It’s happening: Lego builds metaverse with Fortnite creator

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1. Lego to unveil metaverse details with Epic Games soon, CEO says 

According to a scoop by the Financial Times, toy giant Lego is bound to deliver big news of its metaverse virtual world venture with Epic Games, in which it’s already a major investor.

Lego’s foray in digital playing experiences and e-commerce couldn’t stir bigger excitement being done with the Fortnite creator, and the deal may be sealed at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Back in April 2022, Lego and Epic announced their metaverse moves within days of each other.

A common ground: shielding the children from harm via safe play.

Epic co-founder and CEO Tim Sweeney commits to this as his multibillion-dollar company and the LEGO Group come together to “build a space in the metaverse that’s fun, entertaining, and made for kids and families.”

2. Meta’s ’year of efficiency’ means job cuts, less metaverse, and more generative AI 

For the metaverse or metaworse?

Facebook’s parent company Meta, in line with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s promise to make 2023 “a year of efficiency,” is once again cutting thousands of jobs following its metaverse project’s failure to catch on. This despite peddling an immersive world accessible via VR headsets and special glasses, an investment that gobbled up billions of dollars.

Meta’s short-term focus may be on AI-powered products such as AI chat bots, but its long-term vision is still VR.

It’s cutting Quest headset prices in a bid to drive adoption.

This move marks Meta's long-term plan to expand its presence in the AR/VR hardware market, as anchored on a four-year tech roadmap that includes plans for a smartwatch in 2025 and AR glasses in 2027. By reducing the entry points for VR headsets, Meta aims to compete with rival ecosystems and attract more users to its platform.

3. Crypto industry to shift out of the US: Ripple CEO

Crypto provider Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse gets candid and says the US SEC's "regulation through enforcement" approach is not a healthy way to regulate the cryptocurrency industry.

This approach, according to him, has caused significant uncertainty for crypto firms and has led to many companies moving offshore in search of regulatory clarity. This could make the US a less attractive location for crypto firms, ultimately resulting in a loss of jobs, innovation, and economic growth.

Another point of concern for the Garlinghouse: the country’s lack of a regulatory framework. Without clear guidelines, it’s challenging for crypto companies to operate and innovate sustainably, and gain the ability to outline clear protections for consumers and eventually build trust with them and the wider public. 

4. 2023 will be the year that blockchain games deliver quality and fun, according to Polygon’s VP for games

If you ask Urvit Goel, exec at blockchain gaming giant Polygon, this should be the year that blockchain gaming stands and delivers.

His promise: “Our focus will be on helping these builders come to market, whether that is with broad tooling to make it easier to launch or new technology for scaling.”

Polygon currently has a $100M earmarked to invest in web3 gaming and other verticals, deploying a lot of its own money from when it raised a $450M funding round.

Despite gaming accounting for 48% of all blockchain transactions and a surge in active wallets, Goel and many others haven’t been satisfied with the quality of blockchain games on the market today.

To him and many others in the industry, blockchain gaming is in a “shots on goal” era, meaning there is an incessant need for more blockchain games with each one released enhancing the odds of a mass market hit.

Even despite a massively recoiled market stemming from the FTX collapse, with investment north of $500M between October and November 2022, funding for the web3 gaming industry certainly hasn't stopped.

Goel compared speculating on the web3 gaming market now to speculating on mobile gaming in 2000. Way too early.

🏃‍♂️ Quick Hits

🎮 Gaming

• Esports giant TSM has picked Avalanche as its exclusive blockchain partner as it builds out its competitive gaming platform Blitz. (Link)

• Mark Zuckerberg believes AR glasses will be as widely used as mobile phones and announced they’re creating smart glasses by 2025 along with a “neural interface” smartwatch. (Link)

• Susan Cummings of Petaverse, which is building an open standard for digital pets and virtual companions in AR and across virtual worlds, is one of the rising female leaders of the metaverse. (Link)

• HK-based blockchain firm Advokate Group launches a party for MetaGaia metaverse, equipped with a ChatGPT-powered oracle and pet companions. (Link)

