Background
In March of this year, Roblox, known as the "Meta Universe First Share", was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Its stock price rose 54% on the first day, and its market value reached 38.3 billion US dollars, a nearly 10-fold increase in a year. In August of this year, ByteDance acquired the meta universe company Pico ( bird look ) for 9 billion yuan, making the concept of meta universe further the focus of discussion. Metaverse first appeared in Neil Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel "Avalanche." 29 years ago, the concept of science fiction absorbed the increasingly mature AI, AR/VR, blockchain and other technological achievements, and is leading the starry sky. The dreamer followed suit. Zuckerberg believes that Metaverse is the next-generation form of the Internet, and Facebook plans to transform into Metaverse within 5 years. In simple terms, the meta universe is a virtual world parallel to the real world supported by terminal devices such as VR and AR. In Roblox's meta-universe view, the true meta-universe should have eight elements: identity, friends, immersion, low latency, diversification, everywhere, economic system, and civilization. In the meta universe, people can carry out various social and spiritual activities such as social interaction, entertainment, creation, exhibition, and trading.
1. Metaverse has huge market potential
Internet penetration rate is increasing steadily, and the epidemic is accelerating the formation of the digital world. On the one hand, global Internet users have grown steadily. According to APUS, the global mobile Internet population will increase from 3.51 billion to 4.46 billion from 2016 to 2020, with an average annual compound growth rate of 6.17%, and the Internet penetration rate from 47.3% to 56.9%. On the other hand, people’s acceptance of the virtual world has increased. The global epidemic has promoted the acceleration of digital transformation in various industries, and applications such as video conferencing tools and games have been vigorously promoted. Online learning, remote office, and online entertainment have become mainstream lifestyles during the epidemic, and the real world and the virtual world have been further opened up. At the same time, Z generation , as a native of the Internet, has a higher acceptance of instant messaging, online games, and cloud computing.In 2020, generation Z users accounted for nearly 30% of the entire network, and it has become the main force of the network at this stage.
Figure 1 2016-2020 global mobile Internet population size and penetration rate
Source: APUS
2. BIGANT six major technologies to promote and support the realization of the meta universe p2 (1) B p2 : Blockchain
Due to the economic nature of the metaverse, it must have a complete operating economic system that can support transactions, payments, and income from labor. The blockchain has five major characteristics: decentralization, openness, autonomy, immutability of information, and anonymity. Payment and clearing systems based on blockchain technology, decentralized smart contracts, and NFT non-homogeneous tokens can effectively solve the identity and economic problems in the construction of the metaverse. Among them, NFT, as the only cryptocurrency token representing digital assets under the blockchain framework, can be bought and sold in the same way as physical assets, and can be traded and transferred on its own in Metaverse, ensuring the effective confirmation of basic assets.
(2) I: Interactive technology
The Internet and social platforms cannot accurately project the virtual world onto the physical world, and users cannot get a sense of depth in the virtual world. With the iterative upgrade of technology, interactive technologies such as VR, AR, MR, holographic imaging, brain-computer interaction and sensing have emerged. AR superimposes digital information with the physical environment, and VR completely creates a vivid virtual world. Through continuous improvement of video resolution, frame rate, head MTP delay, operation response delay, and MTP delay to the user Bring an immersive virtual reality experience.
(3) G: Game
game is the presentation method of Metaverse, with flexible interaction and rich information, it provides a creative platform, interactive content and social scene for Metaverse. Traditional social networks have limited expression channels and methods, and users cannot fully express their opinions. Social activities in vertical scenarios have become a trend in recent years. From the perspective of the meta universe, the game provides rich IP connotations for the virtual world.It itself is a kind of diversion and vertical social scene construction. During the epidemic, games + concerts, games + graduation ceremony, games + academic conferences, etc., have accelerated people's changes in the concept of the virtual world.
(4) A: Artificial intelligence
AI includes computer vision , machine learning, natural language processing, intelligent speech. Under AI technology, the system can reach and exceed the level of human learning, realize rapid data collection, analysis and processing, and improve the operating efficiency and intelligence level of the cloud universe through the large-scale production of content.
(5) N: Network and computing technology
computing power is the support of Metaverse virtual content creation and experience. More realistic modeling and interaction require stronger computing power as a prerequisite. The meta universe can simulate all activities in the real world, and even in the virtual world, you can get an immersive real experience of social activities and other activities. The powerful computing power can realize the development of virtual worlds with visual effects and physical laws that are infinitely close to the real universe, complete the high-quality interaction between the virtual world and users and the network construction of the blockchain, and provide AT technology that supports multi-source development. Emulation is possible.
