China’s Metaverse gold rush is on but practitioners differ over how these virtual, digital worlds should operate
- Big Tech is getting in on the Metaverse scene alongside a host of start-ups. although questions remain over how these virtual worlds should develop
- Concept gained traction during pandemic as people confined to their homes took to games like Fortnite and Roblox to socialise and create new worlds
In April with virtually no prior programming experience, Richard O’Connell, based in China’s tech hub Shenzhen, was amazed to learn that the first game he created for Roblox made him about US$5,000 a month, after just a short time learning.
It was then that the UK expat knew it was time for him to leave his job at the US game-making platform and start a company dedicated to the “Metaverse” – a shared 3D virtual space linked to a perceived virtual universe and seen by many as the future of the internet.
O’Connell spent two years in business operations with Roblox, which allows users to program and play games created by other users, and dedicated a couple of hours of his time every week learning how to create new games.
Just six months after launch, O’Connell’s first game Become Angels was visited nearly 6 million times, taking him by surprise, as he says it is “not a big game” compared to others on Roblox.
O’Connell has now started his own company aimed at bringing “the Metaverse from China” to the world. He is just one of many internet entrepreneurs who see it as the next gold rush – an always-on virtual world where people create, interact and pay for things they want.