Two years after Mark Zuckerberglaunchedit into orbit, the metaverse is crashing back to Earth.
Metaverse stalwarts are now fighting for competing visions.
On one side are the centralised platforms owned by the likes ofMetaand Roblox.
Under the control of all-powerful tech giants, these virtual worlds exist in siloes.
On the other side stand advocates for open, interconnected, and decentralisedmetaverses.
In these utopian realms, users can freely traverse spaces and take ownership of their experiences.
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The company spent a decade building immersive virtual worlds, frommilitarysimulationstoK-popparties, before pivoting to building metaverse infrastructure.
While the unicorns focus (andfortunes) have fluctuated, Improbables faith in open spaces has persisted.
More recently, Narula has been pitching an alternative.
The lay of the land
Todaysvirtual worlds are ringfenced.
But you cant take any of that into Fortnite.
MSquared hopes to dismantle these barriers.
If all goes to plan, the virtual experiences will extend across multiple platforms and an interoperable economy.
Whitehead compares the concept to international travel.
In this analogy, virtual worlds are akin to individual nations with open borders.
If you want to visit a new country, you just bring your wallet and possessions with you.
Were the layer that connects those different worlds together, said Whitehead.
And its agnostic as to whether that metaverse is using crypto or non-crypto stuff.
Naturally, they wont be doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
Creators, meanwhile, can monetise their content.
As the experiences improve, the digital economy could rapidly expand.
In time, Improbable wants to add over 10,000 people to the MSquared data pipe.
But before they come, someone has to build it.
Weaving a metaverse fabric
Users have not yet been invited to theMSquared virtual party.
Improbable has built the ecosystems foundations, but it wantsto expand the web connection before the public release.
The system has already poweredmass-scale experiences.
A circle of partners have added further capabilities.
Improbable is now expanding access to the builder community.
If youre interested in participating, you’re able to read theLitepaperor join theDiscord server.
The virtual future
Improbable hopes the initial crop of metaverse launches will arrive soon.
The next step will be creating and incentivising a cross-metaverse economy through shared commercial structures and free movement.
Ultimately, Narula envisions the system becoming farbigger than any one company or individual metaverse.
Its a grand ambition that still needs to be turned into reality.
But MSquared at least offers hope of an escape from platform monopolies and walled gardens.
Our tech overlords will be closely following the progress.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