The development of underlying technologies such as 5G and cloud computing has helped Metaverse achieve scale expansion. The number of interactive users of Meta Universe reaches 100 million, and there will be problems such as increased performance requirements for client-side computer terminals, and the existing server terminal carrying capacity is difficult to support users to be online at the same time. The 5G network can reach speeds of 100Mbps-9Gbps and has the advantages of high speed and low latency. On the one hand, it can reduce the computing power and storage requirements of the client hardware, and transfer the computing power pressure to the cloud client. On the other hand, it can meet Super large-scale and high-quality interactions between users and users, and between users and the virtual world.
(6) T: Internet of Things
The Internet of Things technology helps Metaverse to perceive the world through various sensors and underlying networks to obtain and transmit information, and ultimately rely on the operating system to connect and orderly manage the Metaverse. Realizing the interconnection of all things based on the Internet of Things is an important support for the symbiosis of all things in the meta-universe.
3. The industrial system of Metaverse
The future of Metaverse needs to be supported by multiple technologies.You cannot rely on only one company for operation and implementation. Based on the investigation of technology, the existing industry chain of Metaverse can be further divided into hardware layer, software layer, service layer and application/content layer. The hardware layer includes 5G base stations, WIFI6 equipment, Internet of Things, cloud servers and other network infrastructure, interactive equipment, output equipment, and various components. The software layer includes information processing interactive software such as information collection, encoding/decoding, rendering presentation, and physical feedback, and a system platform containing an operating system and a software development kit. The service layer is based on AR/VR technology to provide services such as overall solutions for industry applications, content distribution and operations. The content and application layer includes 2B and 2C. The former is oriented to real estate, education, medical, engineering and other fields, and the latter is oriented to social networking, live broadcasting, and games.
Figure 2 Yuan Universe Industry Chain
Source: West China Securities
Fourth, the market participants of Meta Universe
(1) Operator
The three major operators work together to create Meta Universe Technical base. The future cosmic world needs the support of the underlying infrastructure. The development of next-generation communications and cloud computing greatly determines the development process of the meta-universe. Domestic operators have steadily promoted the construction of 5G networks, accelerated 5G coverage in major cities, and made every effort to increase the penetration rate of 5G users. In the era of cloud and network, the three major operators have implemented a cloud-network integration strategy, relying on their original network advantages, actively deploying cloud services, and improving their own cloud computing capabilities.
Figure 3 Cloud computing business layout of the three major operators
Source: Information and Communication Institute, Soochow Securities
(2) Equipment manufacturers
equipment manufacturers provide infrastructure for Meta Universe. Driven by cloud-network integration, mainstream communication equipment manufacturers are focusing on cloud business, striving to expand product line business, striving to provide software and hardware equipment for the entire industry chain, and building comprehensive solutions based on the industry as the entry point. As the smart phone industry chain matures, terminal equipment manufacturers focus on various wearable devices and continuously improve AR and VR technologies to optimize existing immersive smart hardware.Open the era of modern wearable VR.
(3) Large-scale Internet companies
Domestic Internet giants build their own meta universe by virtue of their platform advantages. Byte has a strong product matrix and content operation capabilities. Based on the acquisition of Pico, it sets out to the emerging VR field and improves its hardware layout. Tencent takes the two major products of WeChat and QQ as the core, and initially has a meta-universe form in the social ecology. Through continuous iterative upgrades in games, audiovisual, payment, reading and other industries, it creates a more complete virtual world.
Summary
The current technical level is not enough to support the development of Metaverse, and there is a big gap between the underlying technologies such as XR, blockchain, and artificial intelligence and the needs of the application of Metaverse. Based on the domestic industry development trends, future operators, equipment manufacturers and large Internet companies will be important market participants in the meta-universe era. The three major operators and ZTE, , beacon, , Ziguang and other communications equipment Manufacturers work together to promote cloud-network integration to lay the foundation for Metaverse. Terminal equipment manufacturers optimize interactive devices to provide tools for connecting the real world and virtual world. Internet giants are accelerating the layout of the Metaverse industry chain. Undoubtedly, as the real world and the virtual world are further connected, the meta-universe project will become the focus of various enterprises.
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