With the latest purchase of Activision Blizzard for a price of 68.7B $ Microsoft had made a clear statement that they are also in the game of Metaverse with Meta (Formerly known as Facebook) who rebranded their company in late 2021.
What is Metaverse?
Metaverse is a virtual world people can interact with each other and share experiences in a virtual space. No one knows which shape it will take at the end, what software will it require, which company will take it to the bigger picture. It is in so much early-stage to predict now.
Why Microsoft is looking stronger in the race?
1. Difference in vision
According to me, Microsoft has understood the metaverse game far better way than Meta. Meta is eyeing to bring the Metaverse technology with the help of VR Headsets whereas Microsoft is focusing mainly on bringing this technology into your Desktop, Laptop, and smartphone without any external hardware factors.
The market is too early to welcome VR headsets as affordability and comfortability come into the picture. Microsoft has introduced Mesh a year before as a gateway to Metaverse. It is a platform that will enable Teams, and allow people in different physical locations to send chats, join virtual meetings, collaborate on shared documents, and more.
Microsoft Teams has daily 145 Million active users where the total VR user base is around 17 Million. This clearly shows the market of Microsoft in Metaverse.
However, there are significant differences such as Facebook’s greater concern with internet-based social media relationships, and Microsoft’s sharper focus on work.
2. Experience in Gaming
Satya Nadella (Microsoft's CEO) told that the metaverse is an immersive environment, gaming has already offered users for a long time. Gaming is surely one of the main pathways to Metaverse and here Microsoft is way ahead of Facebook. Microsoft owns Xbox studio which allows him to have a great userbase and world-famous game developers who are essential for bringing metaverse into action.
Microsoft also owns Minecraft & with the purchase of Activision Blizzard, it acquired almost 390 million monthly users and game titles.
Whereas Facebook has no such significant experience in Gaming. The only game they launched is Farmville which most people haven't heard of.
3. Data Privacy
Facebook has a bad name when Data Privacy comes into the picture. The kind of approach they are following with VR Headsets, Data privacy will be a crucial thing here. Where Microsoft set an industry name for keeping their user's data safe and sound.
Facebook data breach scandal will surely be a huge burden for Meta. Although it has affirmed its commitment to data privacy in the metaverse — saying that it will minimize the amount of data collected, build technology to enable privacy-protective data uses, and give people transparency and control over their data — this will not be enough to reassure most future users.
4. User base
Microsoft has always been the biggest name in the software and enterprise market along with the userbase of working professionals across the world.
Whereas Facebook is used for social relationships & Entertainment with a ton of youth audience.
Microsoft is seemed to be interested everywhere. They are well established in Software alongside Hardware Business. They are also into Gaming for many decades now which makes Microsoft have a large potential userbase for their metaverse masterpiece.
Execution is the key. Bill gates also has a clearer picture of today's mobile genre back in the 1990s. Still, Microsoft couldn't do well in the smartphone field.
Let's wait and watch🤞
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