
12/11/2021
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney sees himself in a race with companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Roblox. The goal: 1 billion metaverse users.
“Whoever brings on a billion users first would be the presumed leader in setting the standards,” Sweeney said.
The CEO sees the metaverse as a potential “multi-trillion-dollar part of the world economy,” which, like the internet, would not be owned by any one company.
Epic is one of several companies actively building virtual environments.
“Fortnite,” in addition to being a hit game, has become a virtual social and event space that hosts concerts.
Nike is partnering with Roblox to create a virtual playspace called Nikeland. The online area is filled with courts, arenas, and product showrooms. Nike previously filed a trademark application for digital shoes and apparel bearing its logo and slogan.
Microsoft is initially focusing on workplace environments for its metaverse and has said it plans to move into games.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek said he envisions building a metaverse using streaming service Disney+ as a platform.
Sweeney also called out Apple and Google for forcing
users and developers into siloed software environments. He is working to develop a “single store that works with all platforms.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that the multiverse could eventually grow to be a multi-trillion-dollar industry.