Into the Metaverse – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to Into the Metaverse, in this week’s episode, Yon welcomes the Godmother of the Metaverse, Cathy Hackl, to the podcast to discuss the convergence point of many new technologies and how they are shaping the metaverse in the near term future.

Cathy Hackl is a globally recognized tech & gaming executive, futurist, and speaker focused on spatial computing, virtual worlds, augmented reality, AI, strategic foresight, and gaming platforms strategy. She’s one of the top tech voices on LinkedIn and is the CEO of Spatial Dynamics, a spatial computing and AI solutions company, including gaming. Hackl has worked at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Magic Leap, and HTC VIVE and has advised companies like Nike, Ralph Lauren, Walmart, Louis Vuitton, and Clinique on their emerging tech and gaming journeys. 

During their conversation, Yon and Cathy discuss her time at Magic Leap and how she originally got hooked on the metaverse, before going into who and what are leading the way in spatial computing, some innovative work being done by major brands, the types of investments and timeframes CMOs should be pushing for when coming into the metaverse, and much more.

Follow Cathy: LinkedIn | Instagram 

Read Cathy’s Free EBook, A Wearable World

-- -- -- -- --

Chapters:

Introduction (00:00)

How Cathy Got Hooked on the Metaverse (02:15)

What Her Time at Magic Leap Taught Cathy (04:51)

Our Current Technological Convergence Point (07:35)

Who’s Leading in the AI and Spatial Computing World (14:35)

Brands and Consumer Companies Doing Innovative Work (18:49)

The Need to Invest and Learn Now (22:38)

Future of Marketing & Engagement (27:39)

Most Excited for Next 12 Months (33:20)

-- -- -- -- --

Follow Yon: LinkedIn | X

Learn more about Into the Metaverse by visiting the website.

Learn more about Supersocial by visiting the website.

Welcome to Into the Metaverse, in this week’s episode, Yon welcomes Marcus Holmström, Founder and CEO of The Gang, for a conversation centered around their experiences building a game studio for Roblox and the wider metaverse.

Marcus discusses the inception and growth of The Gang, the success of their branded experiences like Vans and Shrek on Roblox, and the future of integrating real-world commerce into virtual worlds. The two then discuss the importance of being an early adopter and continuously learning from the community, before touching upon the challenges of adapting to Roblox's unique audience and social components, the strategic growth of the company, and the role of new technologies and brand partnerships in shaping the future of the platform.

Learn more about The Gang and all their current and upcoming games

Follow Marcus: LinkedIn 

Chapters:

• Introduction (00:00)
• How The Gang Got Its Start (01:07)
• Learning How to Build on Roblox (04:40)
• Lessons Learned From First Game Failure (07:52)
• Pros and Cons of Hiring On or Off Platform Teams (10:12)
• Where Brand Adoption and Brand Goals Are on Roblox (14:13)
• Real World Commercialization of Roblox (25:12)
• Entertainment IP Coming Out Of And Into Roblox (28:44)
• Moving to Platforms Beyond Roblox (36:47)

Most Excited About in Year Ahead (39:58)

Follow Yon: LinkedIn | X

Learn more about Into the Metaverse by visiting the website.

Learn more about Supersocial by visiting the website.

Welcome back to Into the Metaverse. In this week’s episode, Yon and Matthew dive into four of the most important and interesting news stories related to the metaverse.

The topics we discuss today include the smash hit new video game Palworld, the latest salvo in the Apple vs. Epic saga, the launch apps for the Apple Vision Pro and Netflix’s gaming strategy.

Check out friend of the pod Joost Van Dreunen’s take on the Palworld controversy.

Read the interview Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters did with Stratechery.

Chapters:

• Introduction (00:00)
• Palworld Dominance & Controversy (01:13)
• Apple Announces Third Party Payments in EU (07:25)
• Apple Vision Pro Launch Apps Announced (15:30)
• Netflix’s Gaming Strategy (20:15)

Learn more about Into the Metaverse by visiting the website.

Follow Yon: LinkedIn | Twitter

Follow Matthew: LinkedIn | Twitter

Learn more about Supersocial by visiting the website.

As large technology companies invest heavily to emerge as leaders in the metaverse, the risk remains that walled gardens extend from the social-mobile era of the Internet into the metaverse era. On this episode, we chat with Professor Udi Shapiro, an interdisciplinary scientist, Internet pioneer, artist, and proponent of e-democracy. He has been with the Weizmann Institute of Science since completing his PhD at Yale University in 1982. Udi provides great insight into his work on e-democracy and building an egalitarian, democratic metaverse and empowering communities with grass-roots cryptocurrencies.

Check out all of Udi's research here: https://arxiv.org/search/?query=Shapiro%2C+Ehud&searchtype=author&order=&size=50

On the fifth episode of This Week in the Metaverse, Matthew and Yon break down three news items that are influential to the development of the metaverse and on which we can provide unique perspective and expertise. First, we discuss the departure of COO Sheryl Sandberg from her role at Meta Platforms (nee Facebook) and what it means for the company’s growth in the metaverse. Next, we dive into the announcement that Neal Stephenson, the father of the metaverse and author of Snow Crash in which he coined the term, is launching LAMINA1. And lastly, we discuss Playful Studios’ $43 Million funding round and their ambitious plans for the Wildcard Alliance.

Creators are flourishing with the proliferation of non-fungible tokens and web3 technologies, empowering them with new tools to better connect with fans and collectors. We were happy to be joined by Sutu who uses art and technology in new ways to tell stories including his latest project, Neonz, which explores the full potential of an AR Metaverse. We had a wide-ranging conversation with Sutu about many topics including the empowerment of creators in the metaverse era, how intellectual property takes shape in the web3 era and at the end of the conversation, an exclusive about an upcoming project from Sutu.

On the fourth episode of This Week in the Metaverse, Matthew and Yon break down three news items that are influential to the development of the metaverse and on which we can provide unique perspective and expertise. First, we look at the announcement of new UGC games from Sky Mavis from its Builders Program. Then, we dive into the financial results of Animoca Brands, the parent company of the Sandbox. And lastly, we discuss the announcement that Gala Games’ Grit will be available on the Epic Games Store.

Venture investing in the metaverse is continuing at a rapid pace as investors seek to spot the next generation of multi-billion dollar tech leaders. Angela Dalton, the CEO at Signum Growth Capital and a venture partner at Griffin Gaming Partners, breaks down the outlook for VC investing in companies at the forefront of technologies and digital economies in the metaverse, what parts of the market are most exciting, the impact of recent financial market turbulence on investments and how gaming companies can evolve to become metaverse leaders.

On the third episode of This Week in the Metaverse, Yon is back and he and Matthew break down three news items from the last week that are influential to the development of the metaverse. First, we look at Roblox’s hire of former Zynga CTO Nick Tornow as VP of Engineering for its Developer Team. Then, we dive into the rumors swirling about Apple’s upcoming RealityOS for a potential mixed reality headset and what this means for its metaverse aspirations. And lastly, we discuss the seed funding environment for metaverse startups after Crunchbase reported that metaverse was one of five strong themes in seed venture funding so far in 2022 despite broader market turbulence.

Unity is one of the few companies with advanced real-time 3d capabilities that is positioned to help usher in the metaverse era. Marc Whitten, the Senior Vice President of Create at Unity, joins the podcast to breakdown Unity’s growth in the metaverse, how Unity plans to unleash the creator economy by democratizing real-time 3d development tools, platform interoperability and the potential of web3 technologies as we build towards a collective vision of the metaverse.