By a staggering turn of events, research has forecast that the metaverse and its surrounding VR and AR technologies will one day overtake mobile phones as the primary platform for computing. That's according to a study paid for by none other than, you guessed it, Meta.
Yeah, feels a bit harder to take it seriously when the company paying for the study has so much skin in the game.
According to studies undertaken by consulting firm Deloitte(opens in new tab) (via Reuters(opens in new tab)), the metaverse has the potential to contribute around 2.4% of the United States Gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035. That's up to $760 billion in cash monies. And while it may sound frankly inconceivable, that figure does encompass manufacturing, medical, and defense tech as well, rather than just your average gaming VR and augmented reality entertainment.
The Meta news article(opens in new tab) says the «United States is well positioned to harness the potential of the metaverse and lead its global development.» In other words, please, please invest some more, Uncle Sam!
The article references yet more reports, which claim that the EU could see around $538.29 billion in increased economic opportunities from Meta products by the year 2035, or 1.3%–2.4% of the total GDP. As for Canada, Meta's consulting firm reckons it could contribute around $33.88 billion to the Canuck economy within the same time frame.
All together with the rest of the world, the reports claim that the global economy could reach up to $3.6 trillion per year in additional GDP by 2035, with the help of the metaverse.
In the small print, the global report(opens in new tab) (PDF) goes a step further, explaining that «This estimate does not account for population growth
Read more on pcgamer.com