Real jobs and infrastructure projects are emerging in the metaverse economy.

• In 2022, new job opportunities will emerge in the metaverse, with developers working on gaming and NFT transactions for luxury brands and social media platforms, as well as gamers monetizing their skills.
• The metaverse economy will continue to attract investments from the venture capital community, which will focus on gaming-related projects.
• To support leading chipmakers like Nvidia and Intel, a new global infrastructure with significant computing power is necessary.

Avery Akkineni predicts that "Web 3.0" will be the word of the year in 2022.

As the president of VaynerNFT, Akkineni devotes a significant amount of time to advising brands seeking to enter the metaverse market. Although the concept of a "corporate metaverse strategy" is still emerging, VaynerNFT has already gained traction. Its first client was Budweiser, and Akkineni anticipates that many other major brands will follow suit.

It is predicted that in 2022, more major brands will participate in Web3 projects.

According to Lin Dai, CEO of music NFT platform OneOf, major brands will fully adopt NFTs in 2022. The Quincy Jones-backed start-up has already sold an NFT of a never-heard Whitney Houston song for nearly $1 million and has partnered with The Recording Academy for an exclusive Grammy Awards collaboration.

This year, blockchain-based digital assets are expected to grow significantly beyond the music and art sectors.

Balenciaga has collaborated with Fortnite to offer users designer "skins" for the game, while Gucci has partnered with Roblox. Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren have also launched their own Roblox experiences. Polygon Studios' metaverse Lead, Brian Trunzo, notes that nimble and smart streetwear brands are already present in the space. "The players have finally taken the field, and the game is about to truly start," Trunzo said.

According to Akkineni, the main goal for brands at present is not to win but to participate in the blockchain industry. So far, brand involvement with blockchain projects has been centered on community building and staying relevant. The Nike and Adidas NFT drops, although they generated more hype than revenue, helped legitimize the still-developing space.

Luxury brands could benefit from the metaverse as an access point for a secondary market, according to Cathy Hackl, CEO and chief metaverse officer for the Futures Intelligence Group. Through blockchain and NFTs, brands could eventually receive a cut of the secondary market, even when their products are sold on platforms like The RealReal.

There will be more jobs in the metaverse

As more companies enter the digital realm, the demand for candidates with Web3 expertise will increase, potentially making Hackl's job title more prevalent.

According to Akkineni, both Solidity developers and Discord managers are in high demand, even when looking at job boards.

Ethereum's smart contract development language is Solidity, while Discord is a popular social media platform among gamers and the crypto community.

The play-to-earn gaming model has become increasingly popular in the Philippines, with Axie Infinity gaining over 1.8 million daily active users and some players reporting incomes of up to $1,000-$2,000 a month from playing the game.

Vance Spencer, a DeFi venture capitalist and co-founder of Framework Ventures, describes the project as a combination of a universal basic income experiment and an e-sport.

Gaming and metaverse crossover investments grow

The controversy surrounding virtual monetization in the gaming world is complex, but the math that supports more investments linking the metaverse to gaming is straightforward, as per Spencer.

The gaming industry is the largest entertainment segment, with approximately 3 billion regular participants. Sky Mavis, the developer of Axie Infinity, was the first to monetize NFTs in a gaming environment, but it won't be the last. Investors are recognizing the potential of the crypto-gaming crossover. In October, Sky Mavis raised $152 million from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Mark Cuban. Developers looking to do the same are likely to be successful, although for Spencer, the most upside is for developers making AAA-quality games that can be played on PC, like Grand Theft Auto and FIFA. However, Minecraft has also found substantial success despite not being an AAA game.

GME is planning to launch its own NFT marketplace and may need to hire Web3 staff to execute the plan.

Brands are likely to tap into the gaming revenue streams, too.

Akkineni stated that there is a direct commercialization opportunity in the gaming space, as people are accustomed to paying high prices for in-game skins, such as $20, $50, and $100.

The digital version of Gucci's Dionysus bag on Roblox was sold for more than its IRL retail price, indicating that gamers are willing to spend money on their virtual avatars.

Metaverse will be one of the world’s biggest infrastructure projects

The more significant the corporate plans for the digital realm, the greater the demand for computing power will be. With an increasing number of brands utilizing NFTs to establish their communities in virtual worlds and consumers following suit, the technological and physical infrastructure of the metaverse is becoming increasingly prominent. According to Intel's estimates from the end of 2021, Web3 metaverse projects will eventually require at least 1000 times the current computing power.

Another prediction for 2022: advancements in infrastructure.

The number of concurrent users online on a single server or 'node' in virtual worlds will continue to rise, necessitating advancements in physical components to handle consistent and reliable traffic. This is a natural part of technology's evolution, and it keeps semiconductor mainstays like Intel and AMD in a strong position, regardless of the future of the metaverse.

A boom for now, but winter is coming

The NFT and blockchain digital asset market is currently booming, but Akinneni predicts that demand may decrease and there may be fewer projects and drops by the end of 2022.

"This year may not see a 90% decline in project teams, but it marks the beginning of the end," Spencer stated.

Not all blockchain projects have the team to bring them to the mainstream, and Spencer anticipates a shift in maturation and consolidation. This consolidation may occur through M&A strategies with legacy brands. Akkineni sees Nike's acquisition of RTFKT as a significant moment in blockchain legitimacy beyond the crypto-native crowd. Hackl suggests that big Fortune 50 or Fortune 500 brands should start considering making similar deals.

The biggest challenges for the digital world in 2022 are scalability, specifically in terms of computing power and interoperability between different metaverses, as well as security. Akkineni emphasizes that these issues are common in emerging technologies.