose development will be "driven by use cases that make sense".