Report: Metaverse could be worth $5 trillion in less than 10 years

The metaverse is full of hype right now, even though we're still in the early days of the technology. What's the potential profit behind all these MMO games, NFTs and virtual land grabs that are emerging to capture the metaverse space? According to a new report by international consulting firm McKinsey & Company, the metaverse could be worth $5 trillion by 2030.

Published earlier this month, the 77-page report titled Value Creation in the Metaverse surmised that global spending in the metaverse could reach $5 trillion in just 8 years. McKinsey reached this conclusion via analysis of current data on adoption trends and information from two global surveys. One consumer-targeted project questioned 3,104 consumers across 11 countries, and another poll surveyed different executive-level employees from 448 companies across 15 industries spanning 10 different countries.

The McKinsey report used these data to predict that the future of consumer activity in the metaverse would likely range across five primary sectors: gaming, fitness, socialising, e-commerce and distance learning. This is a similar conclusion to what most Web3 evangelists have also predicted, namely, that the metaverse will be an extension and improvement of what we can already do on the internet but with more physical involvement and integration of gaming or game-like worlds.

Common questions about the metaverse experience, such as 'Will people find it engaging?' and 'Will they actually buy stuff?' are answered quite positively, though tentatively, given the relatively small sample size. Nearly 60% of all consumers surveyed in the McKinsey report prefer at least one activity in the virtual world over doing it in the real world, and 79% of consumers currently active in the metaverse confirmed that they had made at least one purchase.

How will the metaverse make money?

McKinsey identified e-commerce as the major money maker in the metaverse, with online shopping potentially accounting for $2 trillion to $2.6 trillion of all metaverse spending by 2030. Another lucrative sector should be virtual advertising, which is expected to bring in between $144 billion and $206 billion in revenue. Money is already pouring into the metaverse at an increasing rate. Investors poured over $120 billion into metaverse-related technology and infrastructure this year. That's more than twice what was invested into metaverse tech in 2021, which totalled $57 billion.

The crypto connection

This optimistic model for the metaverse economy comes at a bleak time for the cryptocurrency market and could show a light at the end of the tunnel for crypto hodlers weathering the winter. The metaverse is just one aspect of Web3, and this digital economy needs digital money and objects to buy. The currently favoured formats for goods and cash are NFTs and cryptocurrencies, respectively. Blockchain's use in decentralised, secure international payment methods is also likely to be invaluable for metaverse transactions. For investors looking to stake their claim in the metaverse, however, the trick will be to back the best projects that will end up being useful in the future.

Another promising sign for the metaverse economy is that executives across various industries appear to be excited about the metaverse's future. After all, for consumers to continue buying, there have to be quality products and services provided by companies.

Industry execs are hyped

McKinsey's research showed that executives were overwhelmingly positive about the prospects of the metaverse: 95% of them answered that they believed the metaverse will have a positive impact on their industry, and 25% of all execs said they expected the Metaverse to drive 15% of their organisation's total margin growth in five years. But it's not just about the money. Almost a third of executives also reported that they believed the metaverse would significantly change their industry.

Although the majority of high-level industry professionals were enthusiastic about the metaverse, there remained some scepticism, with 31% claiming to be unsure if they would have significant returns on investment in metaverse infrastructure.

What happens next?

It's worth remembering that the metaverse is still in its nascent stages. However, the groundwork for 2030 is being laid now in 2022. As our tech industries and economies begin their adjustment, the crypto investor should keep an eye out for innovative projects with a roadmap that looks like they could offer a solid use case in the metaverse. The current bear market offers an opportunity to buy into projects that could come into their own in the next few years.

If you're interested in investing in promising metaverse cryptocurrencies, StormGain offers the best conditions for making a profit on the market via the web or our easy-to-use smartphone app. Trade SHIB, AXS, ENJ and other cryptocurrencies with low commissions and fantastic perks such as earning interest on crypto holdings and a built-in Bitcoin cloud miner. Not a StormGain client yet? Sign up in just a few seconds and find out what the world's best crypto platform can do for you!