South Korea has launched an alliance between the country’s industry leaders to become the latest major player to engage in the metaverse technology race. This alliance in this industry is set to invigorate the development of metaverse technology and will be a critical aspect in the tech, media and, telecoms industries. Metaverse heralds the next step in the evolution of the internet.
The metaverse refers to a shared space in virtual reality (VR). Users will be able to interact with each other through digital avatars to experience a virtual reality world. The gaming industry is no stranger to virtual communities. Users in metaverse will be able to share social media, entertainment, shopping and, much more. Users can choose from “a wide variety of virtual avatars” which will be customizable with “800 different virtual items including costumes, hairstyles, and so on”. Digital avatars will now be able to display their feelings with “66 different emotional expressions to engage in rich communication with others”. Metaverse is, intricately intertwined, with the exciting and rapid developments taking place in the fields of artificial intelligence, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), cloud computing and, 5G.
According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, the brand-new alliance is composed of a total of 17 companies, including major players such as Korea’s indigenous web giant Naver, SK Telecom Co and, Hyundai Motor Co. There are also eight industry groups partaking in the alliance such as the Korea Mobile Internet Business Association. This alliance is all set to work in collaboration meant to share metaverse trends and technology. The alliance will form a consultative group for solving cultural and ethical issues related to the metaverse market. The alliance will also undertake joint development of metaverse projects.
The ministry said that it will provide support to the alliance, to figure out how to build, govern and establish an open metaverse platform that will benefit South Korea. The role of this alliance will be to define a national metaverse platform that will be open to all participants who wish to provide virtual services with 5G playing a key role.