Market overview
Metaverse, AR, NFT and mobile phone market data
Metaverse and AR market numbers and forecasts.
According to the report published by Statista, the global augmented and virtual reality market generated $30.7 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $296.6 billion by 2026, witnessing a CAGR of 113% from 2021 to 2024.1
The augmented reality market alone is projected to grow from USD 15.3 billion in 2020 to USD 77.0 billion by 2025; materializing a CAGR of 38.1% from 2020 to 2025 according to a marketsandmarkets.com report.2
As a reference, in 2020 the global gaming market reached 174.9 billion USD, with over 2.8 billion players worldwide and 3 billion players in 2021.
NFT market numbers and forecasts.
NFT sales hit $25 billion in 2021, but growth shows signs of slowing, according to market tracker DappRadar.
CryptoSlam, which also tracks multiple blockchains, estimates the 2021 total was $18.3 billion.
NonFungible.com, which tracks the Ethereum blockchain only, put 2021 sales at $15.7 billion.
ChainAnalysis, a crypto-analysis group, disclosed that in 2021, $41 billion was poured into the Ethereum blockchain contracts that are typically used to create NFTs.
Around 28.6 million wallets traded NFTs in 2021, up from some 545,000 in 2020, DappRadar said.
Smartphone and 5G adoption
The rising adoption of smartphones and technological advancements have allowed its users to view virtual images immersed in real contexts (think Pokemon Go). In addition, they are also able to connect with these images and objects to interact with them by simply using the camera on their smartphone devices, which are the major factors boosting the growth of the AR and VR market.
Furthermore, AR can be delivered through smartphones alone owing to the location-based AR application.
According to bankmycell.com, there are 6.64 Billion smartphones worldwide in 2022 corresponding to 84% of people having a smartphone today on earth.
This figure is up considerably from 2016 when there were only 3.668 billion users, 49.40% of that year’s global population.
Their forecast is that 7.33 Billion smartphone users will be active in 2025.
The 5G landscape continues to evolve. 2021 was a crucial year for the acceleration of 5G, and the years to come will see rapid adoption all around the world.
Forecast 5G share of total mobile connections in 2025, by region by Statista1:
Competitor Analysis
| Super World | OVR | Niantic LightShip | Next Earth | Second Frontier | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metaverse | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| AR | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Real-world geolocation | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ✅ |
| Gamers focus | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Retail focus | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Token | OVR | NXTT | XXXX | ||
| NFT blockchain | Ethereum | Ethereum | Polygon | Solana | |
| Revenue generation | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| NFT Land | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Community rewards | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| DAO | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Without app install | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | |
| Web app | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Desktop avail. | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile avail. | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Country | US | Estonia | US | Marschall Island | US / Portugal |
| Since | 2017 | 2019 | 2021 | 2021 | 2022 |