INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER — United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and China (Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Nielsen Bookscan, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, BookNet Canada, Bookseller.com, Bookdao/Nielsen, JD, DangDang) Tim Sweeney (CEO of Fortnite-maker Epic Games): “Matthew Ball’s essays have defined, analyzed, and inspired the Metaverse for years. His book is an approachable and essential guide to the strategic, technical, and philosophical foundations of this new medium.” Derek Thompson (Atlantic staff writer and national best-selling author of Hit Makers): “This book feels like a rare achievement: a definitive statement about an emerging phenomenon that could shape the digital world, the global economy, and the very experience of human consciousness.” From the leading theorist of the Metaverse comes the definitive account of the next internet: what the Metaverse is, what it will take to build it, and what it means for all of us. The term “Metaverse” is suddenly everywhere, from the front pages of national newspapers and the latest fashion trends to the plans of the most powerful companies in history. It is already shaping the policy platforms of the US government, the European Union, and the Chinese Communist Party. But what, exactly, is the Metaverse? As pioneering theorist and venture capitalist Matthew Ball explains, it is a persistent and interconnected network of 3D virtual worlds that will eventually serve as the gateway to most online experiences, and also underpin much of the physical world. For decades, these ideas have been limited to science fiction and video games, but they are now poised to revolutionize every industry and function, from finance and healthcare to education, consumer products, city planning, dating, and well beyond. Taking us on an expansive tour of the “next internet,” Ball demonstrates that many proto-Metaverses are already here, such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox. Yet these offer only a glimpse of what is to come. Ball presents a comprehensive definition of the Metaverse before explaining the technologies that will power it—and the breakthroughs that will be necessary to fully realize it. He addresses the governance challenges the Metaverse entails; investigates the role of Web3, blockchains, and NFTs; and predicts Metaverse winners and losers. Most importantly, he examines many of the Metaverse’s almost unlimited applications. The internet will no longer be at arm’s length; instead, it will surround us, with much of our lives, labor, and leisure taking place inside the Metaverse. Bringing clarity and authority to a frequently misunderstood concept, Ball foresees trillions of dollars in new value—and the radical reshaping of society.

An illuminating insight into the Metaverse - what it is, how it works, and and why it will soon be playing a major role in business, technology and society. In Into the Metaverse, Cathy Hackl, a globally recognized futurist and one of the world's first Chief Metaverse Officers, shares her insights on what companies need to do to harness the next iteration of the internet - the metaverse. In this book you'll find a wealth of information on issues such as: - What is the metaverse and what it means for your brand, organization or company - How to make money in the metaverse through understanding the underlying concepts behind it such as gaming, synthetic media, spatial computing and artificial intelligence. - How to lead in the metaverse through industries that are already forging ahead, such as fashion and marketing. - Who should manage the metaverse function within your organization and why some companies should consider creating a role for a Chief Metaverse Officer. - Finally, how to protect the metaverse and action steps you can take towards the future. Essential reading for any executive, Into the Metaverse, will reshape how you think about the internet and its place for those who want to lead successful businesses, today and into the future. If the internet was first used to connect us to information, and then developed into a social media forum to connect people, then Web3, which connects people, places and things, will help enable the successor state to today's mobile internet - the Metaverse. It will bring together and merge our physical and digital lives, and - in the same way that social media upended our lives and our businesses - the Metaverse will shake things up even more. Into the Metaverse is the essential business guide to understanding the ground-breaking technologies that enable this monumental shift and the opportunities it presents from a business and societal perspective.

The Metaverse is the future of business applications and models and, this groundbreaking book points and details a complete and clear picture of how the Metaverse can impact the various business segments and how the human element will be maintained within the evolutionary change. This book serves as a guide for those planning to implement and expand the Metaverse in their business as well as those already using it on limited levels. Simulated intelligence innovation can reveal intricate and significant examples in robust and information-rich situations that posture difficulties for human insight. In addition, similarly to other burgeoning advancements, the experience and aptitudes accumulated by vendors and consumers, alongside the steady analysis of interactions and information, empower Metaverse calculations to be refined and improved. This book fully illustrates the current advancements and results and expands the analysis of human-centric Metaverse applications to business segments and their future effects on overall enterprise management. Essentially, this book elaborates on the impact of the Metaverse across business sectors through the use of case studies.

