The pandemic fueled the interest in a highly advanced and digital world capable of using augmented and virtual reality to enhance users’ digital experiences.

Many businesses have also lit the candle, particularly Meta, and encouraged greater investment in the space.

In this article, we will discuss how many people use the metaverse and the industry’s expected growth rate in the coming years.

Hop on to learn the number of Metaverse active users, interesting facts about this novel technology, and a glimpse of what people say about it.

How Many People Use the Metaverse?

It can’t be denied that the Metaverse is still a work in progress.

Despite that it is still not in a full-blown mode, many are already wondering how many people use the metaverse in 2023.

Statistics show that there are 400 million active Metaverse users, and analysts predict that one in every four people will use the Metaverse for at least an hour a day by 2026.

Meanwhile, here are some important metaverse user facts you should check out:

• Web 3.0 (also known as the decentralized World Wide Web) – 50,000 users
• Non-fungible tokens (NFT) – 412,578 users
• Blockchain Gaming – 2.3 million users
• Global Cryptocurrency – 220 million users
• Electronic Gaming or eSports – 250 million users

Familiarity of US Adults on Metaverse

North America, particularly the United States, is forecasted to be one if not the biggest metaverse markets in the coming years.

A study conducted early this year to raincheck the inherent interest of US adults in the space revealed the majority of the participants are not familiar nor are interested in the metaverse.

• Very Familiar – 14%
• Somewhat Familiar – 24%
• Heard But Not Familiar – 31%
• Never Heard Of – 31%

Only 14% of adults in the US said they are very familiar with the metaverse while more than 60% are not involved nor familiar with it.

The Interest of US Adults Towards Metaverse

Credits: unsplash.com

Meanwhile, many US adults said they are curious to know more about the metaverse.

Take a look at this data showing the degree of interest of US adults in the metaverse as of January 2022:

• Curious – 33%
• Uninterested – 27%
• Suspicious – 23%
• Concerned – 29%
• Indifferent – 19%
• Excited – 18%
• Optimistic – 16%
• Confused – 12%

The results show there are more adult Americans who are curious to know about this digital world, while 18% are excited and 16% are optimistic.

On the other hand, many still have doubts about it. Others articulated their disinterest and suspicion of the technology.

What is the Metaverse?

Hearing about the metaverse everywhere got your curiosity radar heightened.

What is metaverse, exactly? The metaverse is known as the future of the internet characterized by the use of augmented and virtual reality to create a highly-digitized world that can find a bridge between the digital and physical world.

This space envisions creating a world where players can buy, sell, and own digital items such as clothes, arts, and cars which have real-world value.

Also, it will allow digital interaction with humans as if they are in a face-to-face setting.

Number of Augmented and Virtual Reality Users 

Augmented and virtual realities are the foundation of the metaverse.

This means the popularity of the technology will also bring a huge amount of interest to AR and VR.

Take a look at the user count data of these two industries over the years:

• 2019 – 44 million users
• 2020 – 60 million users
• 2021 – 81 million users
• 2022 – 1.07 billion users
• 2023 – 1.40 billion users
• 2024 – 1.73 billion users

Global Metaverse Applications

Here are the leading applications to dominate the metaverse in the future:

• Online Shopping
• Gaming
• Social Media
• Content Creation
• Conferences

Gaming occupies more than 40% of all metaverse applications globally while online shopping trailed just behind social media and content creation at 9.4%.

Primary Movers in the Metaverse

Credits: unsplash.com

Many companies have already reshaped their business operations to adhere to metaverse requirements.

While Facebook is the most popular one to date, after it changed its name to Meta, many technology firms are also on the line. 

Here is the list of biggest movers and investors in the metaverse categorized by their respective industries:

Metaverse Companies in the Online Gaming Industry

• Roblox
• Epic Games
• Microsoft
• Activision Blizzard
• Take-Two
• Tencent
• NetEase
• Nexon 
• Valve

Metaverse Companies in the Design Software Industry

• Unity
• Adobe
• Autodesk
• Ansys

Metaverse Companies in the Social Networking Industry

• Facebook
• Tencent

Metaverse Companies in the Augmented and Virtual Reality Hardware Industry

• Lenovo
• HP
• Logitech
• Acer 
• Valve
• Razer

Metaverse Market Size 2021, 2022, and 2029

Analysts have currently set the compounding annual growth rate of the metaverse to 47.6% from 2021 to 2029.

With this impressive CAGR, the industry might breach past $1 trillion in value in the next seven years.

Here is the metaverse’s market size in the years 2021, 2022, and forecasted data for 2029.

• 2021 – $63.83 billion
• 2022 – $100.27 billion
• 2029 – $1.5 trillion

With such huge growth potential, companies are racing to situate their respective business models on the metaverse’s requirements.

Metaverse Financial Facts

• Non-fungible tokens which are important game-changers in how digital assets are bought, sold and stored in the metaverse saw a $2.5 million increase in market value during the pandemic.

• The metaverse could reach $1 trillion in market capitalization earlier than the original target date in 2029 amid the increasing interest in virtual and augmented realities which will have a collective value of $300 billion in 2024. In the most optimistic estimate, the industry could be worth $800 billion in the next two years.

Conclusion

How many people use the metaverse in 2023? In 2026, the Metaverse user count will be so high that one in every four people who will use the platform for an hour a day.

This comes as businesses migrate their operations to the space and leverage virtual and augmented realities to enhance users’ experience.

Despite the growing interest of companies and users alike, only 14% of American adults are familiar with the metaverse.

This means that leading technology entities such as Meta and Microsoft still have a lot of work to do to increase interest in the metaverse.

Sources