Epic CEO: Metaverse Could Be ‘Multi-Trillion’ Industry

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney sees himself in a race with companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Roblox. The goal: 1 billion metaverse users.

“Whoever brings on a billion users first would be the presumed leader in setting the standards,” Sweeney said.

The CEO sees the metaverse as a potential “multi-trillion-dollar part of the world economy,” which, like the internet, would not be owned by any one company.

Epic is one of several companies actively building virtual environments.

• “Fortnite,” in addition to being a hit game, has become a virtual social and event space that hosts concerts.
• Nike is partnering with Roblox to create a virtual playspace called Nikeland. The online area is filled with courts, arenas, and product showrooms. Nike previously filed a trademark application for digital shoes and apparel bearing its logo and slogan. 
• Microsoft is initially focusing on workplace environments for its metaverse and has said it plans to move into games.
• Disney CEO Bob Chapek said he envisions building a metaverse using streaming service Disney+ as a platform.

Sweeney also called out Apple and Google for forcing users and developers into siloed software environments. He is working to develop a “single store that works with all platforms.”