Top metaverse companies 2024

What is the metaverse?

The metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable digital universe that consists of 3D virtual worlds that an unlimited number of users can experience in real-time, synchronously, and persistently. Users can be represented as avatars with an individual identity in this immersive, interactive, and social space. Individuals can create content in the 3D internet, like games, experiences, accessories, wearables, and other assets, and monetize them. Economic systems within the metaverse enable the buying, selling, and trading virtual goods and services, creating robust digital economies. Persistent online identities allow users to maintain a consistent persona across various virtual environments and have continuity in data like payments, history, identity, and owned assets.

The metaverse concept originated from science fiction and has evolved significantly over the years. Platforms like Second Life laid the early groundwork for the 3D internet, and technological advancements have made complex and immersive virtual worlds possible. By 2024, the 3D internet has expanded into a diverse ecosystem, with platforms such as Roblox, Fortnite, Decentraland, Horizon Worlds, Minecraft, and VRChat exemplifying its potential. These platforms allow users to engage in a wide range of activities, from gaming and socializing to attending virtual events and creating digital content, shaping the future of online interaction.

This blog will explore the leading companies shaping the metaverse in 2024, detailing their innovative contributions, key projects, and the evolving technologies that drive this immersive virtual ecosystem.

Epic Games

Epic Games, a leading video game and software development company, is a significant player in the metaverse. In 1995, the company created a powerful game engine—Unreal Engine, which became the primary toolset for leading games like Fortnite, Gears of War, and Infinity Blade. It provides developers with tools to build immersive virtual experiences and applications, from games to architectural visualizations, and is a critical component of Epic's metaverse vision. The engine's capabilities include advanced graphics, physics, and animation tools, making it an ideal platform for building complex, immersive virtual environments. Epic recently released Unreal Engine 5 with upgraded features that allow developers to create realistic 3D assets, surfaces, and avatars. It also helps creators build experiences with spatial audio and natural lighting.

 Epic's leading game, Fortnite, a battle royale game built on Unreal Engine, is a leading example of how individuals can use the 3D internet for entertainment and social interaction. Players used the space to hang out with friends after the gameplay was over. Fortnite has seen tremendous success, boasting over 250 million registered users in 2019 after its release in 2017, as per FastCompany. The platform regularly hosts events and experiences, attracting millions of participants. Out of several high-profile events and collaborations on Fortnite was the virtual concert by Travis Scott, which drew over 12 million concurrent viewers. The platform also has in-game events featuring brands like Marvel and Star Wars.

 Epic's CEO, Tim Sweeney, has been a strong advocate for the metaverse and has worked to make it a reality through his company's platforms. He has emphasized the importance of interoperability and standardization in the metaverse, believing that it is essential for the technology to reach its full potential. Sweeney has also highlighted the potential for the metaverse to revolutionize how we interact with each other and technology, creating new opportunities for entertainment, education, and social interaction.

Landvault

Landvault provides cutting-edge infrastructure and tools designed to simplify the creation, deployment, and monetization of virtual content. Their mission is to build a richer, fairer internet through the 'Open Metaverse' by enabling users to easily bring their creative visions to life within 3D worlds. Landvault has made significant strides in the metaverse industry, assisting over 200 clients, including Fortune 500 companies and government organizations like the Abu Dhabi government, Mastercard, Red Bull, and Heineken. The company's innovative approach and reliable tools have enabled enterprises to establish a presence in the 3D internet, reaching new audiences and exploring novel opportunities.

The company's experience in building 3D worlds is evident from the projects it has executed. Landvault collaborated with the French Armed Forces to create an immersive training environment with gamified challenges and quizzes on Decentraland to reach young recruits. The activation successfully attracted 45,000 users. Meanwhile, for Decentraland's Metaverse Fashion Week, Landvault developed a visually engaging virtual space that successfully hosted a global fashion event, showcasing digital collections from over 60+ brands and attracting 300,000 attendees over three days.

Over the past three years, Landvault has also raised a total of $40 million, reflecting investor confidence and the company's potential to shape the future of the metaverse. This financial backing has allowed Landvault to continually enhance its platform, ensuring it remains at the forefront of technological advancements and user needs. Landvault is at the forefront of metaverse innovation, investing heavily in AI applications with its groundbreaking 'Landvault Create' feature. This no-code AI assistant enables users to transform their ideas into detailed 3D worlds simply by describing their concepts, making 3D design accessible to everyone. Additionally, 'Landvault Monetize' allows creators to track the performance of their 3D worlds and earn revenue through in-game advertising and product placements. Landvault also built the Metera protocol to enable metaverse builders to tokenize experiences created by bringing them on-chain. These experiences are converted into 100,000 Asset tokens that can be sold or given as rewards to users of the experience. By facilitating easy content creation and offering financial incentives for creators, Landvault is significantly shaping and advancing the metaverse landscape.

 If you're looking for a metaverse company to help build your virtual experience, get in touch.

Roblox

Roblox is an online gaming and socializing platform that allows users to design, share, and play their own games or those created by others. According to a publication by the Blockchain Council in 2024, the platform has over 47 million daily active users and more than 9.5 million developers or creators.

 Roblox's creator-friendly structure has led it to embrace user-generated content (UGC) as a core feature of its platform, allowing users to create a wide range of games, experiences, and virtual worlds. By providing accessible tools and resources, Roblox has enabled millions of developers to unleash their creativity and bring their ideas to life within the platform. This emphasis on UGC has resulted in an extensive and diverse content library, appealing to a broad audience and continually driving user engagement. The Blockchain Council states that the 3D internet platform has about 24 million experiences.

 In addition to fostering creativity, Roblox offers substantial monetization opportunities for its users. Developers can monetize their creations through various means, such as in-game purchases, virtual goods, and premium features. The platform provides a robust monetization system that allows developers to earn Robux (the in-game currency) and real money by selling virtual items and experiences. Developers can also earn revenue from the amount of time players spend in their games. This system incentivizes developers to create high-quality content and supports a sustainable economic model within the platform.

NVIDIA

NVIDIA, a leading technology company known for its graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI computing capabilities, has significantly contributed to the 3D internet. The tech giant has developed GPUs that power immersive virtual environments, real-time rendering, high-quality graphics, and complex simulations. It enables detailed 3D graphics, dynamic lighting, and physics simulations. Techniques like ray tracing, powered by NVIDIA's GPUs, enhance virtual scenes' realism and visual fidelity, making them more lifelike and engaging.

 NVIDIA reached a massive milestone with the release of its Omniverse platform in 2021. The platform provides developers with tools, APIs, and microservices to collaborate and build physically accurate simulations. Hundreds of companies are adopting the technology, and as VentureBeat reported, the platform hit 300,000 downloads in 2023.

 NVIDIA has also collaborated with industry partners, such as Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, and Blender, to integrate its GPU technology into its software tools and platforms for creating and experiencing virtual content. These collaborations have expanded the reach of NVIDIA's 3D content creation and workflow capabilities, making it more accessible to developers, creators, and users in the metaverse ecosystem.

Unity

Unity is the leading platform for creating and operating interactive, real-time 3D content. It provides comprehensive software solutions for developing, running, and monetizing 2D and 3D content across various devices, making it an incredibly versatile tool for creators. Unity supports content creation for various devices, including PCs, mobile phones, gaming consoles, and XR platforms.

 The game engine has developed various tools to advance 3D content creation, including Unity Reflect to create real-time 3D experiences in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), Cinemachine for dynamic camera behaviors, and Unity ArtEngine for AI-assisted texture creation. The company has also strategically acquired assets like Weta Digital's tools and technology, democratizing advanced content creation tools for a broader range of storytellers. These tools enable creators to bring their visions to life with advanced capabilities across multiple platforms. This versatility and power have made Unity a go-to platform for various creators, from game developers to automotive designers, enabling them to bring their imaginations to life in interactive, real-time 3D format. Consequently, many virtual experiences, games, simulations, and AR/VR applications across industries have been powered by Unity's robust capabilities.

 Unity has been a vital tool in developing the Decentraland metaverse, enabling creators to build immersive 3D environments and interactive experiences within the platform. Somnium Space, a social VR platform, also uses the Unity game engine to design and create immersive 3D environments and experiences for users to enjoy.

 These projects showcase Unity's versatility and power as a development platform for creating successful metaverse experiences that engage users, foster creativity, and enable monetization within virtual worlds.

Spatial

Spatial is a virtual workspace that allows users to create lifelike avatars and work closely together, sharing content and collaborating on whiteboards as if in an actual meeting room. It is an immersive collaboration platform that breaks through limitations to transform work from how it is to how it should be.

 Spatial offers several key features that enhance virtual collaboration and interaction. It enables users to create lifelike avatars, making it feel like they are working beside each other. Spatial can transform a room into a monitor filled with information, allowing users to work within a highly informative environment. It seamlessly integrates with existing tools to ensure that workflows remain intact. Users can participate on any device, including VR/AR headsets, desktops, or phones. The platform allows for sharing 3D objects, videos, images, and documents within a collaborative VR realm. Spatial offers integrations with popular project management software like Google Drive, Notion, and Microsoft Office Suite to help teams collaborate more effectively. Spatial also integrates with chat apps like Slack, which are becoming preferred digital tools to increase remote collaboration by allowing multiple people to communicate simultaneously in real-time.

 While initially focused on workplace collaboration, Spatial has pivoted to social gaming, releasing several proprietary, browser-based games and supporting user-generated content. One of these social games includes "Oasis," an experience that features ancient ruins, palm trees, and a lake.