The "meta universe" in Zuckerberg's eyes, the second half of Facebook's life? ｜Global company study

From the virtual to the real, from the real to the virtual, Facebook wants to be the "number one player" in the "meta universe".

We hope to find business inspiration and antidote from the experience of global companies. This series will include interpretations of global companies and inventory of popular industries, welcome to continue to pay attention.

"We hope that as many people as possible can experience virtual reality and be able to fully integrate into the world of the'meta universe'. Imagine that in the'meta universe', people can go beyond any boundaries and restrictions and go to any dream place. You can walk with your old friends or make a group of new friends. The goal of achieving these experiences is indeed our main livelihood as a technology company and our business." ——This is the American social media giant Facebook A passage from the founder Mark Zuckerberg in an interview in early May of this year.

The "meta universe" that became popular due to the Roblox fire has now become the target of everyone's search. This "virtual world born out of the real world, parallel to the real world, influencing each other, and always online" has successfully attracted the attention of capital and players in multiple industries. Among them, online social and gaming industry players who have reached the ceiling in terms of "form" or "gameplay" are most sensitive to this. Because the popularization of "Meta Universe" will completely overturn the existing online social and game industries, making more new social forms and gameplay possible. For companies that cannot keep up, once "Meta Universe" becomes widespread Application, they may face "the disaster of extinction."

And often the first to feel the "crisis" is always the forefront of the vanguard. Facebook, which is based on social networking, is one of them. Zuckerberg's enthusiasm for the virtual world has long been no secret. As early as 2014 when Facebook acquired the virtual reality company Oculus, the move was interpreted by the outside world as Zuckerberg was paying for the "future world".

Seven years later, when the concept of "meta universe" has moved from novels and movies to reality, people may admire the foresight of Zuckerberg and Facebook. Especially in the recent period, Facebook's frequent actions in the virtual field are even more fascinating. What is the meta-universe in Zuckerberg's eyes? As the technology carrier of Metaverse, where has Facebook's exploration in the AR/VR field gone?

Before answering the above questions, let us first talk about the growth story of "Meta Universe".

"Meta Universe": From Floating in Dream to Reality

Even if it has become one of the most popular words in the world, no one has yet been able to give a "standard" definition of "Metaverse". In other words, people have not yet been able to find an absolute consensus on what the metaverse is. Because with the evolution of the times and technological innovation, the characteristics of the "meta universe" and the "possibility of presenting form" are also changing. However, we can still get a glimpse of one or two things through the growth history of the "meta universe" and the existing primary forms.

Regarding the origin of the "meta universe", it is generally believed that it originated from the science fiction "Snow Crash" published by American science fiction novelist Neal Stephenson in 1992. For Stephenson, the "meta universe" is a space-time parallel to our real world.

And this concept is well-known to the public through the science fiction film "Ready Player One" directed by Steven Spielberg (Steven Spielberg). In this movie released in 2018, the real world in 2045 is a chaotic purgatory on the verge of collapse. People pin their hopes on the "oasis"-a virtual world in a free super online game covering the world. People only need to wear a VR device to enter this prosperous virtual world that contrasts sharply with the real world, become anyone and experience a different life.

By 2021, people will have a more concrete expression of the characteristics and expectations of the "meta universe". Among them, Professor Zhu Jiaming, Chairman of the Academic and Technical Committee of the Digital Asset Research Institute, gave this explanation for "Meta Universe": "In the context of 2021, the connotation of "Meta Universe" absorbs the information revolution, the Internet revolution, and artificial intelligence. The revolution, as well as the achievements of virtual reality technology such as VR, AR, ER, MR, game engine, etc., show mankind the possibility of constructing a holographic digital world parallel to the traditional physical world...In short, the'meta universe' 'Providing a new path for the ultimate digital transformation of human society."

As Professor Zhu Jiaming said, today's "meta universe" is undergoing a process of moving from dream to reality. What brought "Meta Universe" back to people's attention was the sandbox game platform Roblox, whose stock price soared 54% on the day of its listing this year, and its market value once exceeded $40 billion. This gaming platform aimed at American teenagers provides players with a space to play and develop games. Users (game players and developers) can explore through virtual identities in Roblox's virtual world. Roblox based on this concept is now generally considered to be a representative of the "meta universe". However, from the perspective of people’s current expectations of the "meta universe", Roblox can only be understood as conforming to some of the characteristics of the meta universe, not the complete one. Meta universe.

Regarding the "complete meta-universe", a report by Forbes made the following explanation: the meta-universe will be a shared virtual space, where the physical reality will be fully integrated with the digital virtual world, and people will have the "digitalization". Body (i.e. virtual person and identity)" (think of "Avatar" or "Number One Player", you can be a superhero, a successful person, or a big star) and can be completely in the virtual world through virtual reality (VR) technology" Life", or interact with the physical space with the help of augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR).

