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. These are the results of research from the Extended Reality & Metaverse Observatory of the School of Management of the Polytechnic of Milan, presented today at a conference.
In general, the analysis notes, there have been important steps in the sector worldwide. Big names like Apple have taken the field and "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 our country 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, down by 18%. The main application sectors are retail and tourism, the greatest excitement is in education. 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. Only just over one user in four has entered at least one virtual world in the last year. Most of the accesses take place from PC. 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 - Among these there are the blockchain which will promote interoperability between virtual worlds; spatial computing which will facilitate the recognition of virtual objects and user interactions in physical space and artificial intelligence which will allow the use of virtual assistants in worlds and the optimization of industrial processes".