• Taco Bell got its fans hitched in the metaverse, a culturally Indian wedding held in Decentraland. (Link)

🕶 Fashion

• Metaverse fashion is no longer a game of the elite, with more brands entering the space. (Link)

• Across fashion weeks: digital marketplace Zero10 partners with genderless label Private Policy for 3 AR pieces, while British label Ahluwalia fitted its Fall/Winter 23 products with digital IDs for provenance and supply chain credentials. (Link)

• From avatars to clothing NFTs to sustainability, the metaverse is giving fashion a much-needed makeover. (Link)

• Brands are "cartoonifying" their wares, resulting in clothing and accessories fitting a digital avatar more than a human. (Link)

• How did the London-based fashion veteran Gemma Sheppard transition from IRL styling to the metaverse? (Link)

🏀 Sports

• Nine-time motorsport world champion Valentino Rossi launches his metaverse Moto Island on Roblox. (Link)

• Fallen crypto bro Sam Bankman-Fried awaits his day in court by keeping up with news and sports, shopping on Amazon, and placing food delivery orders. (Link)

• Blockchain baseball game Round 1 Baseball promises distinctive graphics, realistic characters, and sophisticated baseball engine features. (Link)

• Metaverse company Fastexverse hosts a cinema screening of The Iron Woman, which recounts the success story of a female Emirati athlete dreaming of making it to triathlon at the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Link)

🎥 Media & Entertainment

• The SXSW festival is about to get a Shiba Inu-sized dose of the metaverse. (Link)

• Cove Beach, a venue forming part of the Caesars Palace in Bluewaters Island, debuts in the metaverse. (Link)

• Brand-new virtual K-pop girl group Fe:verse is set to make its debut this May. (Link)

• In the UK, digital entertainment and retail association ERA chair Ben Drury says AI, virtual and augmented realities, and the metaverse are on the agenda. (Link)

• In Dubai digital startup Blinx seeks to bring genuine Arabic news and storytelling to the youth as the first digital native storytelling hub in the MENA. (Link)

• Learn more about Riyadh’s Metaverse Discovery Day slated for June 8. (Link)

🖼 Art

• Amazon is ready to rock the NFT world with the launch of its first 15 collections on its digital marketplace as early as April, reports show. (Link)

• Yuga Labs' Ordinals-based BTC NFT auction was a success, with a whopping $16.5M raised in just 24 hours. (Link)

• The Louvre is about to get a whole lot smarter - AI artist Claire Silver's latest collection makes its debut at the famous French museum. (Link)

• In time for #IWD, UnicornDAO’s MY BODY, MY BUSINESS auction celebrates women artists and their work. (Link)

• Digital platform CODAMADE aims to shake up the public art scene via NFTs. (Link)

• The Bitcoin NFT market is on track to hit $4.5B by 2025. (Link)

• Joshua "Zeke" Thomas crafted Qtopia, a virtual universe for the LGBTQ+ community, as a refuge. (Link)

🤖 AI

• Can a machine be racist? AI may have a few prejudices, but hopes remain. (Link)

• The question of whether AI can be sentient has sparked heated debates, reignited in 2022 when a chatbot begged a Google engineer for help. (Link)

• Colombia holds a court hearing in the metaverse, packed with virtual spectators and a judge using AI to give a crash course on the platform. (Link)

• Is the metaverse frenzy cooling as ChatGPT gains steam? (Link)

• Will generative AI be the next big game developer, or will it just be playing the same old games? (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

• The UK is ready to take the plunge into the future with a £250M investment in AI and similar tech to be a superpower in the space by 2030. (Link)

• 3D asset management firm Hexa secures $20.5M to shake up the metaverse, working with retailers to enable customers to browse and shop in VR and AR. (Source)

• Web3 wallet BitKeep has partnered with multichain gaming and metaverse platform NFTb. (Link)

• Unitary, seeking to use AI for content moderation, has recently raised £8M. (Link)

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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

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