If it feels complicated, let's take an example. I don’t know if you have ever had such an experience. When you saw a piece of clothing you like in an online store, you can fill in a wave of your own image based on the model's appearance. However, when you try them on with joy, you find that it is an embarrassing "seller show and buyer show". In the "meta universe", you no longer need to rely on imagination, but can use a virtual person that fits very closely to you to "try on the cloud", and visually judge whether this piece of clothing is suitable for you. What's more convenient is that the device will automatically read your ideas, and when you think you can buy, the store will automatically place an order. Does it feel convenient and practical? However, as the current technologies such as VR, AR, and neural interfaces that can read users' thoughts are not mature enough, such a "virtual-real interconnection" is obviously not yet realized.

However, although technical barriers need to be broken through, based on the characteristics of Metaverse's "permanent online", "3D space integrating virtual and real", "interconnection of people and things" and "virtual currency system", we still You can test the water "meta universe". Among them, social and gaming are undoubtedly the two major tracks that best meet the above characteristics. This can be seen from the fact that most of the players in the "meta universe" are games and social enterprises.

In addition to game companies such as Roblox that we know well, there are Soul, which is forcibly bound to "Meta Universe", the technology giant Tencent, which put forward the concept of True Internet last year, and invested in Roblox and Epic, and is already based on "Meta Universe." The concept made the virtual 3D workflow platform Omniverse's Nvidia and the protagonist of our story Facebook and so on.

Facebook: the creation of the universe, technology first

As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, Zuckerberg's exploration of the virtual world can be traced back to 2014 or earlier. In July 2014, Facebook bought Oculus for US$2 billion. As a social media company, this acquisition can be seen as a key move for Facebook to enter the virtual world. Behind this move may be Zuckerberg's anxiety about the current social market and his yearning for "future social".

For the current social market that has entered the white-hot social market, Facebook, which was established in 2004, is already facing a "mid-life crisis", and has even been described by Gen Z as a "sunset red platform" that is nothing new and can only rely on acquisitions and plagiarism to survive. According to a report by Edison Research, a US market research agency, from January 2017 to January 2019, Facebook's US users decreased by 15 million. At the same time, young users are losing rapidly. Between 2015 and 2020, the number of users between the ages of 12 and 34 who are active on Facebook in the United States has decreased by nearly 20%.

Indeed, as phenomenal products such as Pinterest, Snpachat, Twitter, and LINE continue to come out, knowledgeable consumers are getting harder and harder to be satisfied. Online social players are committed to increasing their market influence by adding more features, gameplay, or "imitating" popular products, but with little success. For example, when Clubhouse became popular all over the world with Musk's "Friendly Endorsement", almost all players started to do voice social networking, but now there are very few products that can be remembered by people. Therefore, the only way to break out of the circle is to rely on a brand-new product that is completely free of its inherent form and detached from the real world. "Meta universe" seems to be the answer, and VR, AR, neural interface and other technologies and related technologies The hardware device is the ticket to enter the virtual world.

In order to open the door to the “meta universe”, Facebook has rapidly deployed key technologies such as VR/AR through acquisition and independent research and development. For Facebook, which is not bad for money, compared to independent research and development that requires a lot of manpower, time and money, acquiring core technologies and products through "buy, buy and buy" is the best way to quickly enter a field, and this is also Facebook's Consistent policy.

After acquiring Oculus in 2014, Facebook has also successively acquired a number of companies in the VR/AR field, including the British visual effects and AR technology company Surreal Vision, virtual reality company Pebbles, AR selfie app MSQRD, and VR action games. "Beat Saber" publisher Beat Games, VR studios Sanzaru Games and Ready at Dawn, Roblox-like game "Crayta" publisher Unit 2 Games, and recently acquired popular VR "chicken eating" game "POPULATION: ONE" development Business Big Box VR.

Compared to “adding bricks and tiles” to its own virtual technology through acquisitions, Facebook insists on “independence” in terms of operating systems, and this is more of paving the way for AR. Regarding the "Reality Operating System" being developed by Facebook, Zuckerberg said recently: "The reality operating system will differ from the existing ones in terms of interaction, application mode, content distribution, hardware form, and experience. The system is very different.” In addition, according to Andrew Bosworth, the head of Facebook Reality Labs: “Facebook needs to optimize the system for the compact size of AR glasses to solve problems such as heat dissipation and battery life. , So a customized underlying system is needed instead of using Android directly."

