'I'm blogging Matthew Ball’s must-read, nine part metaverse primer over the Summer; my take on Part 1 (introduction to the framework) is here, my coverage of Part 2 (hardware) is here, with Part 3 (networking) coverage here, Part 4 coverage (computing) here, Part 5 (virtual platforms) here, and Part 6 (open standards) here.
Part 7 of Matthew Ball’s Metaverse framework, on the challenge of payments facing the Metaverse, is the most daunting so far, veering into some thick if necessary weeds to hack through. If I had to summarize the whole thing in a single sentence, it would go something like this:
The payment options we have to deal with are so inefficient, unfair, and monopolistic, we may never get a Metaverse worth the name unless we switch to a blockchain-based system — even though that has problems of its own.
To break Ball’s case down into more detail (with some analysis of my own):
- Current/traditional payment systems incur transaction costs and time delays.
- Virtual world-based payment systems, built on these payment methods, are even more costly and slow.
- At the same time, distribution platforms (consoles, Apple, etc.) lock in consumers and developers while hitting the latter with high fees, while also locking out payment competitors. (This is, by the way, starting to change.)
With mobile so dominant, and so necessary to achieving mass market growth, current Metaverse platforms end up paying most of their money to Apple and Google Play. For instance, while ROBLOX’s revenue sharing deal is reportedly harsh for their creators (especially as most of them are kids), the company itself takes a huge hit from Apple:
