Matthew Ball: belief

Transcript context

…Let’s consider dating. Let’s say nothing’s going to happen, not even a goodnight kiss. What percentage value is a metaverse date compared to a real-world date in meatspace? 70 percent, 10 percent, 120 percent? [laughs] I don’t know about the numbers. What we can say is, certainly, I think we’ve been surprised over the past 20 years by the degree of connection that’s achievable just through text on Tinder or Hinge. The idea that extending that into games, which most platforms already have . . . The new CEO of MatchGroup, which owns Tinder and Hinge, is the former COO and president of Zynga. The idea that you can extend that to games into virtual environments, which bring a sense of safety — especially to those who don’t feel safe going on dates with those they don’t know — use that to explore exactly what you just mentioned: a shared belief, opportunity, whether that’s religious or educational. That all makes sense to me. Do I think it’s going to supplant physical contact? Certainly not, but of course, extended reality, especially as relates to sex and other wearables and haptics, is going to be a big opportunity for these companies. And that may actually be the answer of, it’s not replacing meatspace in a bar; it might be replacing it elsewhere. As I read your book, The Metaverse, which again, I’ll recommend highly, I have the impression you’re pretty optimistic about interoperability within the metaverse and an ultimate lack of market power. Now, if I look around the internet — I mean, most obviously, the Apple Store but also a lot of gaming platforms — you see 30 percent fees, or something in that neighborhood, all over the place. Will the metaverse have the equivalent of a 30 percent fee? Or is it a truly competitive market where everything gets competed down to marginal cost?…

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