Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing some of the brightest minds in web3. In particular, my conversation with Sanjay Basu, the head of technology strategy and complex pursuits at Oracle, a cloud technology company, has especially left its mark on me.
As participants in web3 culture, I included, often get wrapped up in what the Metaverse will look like rather than what will enable it. We see large virtual worlds like The Sandbox and Decentraland dazzle us all with their virtual events and grandeur. Although these platforms are credible in their own right (especially for gamers), how will these platforms link the real and digital worlds seamlessly? How can we connect to these digital worlds without the need for high-tech hardware and a suped-up internet? How can they be enabled? The answer could be the cloud.
Okay, I know you might be asking, but isn’t that the idea of the Metaverse, full digital immersion? Yes, I guess it is, but I ask you this, how often will or do you want to be fully digitally immersed? Probably not often. Sometimes, the Metaverse is looked at as this hyper-digital reality (something out of Ready Player One), and I think this might be an oversight, at least for the time being.
As the Metaverse takes shape in the next decade, our digital and physical realities will become more intertwined, but probably not in the form of constant full digital immersion (although these experiences will become available), but in a seamless manner that will enable us to connect to the digital world, with no barriers effortlessly. Thus, we may see a hybrid form of immersion. The cloud is one way to bring about this kind of immersion.
Cloud technology will most likely help power the Metaverse, especially where it matters most, away from home. The cloud could enable you to play your favorite game away from your residence or connect with your friends online while on your commute. Likewise, due to the capabilities of cloud technology, it may power some of the most immersive digital experiences. Thus, the Metaverse will probably be realized fully using cloud technology. After all, isn’t the idea of the Metaverse seamless digital immersion? The cloud could enable this.
We already see this enablement happen with gaming giants such as Xbox and PlayStation. Xbox’s cloud gaming is in beta, and PlayStation has announced its subscription service incorporating its cloud technology PlayStation Now with its PlayStation Plus lineup of games. Thus, we see the convergence of Metaverse style communities powered by the cloud. I think we will see a lot more of this in the future.
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