In addition, in order to enhance the interactive capabilities of VR/AR and make its interaction more natural (closer to people's daily behavior), Facebook announced the EMG wristband. According to Zuckerberg, in the study of neural interfaces, Facebook focuses more on recognizing the signals that the brain sends to the body/muscle, rather than reading people’s specific thoughts. Through the EMG wristband, people can better control the limbs of the virtual person, further enhance the user's sense of integration in the virtual world, and better cooperate with AR equipment.

Today, Facebook's Quest and Quest 2 products in the VR field have been welcomed by many players. According to statistics released by Valve in May, Facebook accounts for about 60% of VR devices worn by players on the Steam platform. In terms of AR, although Facebook has not officially launched related glasses products, it is just around the corner.

At the moment when "Meta Universe" has become the outlet, Facebook, which already has certain technical capabilities, is time to accelerate the creation of "Meta Universe" in the field it is good at. For Facebook and Zuckerberg at this stage, the "meta universe" is based on the extension of the game and social ecology.

Among them, the VR social platform Facebook Horizon, which came out two years ago, can be regarded as the first milestone for Facebook to explore the "meta universe" world. Although it has not been officially launched yet, it is already the closest Facebook product to "Meta Universe". Regarding Horizon, Zuckerberg said: “For Facebook, Facebook Horizon is the current top priority, and it will play an important role in helping to build a broader ‘meta universe’ across VR/AR.”

In fact, before Horizon came out, Facebook used a demo called Toybox to test the VR social field in 2015. Experiencers appeared in VR in the form of virtual avatars in the demo. At that time, due to technical limitations, Toybox players’ virtual avatars cannot accurately simulate human expressions. In 2017, Facebook again became the head-mounted display Oculus Rift released Spaces, and this time the focus is on the interaction between people. Players can browse the Facebook platform in the application or play small games together. And Spaces is also regarded as the predecessor of Facebook Horizon.

Two years later, on Oculus Connect 6, the 2019 developer conference, Facebook released the VR social platform Facebook Horizon, and launched a beta test version in 2020. It is understood that this is a social and entertainment platform based on the concept of "meta universe" and realized through VR technology. In the Horizon world created by Facebook, players can create characters according to their preferences, meet and entertain with friends in real life or new friends met on the platform.

According to the official and user evaluation videos of Facebook Horizon, after creating their own virtual identity (Avatar), players can go to various virtual areas, such as public places-town squares, through portals called "Telepods". You can also select the world created by other players through the Home interface. In different worlds, players can play games provided by space creators such as claw machine, room escape or Star Wars with strangers or good friends; participate in parties or competitions with different themes such as painting, cooking or golf.

In addition to being "tourists", players can also create their own world, and Facebook Horizon will provide players with creative tools from the shallower to the deeper. The scope of creation can also range from designing 3D portraits with a set of simple tools to developing elaborate multiplayer games and so on. In addition, players can build the world with others and share progress in real time through distribution channels.

Seeing this, some people may think that Horizon and Roblox are the same. Indeed, in terms of game experience and creation, Horizon and Roblox do have some similarities. But Horizon based on VR technology is more immersive than game platforms such as Roblox. In addition, Facebook Horizon's design of characters is also more "attentive." It is understood that Horizon can recognize gestures and expressions, making virtual characters more "humanized".

More importantly, compared to Roblox, which takes "games" as its core, Facebook Horizon's focus is "social". Among them, in addition to meeting entertainment needs through games, competitions, parties and other activities, players can also use this to meet new friends or increase relationships with old friends. In addition, in terms of "friends", Facebook Horizon also provides players with functions such as discovering nearby friends, requesting to add friends, and blocking friends that are common in social applications. Players only need to trigger the function bar on the wrist to perform the above operations.

It can be said that Facebook Horizon integrates social networking and gaming very well, helping players to entertain and socialize through an immersive virtual society, completely getting rid of the "loneliness" of a single player, and at the same time, it is still to a certain extent. The above subverts the limitations of online social interaction that can only be through text, pictures, voice and video interaction.

The future journey of Facebook's meta-universe

The emergence of Facebook Horizon has to a certain extent proved the strength of Facebook in subverting traditional social and entertainment fields. With the continuous improvement of VR/AR technology, Facebook's exploration and layout in the "meta universe" may not stop at the two areas of social and entertainment. As it said when it acquired Oculus: "Oculus's virtual technology has opened up new experiences and possibilities. It has a broad imagination in many fields such as games, life, education, and medical care, and can even change the entire world." Indeed, In the "Meta Universe" track where strong enemies such as Tencent, Google, and Nvidia have entered the game one after another, they can continue to enrich their wings to have stronger competitiveness.

However, whether it is laying out the social and entertainment areas where it is good at, or exploring more unknown tracks, Facebook still has a lot of room for growth in core technologies. The ideal can be very full, but the technique must also be excellent. Whether Facebook can become the "number one player" of Metaverse, let us wait and see.