April at a Glance: Meta Losses $3.99bn, Shiba Inu Sparks Hollywood Attention, L’Orèal Hairstyles on the Metaverse, GEM Digital Increases Investment in Everdome, Come Dine With Me in the Metaverse, Children On the Metaverse: Parents Should Learn to Keep Them Safe

Meta Losses Another Fortune Through its Reality Lab Unit

Zuckerberg has proven unflinching in his dream for the metaverse. However, it seems like the harder he tries, the more the project becomes an impossible one. Meta has yet received another blow from its investment in the 3D virtual world of the metaverse. According to the company’s first quarter earnings report, Meta’s Reality Lab unit has recorded a $3.99bn loss from its operations. While the unit brought in $339m in revenue for this quarter, it was a far cry from the revenue from the other units of the company.

Before the earnings report came, Zuckerberg had announced a major restructuring which is expected to see more than 20,000 workers relieved from Meta’s workforce. Although he dubbed this 2023 ‘the year of efficiency’, Zuckerberg has not retraced his steps in pumping money into his metaverse vision. It seems this dream is taking too long to come to fruition.

Shiba Inu Metaverse Sparks Hollywood’s Attention 

As the official launch of the Shiba Inu Metaverse approaches, the platform is attracting attention from different spaces. Recently, it got a center stage in Hollywood circles, according to the words of its advisor, Marcie Jastrow. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show which was held in Las Vegas from April 15 through 19 had Jastrow in attendance. She wasn’t just there as an attendee but featured as a Speaker in the event’s Web3 Advisory Council. Jastrow has chronicled in her tweets that the Shiba Inu Metaverse has remained the Hollywood talk throughout the event, with emphasis on the fact that Shibarium will help ensure that the project sees daylight.

The NAB show is an annual trade event for professionals in the broadcasting and media industries, featuring exhibits, demonstrations, and educational sessions related to various aspects of broadcasting, including radio, television, film, and digital media. The show, being one of the largest and most important in the industry, usually records attendance of tens of thousands from around the world. It is interesting to know that the Shiba Inu Metaverse project remained a topic of discussion among Hollywood insiders at the event.

L’Oréal’s Hairstyles on the Metaverse

As people take their bows from the metaverse, more daring folks are venturing in with their full chests. While some will prefer to test the waters, others are walking right into the center. L’Oréal has decided to deepen its walk into the metaverse space as its L’Oréal Professionnel arm becomes the first hairstylist brand to create hair looks for avatars across several virtual platforms. They have secured a foothold on Ready Player Me, Roblox and Zepeto. Currently, the Gravitas collection features five new branded styles from L’Oréal Professionnel, providing gamers with a greater variety of looks to express themselves. L’Orèal has gone into a series of collaborations to bring this about. The 3D artist, Evan Rochette created the looks while French hairstylist Charlie Le Mindu will join the campaign to ensure that the virtual looks reach a wider audience. In the words of L’Orèal Professionnel’s International General Manager, Anne Machete:

“We are very excited to drop these cutting edge hairstyles as this is another milestone in our journey to crack the new codes of hair beauty and provide limitless forms of virtual self-expression. As the brand leader, we are in a unique position to elevate the professional industry, CGI artists and consumers to bring more value and augmented experiences.”

Children Are No Strangers to the Metaverse, How Parents Should Keep Them Safe

To some people, the metaverse sounds scary. There have been concerns that children will be in danger if they find themselves in the metaverse. These concerns are spearheaded by Children’s Charities. Meta’s announcement that teenagers are welcome in its VR Horizon Worlds app in North America has sparked some uneasiness among politicians. The VR Horizon Worlds is no more than an online environment where users are represented by avatars, interacting with other people in the space, using Virtual Reality (VR) headsets. These politicians fear that children could be admitted into the metaverse in North America, it will not be long before this admission is extended worldwide. It is not surprising that parents are concerned about the technology but what they don’t know is that children are already on board. What needs to be done on the part of parents is to understand the technology, the inherent risks, and what they can do to keep their children safe.

