See you in the metaverse: How VR and NFTs could transform commerce

FOR fans of the rapper Snoop Dogg, a Hong Kong company wants to offer an opportunity to visit his mansion - not here in our physical reality, but in a 3D video game. In this virtual world, dubbed "The Sandbox", players can head to a digital recreation of the Dogg mansion, enjoy virtual concerts and collect "Dogg style" digital assets. Snoop Dogg described the game - which is set to launch an initial version on Nov 29 - as "the future of virtual hangouts". Other brands have hopped on board. Gaming giant Atari is set to have a virtual theme park in The Sandbox, showcasing its classic games. IMPS, the licensor of the Smurfs, will feature a Smurf village that gamers can explore. The South China Morning Post will create immersive cultural experiences. Adidas namedropped The Sandbox on social media, tweeting: "adiVerse, anyone?" It almost sounds like The Sandbox could be a digital mall or amusement park. But to Sebastien Borget, the game's co-founder, it feeds into a bigger idea: The metaverse, a virtual world where people can socialise, consume goods and entertainment and even own assets like virtual land - just as they could in the real world. "We think that the future of commerce is not just transactional, buying a product on a 2D page, like Amazon. We feel that the future of commerce is really how communities connect to creators," says Borget. Projects like The Sandbox have shot into the spotlight, as the idea of the metaverse explodes globally. Big money is flowing in. Borget's venture, for instance, has clinched US$93 million in a fundraise led by the SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Its in-game token, SAND, has risen close to 10 times in value in a month. Is this all brilliant or bananas? That is the big question on the minds of entrepreneurs and investors, as they contend with how the metaverse could transform retail - or not. Many who spoke to The Business Times see immense potential, but are also wary of the legal and regulatory minefield ahead.

Meta-what?

The concept of the metaverse comes from the science-fiction novel Snow Crash, which envisioned a virtual reality (VR) based world that people escaped to, away from the failed real world. But now, the term is being used to denote what could be the next wave of the internet. The floodgates opened on Oct 28, when Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg unveiled his grand vision to help build the metaverse, or what he described as "an embodied internet where you're in the experience, not just looking at it". In line with this vision, Facebook has rebranded itself "Meta".