How successful was Metaverse Fashion Week?

The Immersive Wire - 3 April 2023 (Monday Briefing)

Author

Tom Ffiske
April 03, 2023

Executive summary

Welcome to your weekly briefing on the metaverse. Here are your snippets to sound smarter in meetings this week:

Resident Evil 4 absolutely rocks. I wish I can say I had a productive weekend, perhaps in the garden or seeing friends. Nope, I was roundhouse-kicking villagers while fumbling through my briefcase.

Tom Ffiske, Editor of the Immersive Wire

Analysis

Metaverse Fashion Week concluded, so how good was it? It’s too soon to say, but here are some early stats with analysis:

  • 200%: Percentage increase in Decentraland’s sales volume, according to DappRadar. Major events continue to peak in revenue for participating companies.

  • 3,500: Number of unique visitors for Metaverse Fashion Week during its first day, according to GEEIQ. I’m unsure how accurate this number is, but if it is, then it’s a steep decline compared to last year.

  • 15,248: Number of minutes people spent within the Adidas experience, according to GEEIQ again. Adidas seems to be the big winner of the event in terms of engagement, followed by Tommy Hilfiger. It shows the strength of their web3-led community, and how it can dominate interest on a platform.

  • Unknown: The final tally for the number of visitors for Metaverse Fashion Week. We should learn more soon, and see if it beats the 108,000 target from last year.

Guest analysis

Jeremy Silver, CEO of Digital Catapult and author of Towards A Digital Renaissance, shares his view on Disney closing its metaverse division. This is a test for a new section; if you like it (or not), or wish to contribute, let me know!

  • What’s happening here? Mickey Mouse has bid goodbye or perhaps au revoir to the metaverse. The news follows a general trend of layoffs as Netflix, Microsoft, Google and others adopt a ‘slash and burn’ approach in light of economic headwinds.

  • What to make of it? The old adage, last in first out, seems apt here. Disney has not been heralded as a metaverse evangelist so perhaps this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Less money has likely gone into newer teams than longer-standing ones whose contributions are easier to evidence. The company made huge strides in investing in virtual production technology, producing some of the streamer’s biggest hits (e.g. The Mandalorian). Putting an end to experiments in a putative metaverse doesn't mean that the Mouse will stop exploring how to save time, cost and energy on content production.

  • Does this mark the death of the metaverse? Some might say that it adds fuel to the metaverse’s funeral pyre but I disagree: the metaverse isn’t dead, it’s just resting (to quote a competing comedy franchise). Disney is all about creating compelling story worlds and physical replicas of fantasy ideas, populated by iconic characters re-telling folktale narratives for contemporary audiences. A vision for its metaverse will be bound to return when, of course, economic conditions are deemed more favourable. Innovation in times of stalling subscriber numbers and falling advertising spend is hard, but it's also the moment when great opportunities open up, and sticking more closely to what you know, like motion captured seven dwarves perhaps, might just turn out to be how it’s off to work we go - for now.

Other notable stories

Got any stories? Let me know at tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com.

  • ALTAR of EUROPA 3.0 is an art project that launched with no budget and celebrated multiple world premieres.

    • This technically happened on 16 March. But because the video came out this week, had limited awareness, and it’s a big achievement, I felt it deserved an exception.

  • Animoca Brands and Planet Hollywood Group will open a web3 club.

  • BOSS worked with Polycount for a metaverse experience. 

  • Fectar integrated an Ultraleap hand-tracking feature into their platform.

  • Kill It With Fire, a VR game where you exterminate spiders, will release on 13 April.

    • I’m curious if making games on a common phobia will lead to game sales. Does featuring spiders decrease sales, or does the premise of using flamethrowers on the skittlers increase interest?

  • Looking Glass made a conversational holographic being.

  • Qreal and Denny's are working together to bring its menu to life.

  • Sony Pictures Virtual Reality and HOLOGATE launched Ghostbusters VR Academy, available at over 450 locations.

  • Unstoppable Domains now enables people to create and mint their own AI avatars.

Help corner

Need some assistance from other readers? Let me know at tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com.

  • Headonists, a UK-based XR community, is looking to compile XR-related events within a single calendar. The calendar itself can be found here, and the submission is here.