As more corporations announce plans to enter the Metaverse, real estate sales in the virtual world are projected to grow by $5 billion by 2026. Chris Ebeling, Creative Director and Co-Founder at Virtually Human joined Cheddar News to discuss the growth potential of the metaverse as well as how his company is helping shore up interest.

Opening Bell

Metaverse Monday: Metaverse Real Estate Sales To Grow by $5B By 2026

for more insight on this and the future of the metaverse I want to bring in chris Evelyn creative director and co founder at virtually human chris the new report that I was talking about a moment ago reveals that real estate sales in the metaverse could grow by $5 billion in the next four years. I mean growth rates of 60%. They're talking about if we thought that how hot housing market that we had in real life was anything, it looks like, you know, the metaverse is going to be an even hot, hot, you know, real estate market. Does it surprise you at all? Uh Not at all, actually, because really, we've already entered the better verse in my opinion. Um we've already got 100 million users already playing video games that are giving them agency and creative expression, which are, you know, of course, Web two games. But the metaverse is of course an extension of this. So, if you have 100 million users are playing daily road blocks, um Fortnite Creative, the likes of Second Life, I think what investors are seeing and what we're seeing is that these people are going to slowly move into this new Web three space, and of course, there's gonna be a call for more content here. And so it's it's not a surprise. So then I wonder where you sit with this number five billion by 2026. Again, growth rates of 60%. Do you think that's goldilocks? Just right? Or are you a little more aggressive? Maybe a little less aggressive? Look, I'm not much of a numbers guy like that, but you know, I think, I think it's it's around the ballpark. Um but you know, anything can happen, you know, with with any climate, but what I can say it is a booming space and what I can say it is a space where we will be seeing um you know, young users of today. Again, just imagine how many people use time already living metaverse social lives on on their, you know instagram and facebook accounts uh and spending time in their socializing, this is just the knock on effect of that where you know, the metaverse is a place where we're gonna be able to have agency, we're gonna be able to express ourselves more, we're gonna have, you know, three D avatars and Gamification. So you know, pulling everything, I just said into one piece of pile, this is where we're going. And so those numbers do not surprise me one bit. Yeah, we're just at the beginning of it and it's gonna continue to grow. And one of the ways is Europeans, business school warden is launching its business in the metaverse economy program. Now, this is the first ivy to roll up and the educational metaverse programs. So do you think that we'll see a lot more university sort of adapt educational programs in the metaverse and what are the potential benefits for the students will be taking it? Oh absolutely, I think future focused, you know, education is key not only from from from just you know, business in the metaverse, in an economy standpoint, but also from a digital creative standpoint, you know, without trying to sound too scary, the future is digital. I mean and again, just as I've said, we're already living it, we're already, you know, we're being interviewed online, this is where to, you know, we've probably spent an hour each on on facebook with some social media account today. And so what we need to do is educate the youth into where we are going of course with balance and with good education with good morals, good ethics. But yes, I see more schools doing it and I applaud more schools for doing so. To your point, I think some would even argue that while Warren is one of the few schools and first schools to do this probably already late to the game given that metaverse is here and it's it's continuing to develop at a faster rate than we probably realize now, similar to what I always think about the internet in its early days, no one really understood it and it was developing to what we all know now, which is just sec nature to us at this point. While we have you I want to get your thoughts on some other stories kind of metaverse related. Mark Zuckerberg recently told meta staff that he views Apple as a metaverse rival saying the company, um you know, companies both of them have d philosophical differences. What's your take on what Zuckerberg meant by that? Well look Mark is obviously a very bullish guy and and you know coining his own company meta is shows that but you know I think Mark shouldn't discount and discredit, you know, not only Apple but also the likes of Microsoft um and google, you know, and and for me you know the metaverse has to be a place where everybody can come together like who owns the internet today, it has to be interoperable, it has to be room for everyone. We need to we need to get these big players actually to kind of come to the table and start building alongside each other. Yes challenging each other. But the key to a successful metaverse in the you know in the scope of a ready player, one style or Snow Crash if you've read that book um is to have interoperability where you know assets and digital assets that we own can transfer, can transfer through application to application despite who's creating them. So um yes, Apple and meta are are going to be at the top but I wouldn't discount google or Microsoft or any of these other big giant corporations as well. I think everybody all these big players are gonna come in and challenge and play. Yeah, but a lot of people are saying when, so when do you think we can see Apple into the metaverse and what do you think that will look like? Well you know they've already end of year with their already showing off their mixed reality glasses right? Um with that and I think Apple will be coming with something as well, so meta is gonna come with their glasses or they're mixed reality headset um and Apple would come with theirs and then I think you're gonna see 3 to 6 months after that, you're gonna see Microsoft come with theirs because if you played in the tech space as I have, you know, you know the Microsoft hololens is one of the dominating, you know, real you you real powerful mixed reality headsets alongside one that was known as the magic leap. Um and of course Apple are going to do theirs and build a beautiful headset and so will meta and we just need these corporations of course to challenge each other. You know, brings out the best of anybody. You know, you're not gonna have Mcdonald's without burger king I think. And and we'll see. But again back to my point, it comes back to not having these siloed experiences. The real metaverse really needs to be something where we can interconnect and be agnostic with what device we use and still you know meet up in these digital realms chris, your your background um is an on chain kind of horse racing game called Zebra, I think we see a little bit behind you right now? Can you tell us more about this game's popularity, what aspects of this game would help kind of grow interest in gambling metaphor spaces? Well just to be clear, you said run is not a gambling game, it's it's an entertainment game. But yes to your point it's it's all about giving the users ownership over their digital assets. So being able to not just play a game, let's just take Fortnite for example, and where you're putting money into a game and you have an account which sits and stored on a server um using Blockchain and N. F. T. Technology now can give that true digital asset ownership and proof of ownership back to the players. So it's a new means of wealth distribution back to the people who and the communities are actually play a game which of course creates already a stronger emotional connection there but then also giving them agency and and possibilities and utility is really what's what's key. So with Zed Run, it's a digital racing ecosystem. You you were democratizing haste workforce racing ownership. You get to build a stable of these living breathing and FTS breed race, sell wind. So it's a very you know, if you step back, it's a very simple concept. However, if you start thinking about where the layers of this concept of Blockchain and digital asset ownership is going to go into gaming. I really think, you know, Sky is the limit. So you know, we're gonna see a lot of more games coming out where they're using an F. T. S. And smart contracts and tokens to prove that you own your player or your character or your horse and this is not to take away from what gaming is, you know that the focus is still play and it has to be play and not play too. And so that's something that we're also very adamant about with Ron. It does feel more broadly the Sky is the limit when it comes to metaverse. In to your point earlier, the competitive nature between mega names kind of entering in this space could be exactly what we need to kind of fully develop it just as we've seen historically in the past with something like the internet, that competitive nature chris really appreciate your time and your insight chris Evelyn, creative director and co founder at virtually human.