Giants 'scavenge' the metaverse

Please indicate the source of the picture is Visual China

The rewritten content is as follows: Photon Planet

There has never been an eternal protagonist in the technological context. Whether it is technology, concepts, or stories, they are constantly changing with the changes of the times, like an endless wave, shaping the context of the times and involving people.

Among the many myths that create momentum, the story of the Yuan Universe is the most difficult to calm down

"Oasis", the breaking of boundaries between reality and reality, and the rebirth of personality, the Metaverse has almost outlined people's entire imagination of future entertainment forms. But for the Metaverse that "can be seen to the end at a glance", even though the scenery at the end is very beautiful, But the journey was very painful:

The XR track, which is responsible for the entrance of hardware, is lost; in the content wasteland, the "oasis" is still out of reach; conceptual hype products such as NFT and digital collections have also gradually disappeared. At the same time, the back wave of AIGC hit, the focus of the technological context shifted, and the Metaverse seemed to be photographed dead on the beach.

Although people have forgotten it, the Metaverse has not been completely "buried". With the changes in the macro environment and the continuous exploration of artificial intelligence scenarios, the hope for the survival of the Metaverse has been rekindled

The metaverse has disappeared for a long time, has it appeared again?

At present, the Yuanverse industry is showing a scene of ice and fire.

On the one hand, the Metaverse has attracted the attention of top designers. Recently, a special Metaverse document was officially released for the first time - the "Three-Year Action Plan for the Innovation and Development of the Metaverse Industry (2023-2025)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") .

It is reported that the "Plan" proposes to focus on real-life needs such as social networking, entertainment, and office work, focusing on metaverse entrances, virtual space application tools and platforms, and accelerating the large-scale promotion of immersive display terminals, as well as related content and products supply and application.

It is undeniable that the "Plan" has injected strong confidence into the Metaverse industry, especially in promoting immersive technologies such as XR headsets and naked-eye 3D, which is quite leading. But the problem is that even if the macro-context is tilted, if the Metaverse industry wants to achieve a real phased breakthrough, it still needs widespread recognition by the public.

In the past period of time, the demand for XR has been in a state of storage and has been unable to explode. The lack of consumer groups at the terminal entrance has become an insurmountable gap, preventing users from going to the Metaverse scene. According to IDC data, in the first half of 2023, China’s AR/VR headset shipments were only 328,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 44%

Fortunately, the XR market is not exactly as people imagined, but is brewing some positive changes - the overall data fell by 44%, but the shipment volume of AR headsets increased instead of decreasing, reaching 6.8 million units, a year-on-year surge of 142%.

At this year’s WWDC conference, Apple’s Vision Pro not only attracted the attention of the industry, but also brought a glimmer of light to the long-dormant industry. Although the first-generation Vision Pro is destined not to become a product that enters thousands of households, Apple is trying to strengthen the consumer market's awareness of 3D content consumption through "combination punch".

Take the recently questioned iPhone 15 series as an example. Mainstream public opinion focuses on accusing "squeezing toothpaste", but ignores a very promising detail-the unique spatial video shooting capability of iPhone 15 Pro

This function does not exist independently. According to reports, the iPhone 15 Pro can shoot videos with three-dimensional effects and reproduce them through Vision Pro technology. This means that Apple plans to gradually introduce the originally marginalized 3D content experience into the vision of mainstream consumers by continuously upgrading mobile technology to achieve the goal of "bringing the old with the new"

Under the guidance of the macro context, and at the current stage where players are actively preparing for flagship products, the Metaverse industry has undoubtedly accelerated significantly in "leaving virtuality and entering reality"

As the Metaverse gradually loses its aura in the context of technology, players are hesitant between evacuating and stationing

Especially after Meta and Byte hit the wall one after another, players have become more cautious about the Metaverse. For example, Tencent, which has a high-profile XR team, now not only avoids talking about the Metaverse, but even Ma Huateng’s favorite "Quanzhen Internet" was mentioned much less often than in the previous two years.

However, companies such as Baidu, NetEase, and Alibaba have not stopped moving forward. Instead, they continue to introduce new story lines and innovative models, injecting vitality into the metaverse field

Take Baidu's "Xirang" as an example. Even though it was barren when it was first launched, and even caused ridicule by users because it was too rough, Baidu did not give up, but continued to contribute to it. To this day, Xirang has grafted more than 20 subdivisions such as cultural tourism, media, education, conferences and exhibitions. Ali's "Yuanjing", which was born in the same year as Xirang, has also continued to live up to this day, and continues to use various activities to increase its presence.

The same is true for NetEase, which has been trying to deepen its technological color. Among them, NetEase Yaotai, which is oriented to the metaverse field, has gradually expanded application scenarios and functions such as exhibition halls, press conferences and even graduation ceremonies in the past few years, and is exploring scenario solutions. of commercialization.

Although industry public opinion seems to have drawn an end to the Metaverse, the giants are still "scavenging" in this land. In the ethereal metaverse, seeking a trace of "certainty" has become extremely important. Rewritten content: Although industry opinion seems to have concluded that the development of the Metaverse has stopped, large companies are still looking for opportunities in this field. In the illusory metaverse, it becomes very important to seek a little "certainty"

AIGC, save the metaverse

How to move the metaverse from concept to more mature implementation, the answer is AI.

Before this, one of the main reasons why the Metaverse and XR terminals have not been able to enter the crowd is the fragmentation at the content level.

