The metaverse could prove to be an extremely lucrative market, according to a recent prediction by Citi.
A member of the media wearing an HTC Corp. Vive virtual reality (VR) headset tries the Extreme Courage Test Machine Fear of Heights: The Show VR attraction at the VR Zone Shinjuku theme park, operated by Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., on July 13, 2017 in Tokyo, Japan. The park is one of Japan's largest VR theme parks with 16 VR attractions opening to the public.
By "extremely lucrative," Citi means that they expect Meta's venture to grow to as much as $13 trillion in total market value by 2030, reports Bitcoin.com. Aside from that, the bank also expects the user base of the platform to reach as much as five billion people. That's around 64% of the entire population of the world as it stands today.
Citi made this prediction in a recent 184-page report, which explored in-depth the specific aspects of the metaverse. In their analysis, they found out that the entire platform's infrastructure combined with its digital assets contribute to its projected market value within the next decade.
Furthermore, the global bank had this to say: "We believe that the metaverse may be the next generation of the internet-combining the physical and digital world in a persistent and immersive manager."
They cited that the platform's "device-agnostic" nature (that is, its low barrier for entry due to devices like smartphones, tablets, and even game consoles) also contributes to its massive projected growth.
Despite these positive predictions, however, Citi is also wary that the growth of the metaverse (a project popularized by none other than Meta/Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg) would attract ever greater scrutiny from the world's regulators and lawmakers.
If you want to read the entire report, you can via this link shared by Citi. In it, you will see how the global bank sees gaming as one of the "key" metaverse use cases, considering how its immersive, interactive nature and own growth rate is critical to what the metaverse wants to do. Indeed, the gaming industry is a multi-billion-dollar market in its own right-projected to grow to $314.4 billion by 2026, according to Yahoo.
A contestant plays a computer game during the "E-Stars Seoul 2007" game festival hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government at Seoul Olympic Park on August 9, 2007 in Seoul, South Korea. E-sports gaming boomed in South Korea in the late 1990s and is now played by 17 million people across the country. The "E-Stars Seoul 2007" event hopes to promote the gaming industry and the culture of gaming.
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Should You Invest In The Metaverse Then?
If Citi's predictions are accurate, then the metaverse on its own could be among the most profitable investment opportunities the world has ever seen-or will ever see.
But how exactly do you invest in it? According to Forbes, doing so will look and feel like investing in the internet during its earliest days. As such, they advise that potential investors focus on putting their money to work on hardware providers first, then software, and then to companies that offer their services within the platform.
Hardware makes the most sense because it is where the people will experience this "melding" of the physical and digital worlds first. As such, the likes of Meta/Facebook, NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, and Apple will be among the best avenues for great margins. Then, the software side begins since the hardware foundation will have already been laid. By then, it will be far easier to gauge investment opportunities.
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There's also the opportunity being presented by cryptocurrencies, including NFTs (non-fungible tokens). These two things based on blockchain tech are still polarizing subjects today, but there's a chance that they will become ubiquitous within the metaverse. And that's something to look forward to as an investor.
Related Article: A Metaverse of Wonder: The Future of Internet Scalability or a Marketing Buzzword for the Ages?
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
