The term "metaverse," originally coined by Neal Stephenson in his science fiction novel “Snow Crash” (1992), is frequently used today to denote an immersive virtual world in which internet users can interact with each other in the form of avatars. The idea has gained increasing attention in recent years, partly because Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly expressed his support for the concept and Facebook changed its company name to Meta Platforms in October 2021 to indicate its future direction. The metaverse concept, which promises new business opportunities that make use of advanced consumer technologies, has been met with some interest in Japan as well: One survey found that 10 percent of companies in the secondary and tertiary sector were
The Japanese metaverse market
The
metaverse market in Japan, which in this case excludes services that exclusively focus on video games, was estimated at a value of more than 285 billion Japanese yen in fiscal year 2023 and is expected to multiply in size over the coming years. The growth of the market will largely depend on the progress and adoption of related hardware, such as
head-mounted displays (HMDs) and smart glasses, as well as the ability of content creators to attract users. Bandai Namco, one of Japan’s largest video game publishers, announced in February 2022 that it planned to spend 15 billion yen on developing a metaverse based on the iconic “Gundam” franchise that would be linked to the company’s game arcades and plastic model shops. The company offered a limited time opening of its “Gundam Metaverse Project” in October 2023 to gather feedback from users.
Perceptions of the metaverse
If implemented successfully, metaverse projects can function as a combination of
social media, content creation platforms, and
e-commerce outlets that connect individual users and companies. While some companies see the opportunity of creating a new business line, others perceive the possibility of strengthening their sales capabilities or improving their customer service. There are also examples of successful non-commercial applications in Japan, such as virtual school lessons for children who suffer from social anxiety. While survey figures show that a majority of people in Japan
has heard about the metaverse, only a minority
is interested in it, which indicates that the metaverse idea is not immediately attractive to everyone and that it will probably take some time for its use to spread from early adopters to a more general audience.
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