In a move that the Dubai-based metaverse project says will usher in a new era of metaverse accessibility, Everdome has launched the Spaces metaverse-as-a-service (MaaS) product line with the aim of making the metaverse more accessible for all.
Spaces is designed to allow users without deep technical knowledge to quickly produce metaverse experiences that can last for days, weeks or even a matter of hours as a metaverse pop-up space. Citing the reasons for the launch, Everdome noted a report by McKinsey showing that almost 60% of consumers using the early version of the metaverse were excited about transitioning everyday activities to it, and 95% of business leaders expected the metaverse to have a positive impact on their industry within five to 10 years.
Yet Everdome said the research also highlighted that the metaverse remains confusing for many business and consumer users, with greater barriers to entry and understanding than widely used web2 applications. Everdome said it was seeking to change this with its Spaces application, which it said would deliver easy-to-use, customisable and engaging metaverse pop-up spaces that can be created in a matter of minutes.
This product release follows closely behind Everdome’s Mars Landing experience release, which represented the completion of its alpha layer-one of their immersive metaverse destination, taking users from a virtual Hatta Spaceport through to a digital imagining of a future Martian civilisation. Created as a standalone application from the Mars metaverse environment, Spaces aims to address the ongoing challenge of accessibility in metaverse development, allowing a wider audience to take their first steps into the web3 world.
In practice, the Everdome team combines the power of Unreal Engine 5 with blockchain technology, wrapping them together to create metaverse templates designed to enable users to showcase images, video and streaming to invited users who can then react and socialise using avatars in a three-dimensional, immersive and interactive environment.
Releasing first in Alpha for Everdome’s community of landholders inside their experience, the Spaces release forms part of Everdome’s wider metaverse-as-a-service product line, encompassing metaverse templates and custom developments for brands and businesses, which will be gradually released over the third quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
Much as software as a service (SaaS) became a standard for web2 development, Everdome believes that MaaS will become a similar standard for web3, providing on-demand, subscription-based access for metaverse development for individuals, brands and businesses of all sizes.
“The metaverse is really just getting started. However, we need to provide people with a simple jumping-in point so they can really get a taste of the possibilities and differences between the web2 and web3 experiences,’’ said Everdome CEO Jeremy Lopez. “Metaverse as a service is an arena that is very exciting and with huge growth potential – to make sure the metaverse is usable by more people, quickly – focusing on tooling and products knocking down barriers to entry.’’