The Metaverse – while gaining impassioned movement in some industry corners – still remains an elusive topic for most. 

Forrester recently revealed that only 23% of online adults in the U.S. reported familiarity with the metaverse, with no change since its report back in September of last year. 

By sharp contrast, Analysys Mason shared that by 2030, Citigroup estimates a whopping $13 trillion value in metaverse-related revenue, while McKinsey estimates $5 trillion. The difference largely comes down to definition discrepancies, according to Analysys Mason Principal Analyst Martin Scott.

“It's down to the fact that there isn't a single clear definition of what the metaverse is yet, and because of that, what you fit into the category is up for debate,” Scott told SDxCentral.  

Scott explained his working definition will change over time, but that "in its simplest form, the metaverse is the internet in 3D."

"What’s vital from my point of view, and what makes it different from, say, Roblox, is that it isn’t a closed system," he continued.

"By using standards, different parts of the metaverse are interconnected; they are near-infinitely scalable; content and assets are portable between different parts of the metaverse (subject to certain constraints e.g. regulation and appropriateness). Those are the things that make the metaverse uniquely different from the virtual worlds that we see and engage with today."

Despite these lucrative estimations, another Forrester report on customer segmentation revealed that early tech adopters also show little awareness, with only 44% of respondents being familiar with the metaverse. 

“The fact that metaverse familiarity is low even among the earliest adopters of technology means that there’s ample work to be done at the top of the funnel to build out a viable market,” wrote Forrester VP and research director Mike Proulx. 

Dex Hunter-Torricke, Head of communications and public engagement at Meta Oversight Board, spoke during Access Partnership’s “Metaverse Dialogue: A Metaverse Constitution?” regarding the phenomenon of adopting new technologies like the metaverse. 

He first cited the arrival of smartphones and the iPhone’s unveiling in 2007. “There was a period in which a lot of leaders in the public sector and the private sector were dismissive of the arrival of what that invention meant,” he said. 

Hunter-Torricke recalled finance leaders who believed iPhones would cause workers to be “goofing off on their lunch break watching YouTube videos.” 

He also shared that a major tech company leader said there was no chance the iPhone would get any significant market share because it had a touch screen. 

“That sort of dismissive thinking and a failure to understand what a platform shift meant in society, I think ended up having a huge negative impact on the ability of our society to actually adapt and to get ahead of some of the really profound, disruptive trends,”  he continued.  

Hunter-Torricke insists like other previous major platform shifts, the metaverse is coming, and there’s a chance to get ahead and manage it better than the previous movements. 

“It will rely on having a lot of stakeholders around the table as early on as possible,” he said. “I think it's very important that we take the time to convene those stakeholders to create the channels, so that we can begin to understand these things from a holistic and from a comprehensive perspective.”