Spatial Computing Tour: Digest

In October 2024, The Metaverse Society began its Spatial Computing tour in London, before heading to Zurich, with a series of public and closed-door, multi-stakeholder roundtables to explore the opportunities and challenges of spatial computing and the metaverse. Participants discussed a range of topics. These included technology that underpins this space, what spatial metaverse experiences should look like, the role of IP owners, strategic considerations of building within existing metaverses or developing proprietary experiences, privacy concerns, and how much spatial computing is participating in the adoption of the metaverse.

The current landscape

Participants acknowledged the limitations of current head-mounted displays, which tend to struggle with setup complexity, comfort and resolution. While the space has advanced in recent years, it remains relatively niche, primarily appealing to core gamers. Several attendees talked of a disconnect between where experiences are and what consumers expect. However, with the holiday season approaching, there was positivity about further efforts from providers (notably Meta, which is increasingly making headsets affordable) and more widespread adoption of headsets as part of a complementary setup, tethered to PCs for more power, features and battery life.

The experiential challenge 

Gaming, entertainment, sports, education and business onboarding were identified as sectors ripe for innovation in spatial computing and the metaverse. However, participants emphasised a need to move beyond uninspiring passive experiences akin to “having a TV wrapped around your face” to more immersive and interactive fare, or risk people quitting the ecosystem. Several attendees stressed the importance of helping users break out from the isolated nature of VR to more social experiences that bring people and communities together, in ways where they can seamlessly interact. Ideally, these should balance individual personalisation, interaction at scale and ‘group within a group’ demands.

The critical role of IP owners

Everyone agreed IP owners will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of spatial metaversal experiences. However, participants suggested many brands are hesitant to invest heavily in this space due to uncertainty about audience scale and the complexities of rights management. Multiple attendees highlighted the danger of the US racing ahead in sports, due to other territories facing greater challenges related to rights management, languages and points of contact. Several flagged global issues pertaining to resources and knowledge bases. To capitalise on the current opportunities, it was suggested IP owners explore what they can do right now to best leverage this rapidly evolving landscape – before others blaze ahead.

Brands hedging bets by building in existing proto-metaverses

There was tension when the debate moved to brands leveraging existing proto-metaverses like Roblox and Fornite. They were recognised as cost-effective with great reach and “the new social” for younger audiences. Participants also agreed some brands aren’t big enough to build a world and need to plug into an existing experience. But concerns were raised about brands not evolving their presence, thereby risking long-term engagement and viability.

Options further diverged regarding when brands should build their own metaverses. Challenges like costs, audience acquisition and a “you need to be there” mindset were raised. But there was consensus that even brands working with proto-metaverses should explore smaller-scale owned activations with directly issued digital assets. These could prize interoperability, cross-device support and passionate global fans, enabling the growth of cost-effective, low-risk, potentially interconnected spaces, in contrast to the closed sandboxes of early metaverse efforts.

The onset of AI 

There was consensus about some key benefits of AI within spatial computing, such as how GenAI can help enable building virtual worlds at scale and in coming years could make experiences more personalised – notably in mixed reality spaces by way of HUDs in smart glasses tech. But there were concerns about AI layers becoming a “services battleground” that would very aggressively monetise users, and lead to steering and also overt preferential treatment for subscribers. Participants added that it was inevitable regulation would have an impact, especially when it comes to smart glasses and the inevitable biases that an AI layer would bring for users.

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