Most often than not, what happens in the metaverse is gameplay and interaction with peers. Platforms like Roblox and Zapeto allow people to create avatars, play games, and develop their own games. While VR headsets are used on platforms such as Roblox, these games can be played using traditional devices such as laptops, tablets and phones. The risks for children on these platforms are not different than those from mainstream social media.

For parents trying to ensure the safety of their children, there should be regular conversations with these children to understand these platforms, the activities going on, and the tools that the platforms provide them. Thankfully, platforms like Roblox and Zapeto allow for parental controls by providing features which allow parents to monitor who their children play games with and to block abusive users. The best way of reducing harm to children on these online spaces is for parents to understand these tools, how they are set up, and how they are used.

GEM Digital Increases Investment in Everdome

A Bahamas based firm, GEM Digital has just increased its investment in UAE’s metaverse project known as Everdome. This increase was to a tune of $50 million. It should be known that this same GEM Digital had initially invested a whopping sum of $10 million in Everdome. The UAE metaverse project seems to be doing great in attracting investors considering that it has got investment commitments from BNBChain, OKx, and Unreal Engine. Everdome has it in mind to utilize the investment to enhance its infrastructure, enabling the platform to handle heavy traffic loads in a high-fidelity environment. The company has already drawn down the initial $10 million from GEM Digital for the development of the metaverse project.

As it happens, GEM’s increased commitment seems to coincide with Everdome’s recent management reshuffle, which saw Jeremy Lopez appointed as CEO. This move of GEM’s seems to show a sort of support for Everdome’s new management’s achievements and commitment to the project. team. Lopez is not new to the Everdome’s project. He had worked as the project’s Chief Operations Officer, a position he used to forge partnerships with GEM Digital, Alfa Romeo F1, and OKx.

This investment from GEM Digital comes as a structured token subscription agreement. Everdome will have control over the timing and quantity of drawdowns under this facility and is under no obligation for a minimum drawdown. Everdome also has the option to sell up to 200% of its average daily token volume across multiple exchanges to GEM Digital. GEM Digital has not just invested financially to Everdome but it has also played critical roles in partnership discussions, thus helping secure other investors, partners, and exchanges.

Come Dine With Me Enters the Metaverse

Come Dine With Me is a brainchild of the collaboration between MultiStory Media, Metavision, and Blockworks. It is a bespoke experience in which players around the world are invited into Minechester, a hosting world where dinner parties can be designed and built from scratch. Once inside Minechester, players can shop at grocery stores and are able to discover new recipes and build dazzling dinner parties in which they can invite their friends. At the end of the party, each player gives a score out of 10. The highest-scored contestant is crowned the winner until the next time.

In a bid to reach a wider audience, Come Dine With Me is launching into the metaverse. This will allow players to go head to head to become the ultimate dinner party host in a newly released Minecraft world. This move into the metaverse is part of many strategies to reach more people. Other strategies include the launch of two FAST channels: on Samsung in the UK, where it quickly became one of Samsung’s top entertainment channels, as well as on Roku in the US. The show is also available on Netflix in the UK. In addition to these, there is already a strong presence across social media, including YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok – where its hashtag has amassed hundreds of millions of views – and the launch of this game format on the Minecraft platform is another example of how traditional TV shows can expand their engagement through newer services and platforms. In the words of Pukar Mehta, COO at MultiStory Media:

“Keeping this beloved show fresh and relevant for our evolving audience has been a key focus over the past few years. The concept the team at Metavision came up with for the show’s evolution into the Metaverse was perfect, and something we had to bring to fruition. We continue to work with Channel 4 on exciting ideas and hope to continue Come Dine With Me’s journey into new and unexpected places.”

Expert Opinion

As it appears, the metaverse is a good place to make money and amass great wealth through innovation, design and building of platforms, as well as sales of tools which facilitate activities in the 3D digital world. On the flip side, it is also a fantastic place to lose one’s money and one’s head. It is interesting to know that while experts would advise Meta’s CEO to take a bow and forget about the metaverse while his head is still on his shoulders other businesses are riding the wave to get a wider reach and possibly take in some cash. In the end, one can rather describe the metaverse as fire: in the right hand, it gives light and warmth but in the wrong hand, it wreaks havoc.