Timeline The history of the Metaverse

TIMELINE

The metaverse has recently become a popular topic, but it’s not exactly a new concept – the idea has been around for decades, born shortly after the internet was created

THE HISTORY OF THE METAVERSE

1989

The birth of the World Wide Web The development of the World Wide Web started in 1989 with Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues at CERN, an international scientific organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland. By the end of 1990, the first web page was served on the open internet, and, in 1991, people outside of CERN were invited to join this new web community.

1992

The term ‘Metaverse’ is created In 1992, Neal Stephenson wrote a science fiction novel called Snow Crash, which talked about a virtual realitybased Metaverse, where people would spend most of their time in the virtual world.

2002

Digital twins The concept and model of the digital twin was publicly introduced in 2002 by Michael Grieves. Based on the idea that a digital informational construct about a physical system could be created as an entity on its own, this digital information would be a ‘twin’ of the information that was embedded within the physical system.

THE HISTORY OF THE METAVERSE

Global companies expand into the Metaverse As the digital revolution continues, more people and brands are diving into the metaverse, enabling them to connect and network in a virtual space. Gartner recently named the metaverse one of the top five emerging trends and technologies for 2022. The global metaverse market stood at an estimated US$38.85bn in 2021 and is expected to grow to US$47.48bn in 2022.

2006 2014

Roblox is released A successful player in the Metaverse, Roblox first entered the world of online gaming back in 2006, and it’s now stronger than ever, with millions of players worldwide. This platform allows users to create and play games developed by other users, and is popular among younger generations.

Facebook makes moves with virtual reality In 2014, Facebook acquired virtual reality leader Oculus for a total of approximately US$2bn. Facebook explained how it planned to extend Oculus’ existing advantage in gaming to new verticals, including communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas.