The metaverse has been touted as anything from an interconnected gaming ecosystem to a virtual office where you can enjoy the benefits of physical collaboration without the hassle of a morning commute.
Meta is one of the biggest proponents of the latter definition. “Working virtually offers powerful new ways to make business smarter, faster and more productive.” Predicttouts the Meta Quest headset as a gateway to “immersive experiences and comprehensive management capabilities.”
But as the metaverse game project dominated the attention, the idea of working remotely in the metaverse got lost along the way. Even Reality Labs, Meta’s metaverse arm, shifted to the game Looking for a killer VR app.
But has the idea of the metaverse as a workplace died out? Not quite.
Coty Announces Metaverse-Based Campus
international cosmetics company Coty recently announced that its eponymous campus exists within the Metaverse.
Envisioned as a gamified training center, the Coty Campus will open this fall with the aim of transforming relationship building and collaboration among the company’s 11,000 strong global workforce.
“By building the Coty campus, we aim to create an educational opportunity for our global workforce to learn about transformative technologies in 3D space,” said Giandeni Mariani, Chief Digital Officer, Coty. increase. Said shiny.
Interestingly, Mariani suggested that campuses allow access through other internal channels rather than supplanting them. This begs the question: is it up to staff to voluntarily use an employee-centric metaverse? And what if they just… don’t want to?
Created in conjunction with the metaverse platform Spatial, what exactly can employees do at Coty Campus? , gamified training exercises, and a “physical reward system based on item-collecting, location-exploring, and quest-fulfilling” (a sort of work-based). Pokémon GOIn other words.
Cosmetics, skincare and fragrance brands Coty may seem like an oddball company seeking metaverse innovation. After all, the brand revolves around physical beauty and feeling. If there’s one industry where virtual reality seems contraindicated, it’s cosmetics.
Nonetheless, Shana Weinblatt, director of innovation and beauty tech at the company, said: tasked Identify and launch innovative digital-first solutions that improve the consumer experience, including AR, AI, VR, ultra-personalization and machine learning. Coty Campus may be just the tip of the iceberg.
The virtual office is back
Coty Campus is not the only new office metaverse platform. Her Katmai startup has just raised $22 million for her new 3D virtual office platform, which she hopes will revolutionize the remote work environment.
Essentially, this is Zuckerberg’s original meta vision. This means that instead of employees meeting in his Zoom or Teams, they will collaborate in a photorealistic 3D environment complete with spatial audio. However, there are some important differences. First, you don’t need a VR headset. All browser-based. Second, there are no avatars. Instead, it incorporates the actual video.
“Using real video conveys emotion and allows people to form more natural and authentic relationships.” explain Katmai CEO Eric Brown.
Skeptic would wonder Whether or not collaborating with employees via floating heads in a VR setting will really become popular. But $22 million is a lot, and investors clearly support the idea.Katmai pay raise news following recent €16.5m funding round London-based startup Gemba is scaling up its VR training experience tools. Katmai already works with several Fortune 500 companies and startups, each eager to explore what technology can offer.
Ultimately, no one knows what the future of work will look like. But whether the idea excites or horrifies us, immersive technology cannot be dismissed so easily.