On the one hand, limited by technology, players need to go through rounds of tests such as 3D modeling, rendering, and optimization to build their ideal Metaverse world, and are burdened with extremely high costs of time and money.

Take social applications as an example. In the development process of traditional 2D social applications, art and graphic design are often integrated. In contrast, 3D projects require both original painting and modeling, as well as bone binding, action design, etc. The difficulty is naturally not at the same level. This not only means that the workload and work costs have doubled, but also tests the players' patience and determination in the Metaverse.

In this context, previous applications of the Metaverse tended to be "just for fun". Players often just wanted to simply "create a Metaverse" rather than "create a good Metaverse" - the content was rough, empty, and Lack of experiential value.

On the other hand, the metaverse is not just a virtual space, but requires the establishment of social relationships between people

This means that even if players do not hesitate to improve the picture specifications of their Metaverse scenes, the current virtual reality scenes that meet the public's imagination of the Metaverse often have extremely high hardware thresholds. In the absence of user support, the satisfaction brought by the improved graphics is far from enough to offset the hollow content - after all, what people want is an RPG (role playing) with social attributes, not a "travel simulator".

Faced with the shackles of metaverse content production, AIGC has become the antidote. Take Blockade Labs as an example. Whether it is the Skybox AI launched by it or the LDM3D launched in cooperation with Intel, panoramas or 3D content can be generated by inputting prompt words, greatly improving the efficiency of Metaverse content production.

In China, Xirang recently launched the "digital avatar" and "space component" functions. Users can generate a digital image or create a personalized metaverse space simply by describing it in words. NetEase Yaotai also generates 3D content through AIGC and launched the Metaverse Editor, allowing users to build and edit scenes on Yaotai. Based on its strong ability to reduce costs and increase efficiency, AIGC has become the "water, electricity and coal" in the metaverse field

In addition to enhancing infrastructure construction capabilities, AIGC can also create realistic virtual images to penetrate into the social links of the metaverse and enhance user participation and interaction

Prior to this, although major game manufacturers have already used plots and dialogues to make the image of game NPCs more full, but even though game manufacturers have given players a variety of dialogue options, communication based on scripts and preset copywriting is still limited. It traps players and greatly reduces their freedom and immersion.

AIGC has changed the game design idea that has lasted for decades, allowing users to communicate with NPCs and talk about the universe and the sky as they wish. Following this logic, NetEase's "Ni Shui Han" mobile game has a large number of NPCs who can communicate with players in depth; Xiang has also launched an "intelligent NPC housekeeper" to allow NPCs to better communicate with users and interact with them.

In other words, as more and more players invest in large-scale games and delve deeper into the AIGC field, the content ecology of the Metaverse will change. At the same time, with the popularity of hardware terminals, the development of the Metaverse industry is bound to accelerate

Immerse yourself in the present and pursue the future

Even though the upstream is still stationed and ready to go, the Yuanverse industry seems to be still a long way from truly breaking out.

Looking at every round of technological succession or content innovation, there is often an urgent need or a hot product as the first driving force, so that the public can establish awareness or develop corresponding habits, such as the "iPhone moment" The mobile phone industry, or "jump" to WeChat mini programs.

Rewritten content: The current Metaverse has similarities with the WeChat mini program that was originally considered insignificant - as more players join, the needs of users covered will also increase, and the influx of users will This may affect other players' willingness to join. This may be the reason why players such as Baidu and NetEase work hard to cultivate the virtual world

With AIGC not yet fully open, the Metaverse is more like an area where various players conduct large-scale experiments. As part of technical verification, it serves the marketing needs of large-scale experiments rather than connecting real users. Therefore, despite the acceleration of the Metaverse industry, the fog has not completely dissipated, and the capital market deliberately keeps a distance from it

An investor told Photon Planet: “I don’t care whether the investment object can become a great company, I only care about whether it can be monetized. Although early-stage technology has high returns, it also has high risks and is far from reality. Applications are still far away. In contrast, I prefer to invest in mature business models and reliable data.” In other words, whether for capital or enterprises, the Metaverse has transcended the conceptual hype stage. The concept does not seem to be profitable at present

From intimacy to alienation, the process experienced by the Metaverse is very similar to that of artificial intelligence in the past

At the Dartmouth Conference in 1956, the concept of AI was formally proposed for the first time. In the following decades, from the philosophical propositions of "Ghost in the Shell" and "Blade Runner" to the scientific research initiated by "Deep Blue" and "Alpha Dog" From human panic to the dilemma of visual AI, AI has fallen from the limelight countless times along the way.

To this day, time has spanned nearly 70 years. Until the outbreak of the AIGC track, the AI ​​industry is still full of doubts and anxiety - whether even the currently hot large models can be successfully implemented as players expect? Reshaping the industry is still unknown. Based on this, the Metaverse industry also needs to be prepared to travel long distances and cross mountains and ridges.

Fortunately, the hype surrounding the concept of the Metaverse has faded, and prudent investment has gradually increased under the guidance of the macro context. This will help eliminate the past bubbles in the Metaverse industry and bring it into a more pragmatic and healthy state. stage.

The concept of the metaverse that grew wildly and allowed players to speculate and make money is dead; for the real metaverse, there is still a long way to go. Rewritten content: The concept of the metaverse, which allowed players to speculate and make money, has died; for the real metaverse, there is still a long way to go in the future

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