The metaverse market in the United States is set to expand to a projected value of $110.44 billion by 2028, according to the latest metaverse report by Research and Markets. According to the analysis, the U.S. market, valued at $16.69 billion, is poised for remarkable growth, with a forecasted compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37%. As the report details, this significant upsurge is driven by substantial investments in advanced technologies and a pivotal shift in Gen Z and Gen Alpha metaverse usage. Research and Markets attribute this momentum to the synergistic application of virtual reali ..read more

The web3 Metaverse “super app,” Upland, has extended its Series A funding, successfully securing an additional $7 million. According to Upland, this latest investment round, which includes EOS Network Ventures as a new investor, brings the firm’s total funding to $25 million. Riding a wave of increasing user engagement and steadily growing virtual property ownership, Upland seems poised to double down on the resurgence of metaverse hype. The app has registered over 3 million accounts on the EOS blockchain, with almost 300,000 virtual property owners, while continuously launching and enhancing ..read more

Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, has laid off a portion of its staff according to a blog post published by the firm on Oct. 6. The company’s CEO, Daniel Alegre, wrote: “After … thoughtful consideration, I have decided that we need to restructure the Yuga Labs teams. The implication of these changes is that a number of roles have been eliminated across the company, impacting some of your colleagues.” Alegre attributed the need for a shift in strategy to underwhelming launches in specific areas, particularly within the company’s gaming initiatives Alegre revealed that, as pa ..read more

During the Q2 Earnings Call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined the company’s commitment to its metaverse vision and artificial intelligence (AI). Zuckerberg stated, “The two technological waves that we’re riding are AI in the near term and the metaverse over the longer term.” Further, the company’s investments in AI have made significant strides, as Zuckerberg noted, “Investments that we’ve made over the years in AI, including the billions of dollars we’ve spent on AI infrastructure, are clearly paying off across our ranking and recommendation systems and improving engagement and monetization ..read more

The future of the metaverse is highly debated at the moment with Instagram pulling NFT support, lackluster growth of many metaverse projects, the potential security classification for metaverse tokens such as SAND and MANA, and notably the launch of Apple’s VisionPro with no mention of a metaverse in its WWDC conference. However, simply because it was not said does not mean it was not there. Apple is notorious for delivering products behind its competition after it has had a chance to perfect its hardware for the optimal user experience. Given the mixed reception of metaverse concepts across t ..read more

Apple Inc. revealed its eagerly anticipated augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) headset, named Apple Vision Pro,  at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 5, marking a significant shakeup of the company’s lineup of consumer electronics. The device, which is a standalone computing device being touted as a ‘spatial computer’ and not just a headset, includes a 3D camera and spatial audio, and is geared towards revolutionizing user interaction with the digital world, blurring the lines between reality and digital experiences. Tim Cook touted the new headset, noting t ..read more

As anticipation surges ahead of the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), whispers of the potential unveiling of Apple’s extended reality (XR) headset are creating a palpable sense of excitement. Apple’s XR headset is expected to transform the tech giant’s legacy radically, setting a new benchmark for the rapidly evolving world of consumer technology. Big tech companies, including Meta and Google, have been eyeing the XR landscape for some time now. Apple’s entrance into this realm could invigorate interest in the metaverse, a collective shared space bridging the gap between phy ..read more

The British dance music titan will be bringing his famously high-energy sets to PRISM world, a virtual world dedicated to music and dance within the Sensorium Galaxy digital metaverse, scheduled to launch in the coming months. Sensorium Galaxy is the brainchild of up-and-coming Swiss startup, Sensorium, promising to deliver entertainment experiences like none other after having signed a collective of chart-topping artists to its extended reality environment, including David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Armin van Buuren and Black Coffee. Carl Cox’s performance will make the artist the first lifelike hu ..read more

Alibaba Cloud and Avalanche have partnered to create a blockchain-based metaverse deployment platform called Cloudbase, Avalanche said May 4. In a separate statement to TechCrunch, Ava Labs founder and CEO Emin Gün Sirer said that such services would allow users to create a metaverse in minutes. He wrote: “You and I can create a metaverse right now. Within 15 minutes, the chain is up; within hours the wallet is up and the turnkey is up.” Avalanche said in its own announcement that Cloudbase’s blockchain assets, such as wearables and digital land, will be built on the Avalanche blockchain. Me ..read more

Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — discussed its use of artificial intelligence (AI) during its Q1 2023 earnings call on April 26. AI drives content discovery Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called AI one of two “major technological waves” alongside the metaverse that are priorities on the company’s roadmap. Zuckerberg said that AI already drives content discovery. He noted that, on Facebook and Instagram, 20% of user feed content is suggested by AI and comes from accounts that the user does not follow. He said that this makes up 40% of the content seen on Instagram. The CEO a ..read more