In Italy, the metaverse has not yet taken off, although there has been progress on a global level. To date, less than 500 thousand Italians own a headset, and initiatives in our country are down by 18% compared to 2022.
Few Italians use it regularly: although over 50% declare that they know at least one virtual world (70% for the younger groups), the percentage is essentially linked to the gaming world. Most of the accesses take place on PCs. The main barrier to the diffusion of headsets is the high cost but also a lack of perceived valuable services/applications. "The metaverse is still under construction, and its development may be facilitated by the evolution of other technologies," says Riccardo Mangiaracina, Scientific Director of the Extended Reality & Metaverse Observatory. The European Commission has presented the web 4.0 strategy to guide the next technological transition focused on virtual worlds, and globally, there are 130 public virtual worlds. In Italy, the sector still seems shy between augmented, mixed, and virtual reality. From 2020 to today, 482 projects have been recorded, of which 108 were born in 2023.