A third of global consumers think brands should leverage the metaverse more (see Key Stats), with 32% are more familiar with it than in 2022. The entertainment industry is responding with virtual worlds expanding music fans’ perennial desires, from digitising autograph-hunting and listening to music with friends to user-created concerts.

Globally, 65% of consumers are eager to use the metaverse to enhance their health, while 60% of American metaverse enthusiasts say the rising cost of living makes them more inclined to seek out a sense of virtualised calm. With 24/7 access and lower costs than conventional gyms, metaverse fitness and meditation innovations are well-placed to capitalise on the wellbeing boom.

Despite Gen Alpha’s voracious appetite for gaming (see Key Stats), 75% globally prioritise real-world activities to maintain their mental health (Razorfish, 2023). This creates two world-weaving opportunities: gaining digital assets in real-life settings, and initiatives seamlessly blending online and offline spaces.

Acknowledging the 50% of metaverse users globally who want to monetise their designs in virtual worlds, a major opportunity remains in nurturing prosumers. Key strategies involve more competitions – including facilitating peer-led voting, embracing crowdsourced design ideas and promoting collaborative brand-backed gameplay. This is paving the way for lucrative metaverse-meets-real-life collection possibilities.

Developments in gaming technology are overturning once low-fi, glitch-prone graphics with awe-inspiring virtual designs, improving and individualising both avatars (in India, those who create one spend up to six times longer in metaverse spaces) and digital environments. It’s enabling brands to retain their visual DNA and make online spaces their own.

The advent of open-access generative artificial intelligence (AI) marks a significant step for in-metaverse services. AI “sales assistants” are now multilingual to flex to international markets. They can regulate safe spaces and address complex, multi-layered questions.

New tracking and analytics tools are turning virtual worlds from brand-profile-boosting playgrounds into spaces where return on investment (ROI) is measurable. Avatar tracking and demographic analysis are providing invaluable consumer insights (including behavioural quirks), enhancing metaverse scenarios.

While 79% of global metaverse users have already made virtual purchases, 30% feel too many steps are involved. Combatting this, metaverse platforms and credit card companies are poised to take metaverse shopping into the mainstream by facilitating virtual-to-physical purchases and enabling physical-to-virtual rewards programmes.

Advanced sensory technologies continue to amplify metaverse experiences, addressing users’ top concern that it doesn’t replicate (or exceed the excitement of) real life (see Key Stats). Multi-layered haptic (touch) technologies are accentuating skin sensations, while acoustic mapping is prolonging dwell time and creating more seductive worlds.