Sustainability is part of every aspect of our life, with climate concerns shaping the future. Thus, it is important to understand how metaverse will affect sustainability, as it is opening both challenges and opportunities for environmental sustainability. On the one side, replacing real-world interactions with 3D virtual and exchanging physical goods with digital ones are significantly less resource-intensive and more carbon-efficient. Therefore, this holds the promise of reducing the environmental pollution. On the other side, metaverse increases e-waste and energy consumption. Given this controversial impact, it is crucial for businesses and researchers to understand how to ensure that the metaverse develops sustainably. This book is popping out several questions: Do businesses understand the metaverse concept and perceive the benefits and advantages of implementing such technologies? How will the metaverse change business? Will metaverse change our working place and skills needed? How can companies get ahead of the change and mold it to their advantage? Will businesses use metaverse? Can metaverse create a more sustainable word? How can we make the metaverse better than what we have now? Is it going to affect environmental sustainability? Will it cause more severe climate problems, or would it be the solution? How can metaverse impact the achievements of SDGs?

The metaverse is the future of business applications and models, and this ground-breaking book points and details a complete and clear picture of how the metaverse can impact the various business segments and how the human element will be maintained within the evolutionary change. This book serves as a guide for those planning to implement and expand the metaverse in their business as well as those already using it on limited levels. Simulated intelligence innovation can reveal intricate and significant examples in robust and information-rich situations that posture difficulties for human insight. In addition, similar to other burgeoning advancements, the experience and aptitudes accumulated by vendors and consumers, alongside the steady analysis of interactions and information, empower metaverse calculations to be refined and improved. This book illustrates the current advancements and results and expands the analysis of human-centric metaverse applications to business segments and their future effects on overall enterprise management. Essentially, this book elaborates on the impact of the metaverse across business sectors through the use of case studies.

An incisive glimpse into the future of the internet In Step into the Metaverse: How the Immersive Internet Will Unlock a Trillion-Dollar Social Economy, future tech strategist, entrepreneur, and thought leader Dr. Mark van Rijmenam delivers a startlingly insightful discussion about how the world as we know it will fundamentally change as the physical and the digital worlds merge into the metaverse, impacting the everyday experiences of people, companies, and societies. The author maps out the extraordinary opportunities and challenges facing business leaders, consumers, regulators, policymakers, and other metaverse stakeholders trying to navigate the future of the Internet. In the metaverse, you can be who you want to be, where you want to be, and companies and consumers are only restricted by their own creativity how they can benefit from the immersive internet. With engaging commentary on issues ranging from avatars, identity and digital fashion to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain and the economics of the metaverse, this book also offers: Discussions on the importance of an open and interoperable metaverse build on the web 3.0 paradigm if we want to reign in the control of Big Tech over our identity, data and lives. Explorations of the enormous—and largely untapped—potential for metaverse entertainment, including gaming, music, media, and sports and how brands can engage with their customers in novel ways and how digital twins will change how we work and innovate. Considerations related to the dangers of an always-on, immersive internet, including data breaches, avatar imposters, mental health issues, corporate and state surveillance, and the need for metaverse law. A fascinating read you won’t be able to put down, Step into the Metaverse belongs in the hands of executives, managers, and other business leaders who play a role in digital transformation or execution. It's also an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the future of technology, the internet, and social interaction.

THE 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION WITH NEW, NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED MATERIAL After the Internet, what came next? Enter the Metaverse - cyberspace home to avatars and software daemons, where anything and just about everything goes. Newly available on the Street - the Metaverse's main drag - is Snow Crash. A cyberdrug that reduces avatars in the digital world to dust, but also infects users in real life, leaving them in a vegetative state. This is bad news for Hiro, a freelance hacker and the Metaverse's best swordfighter, and mouthy skateboard courier Y. T.. Together, investigating the Infocalypse, they trace back the roots of language itself to an ancient Sumerian priesthood and find they must race to stop a shadowy virtual villain hell-bent on world domination. In this special edition of the remarkably prescient modern classic, Neal Stephenson explores linguistics, computer science, politics and philosophy in the form of a break-neck adventure into the fast-approaching yet eerily recognizable future. 'Fast-forward free-style mall mythology for the twenty-first century' William Gibson 'Brilliantly realized' New York Times Book Review 'Like a Pynchon novel with the brakes removed' Washington Post 'A remarkably prescient vision of today's tech landscape' Vanity Fair