Facebook and Tencent could pose threats to an open metaverse as the tech giants are investing sizable resources for power and prominence in the potential next evolution of the internet, said Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of blockchain game developer Animoca Brands.

Detail:

In an interview with Decrypt, Yat Siu said any kind dominance will hurt the development of metaverse because the principles of the metaverse will be openness and interoperability.

“The biggest threat to an open metaverse is not regulators. I think regulators are necessary to keep the space proper and everything is secure. I think the threat is Facebook, and the threat is Tencent.”

Facebook is planning to change its company name to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, the company is also planning to hire 10,000 people across Europe to further develop metaverse.

Tencent recently has shown growing interest in the space. Not only the Chinese social network and online gaming giant filed metaverse trademarks such as “QQ Metaverse” “King Metaverse” and it is reportedly set up a studio dedicated to development of “AAA, open world games”.

During the speech at Chinese annual game conference ChinaJoy, Tencent’s senior executive Liu Ming said the company will adopt Metaverse to develop a super virtual and digital scene where users can communicate with one another in real time.

Context:

Founded in 2014, Hong-Kong based Animoca Brands owns popular blockchain game the Sandbox after it acquired the game developer Pixowl in 2018, it has developed a number of blockchain game project like Formula E: High Voltage, F1 Delta Time, and REVV Racing.

Non-fungible token (NFT) has fueled the development of Metaverse because NFT collectibles are 3D avatars in the metaverse with asset ownership enabling new kinds of income streams for users. In order to expand its influence in the NFT sector and achieve its goal to build powerful metaverse ecosystem, Animoca brand make more than 50 investments in NFT-related platform and companies, most notable case including the world’s largest NFT marketplace OpenSea and the creator of trendy and hit Etherum-based play-to-earn blockchain game Axie Infinity, Dapper Labs ( the owner of Cyrpokitties and NBA top shot).