"Epic Games said today it has raised $1 billion in a new round of funding in its bid to build the
metaverse, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such as Snow Crash and Ready Player One."
"One of the keys to the metaverse will be making realistic animated digital humans, and two of Epic’s leaders — Paul Doyle and Vladimir Mastilović — will speak on that topic at our upcoming GamesBeat Summit 2021 conference on April 28 and April 29."
"Sweeney has been one of the biggest advocates for the metaverse in recent years. At our GamesBeat Summit event in January, he said that the metaverse should be built with open standards so that walled gardens do not dominate the community."
"I asked Sweeney what the killer attraction of the metaverse would be. He said the killer feature is simply getting together with your friends to have great social experiences, like going outdoors for a walk. That’s more fun than just sitting on a couch and talking."
"“We realized that you don’t need this crazy technology to do this,” he said. “We have everything we need right now. And the limiting factor on becoming reality is not much more than that. Developers learning what elements really make for awesome online social experiences, continuity of experience, and science fiction.”"
https://venturebeat.com/2021/04/13/epic-games-raises-1-billlion-to-fund-long-term-metaverse-plans/
Comments
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose Freewill
- Rush, Freewill (Album: Permanent Waves)
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
Apparently the folks at Epic, Sony and others agree there's a large untapped market and are willing to pony up with a billion in cash just for starters.
Maybe @Raph should consider hitching his wagon to this effort, perhaps they could toss some much needed funding his way.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
In that paper he outlined a vision which included his own cryptocurrency which would be used as legal tender between all game world's as well as be converted to real world cash just like his current game does.
He also discussed how players might be "hired" to perform online "jobs" and paid wages for their services.
I wonder if his company is any part of this initiative?
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
A good example is the Warhammer franchise (both 40k and fantasy). With so many games sharing the same background and universe, it would make for a better initial experiment. Connecting a huge range of game types AND game worlds might be too much for the first step.
The big question is who and how will ensure the 'overheads' of such connected multiverse - the background services ensuring communication between the games, distributing tasks, updates, etc. You know, the thankless and expensive tasks that no player will pay for directly (because technically they're not a game). But which are essential, so that a player on a grand campaign in Total War: Warhammer can create world updates and tasks for a party about to pwn some skaven behinds in Vermintide, for example.
Negotiations about profit-sharing would be tough and would probably have to be directed and enforced by a strong third party, e.g. the IP owner.
I'm not sure I understand the point of linking all online games together.
I dont believe any of this can work though without procedurally generated worlds.
Yeah my money is on DreamWorld
This just sounds like big businesses investing in Epic games and nothing more than that.
They plan on growing their social platform around 3 games i couldn't car less about like Rocket League/FN and Fall guys.
Simply amazes me how the the young generation of gamer is easily coerced into the NOW,the modern ideas no matter how lame they are how lame the games are.All they see is "popular" and want to be part of the popular,see me now era.
I pick games i want to play because i find them FUN or interactive,interesting and NEVER because it is popular or the IN THING to do.
I have seen how much money the FN cash shop alone is making and it is a lot and likely why investors find it so easy to invest into Epic.Their numbers are surprisingly a bit lower than TakeTwo/ROckstars cash shop profits but both are insanely high profits into the hundreds of millions a year.
So if you do the simple math,hundreds of millions soon turns into billions and everyone wants a piece of that pie.
IMO Epic deserves to do well,they actually worked hard to develop one of the best games engines year after year as well have done some good things with gift awards to people/teams showing great skills with the make something Unreal contests.IMUCH rather see someone like Epic make it rich than the scummy Valve Steam platform that do NOTHING but cash in on OTHER people's work taking an unjust 30% of THEIR profits.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon