The Purr-fect Combination: Technology and Pets

What is the Metaverse? Also called cyberspace, the Metaverse is a combination of technologies and human interaction that includes video games, holograms, NFTs, avatars, virtual reality, and much more. Since its conception, the Metaverse market has grown to be valued at $47.69 billion in 2020. With a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43.3%, this innovative collection of technologies is only expected to grow in the future.

There are many factors that have contributed to the success of the Metaverse, as well as challenges that have arisen because of it. First, few players account for a large portion of the market revenue, making it a fairly consolidated market. Also, in this digital age, there is a much greater push for the joining of the digital and physical worlds through the internet. Finally, the hardware segment was the largest revenue share in the global market in 2020. On the other hand, some challenges that developers have faced are concerns about data privacy and security in cyberspace environments, user identity issues, and convincing users to use payment systems. Despite these potential drawbacks, companies and private corporations were quick to make a name for themselves in the Metaverse, leaving the question: Who will lead the Metaverse Race?

Ready Player Me, Horizon Worlds, and Decentraland are just a few of the many popular platforms within the Metaverse that have attracted mass amounts of users to their services. On these sites, users can build avatars and play as them on nearly a thousand different games, create scenes and worlds from scratch, trade digital assets and make an income using cryptocurrency, and even spend time with people in a virtual space. There is something for everyone in the Metaverse, and one can find communities for even the most niche hobbies within it. For example, a growing community in the Metaverse is one dedicated to owning and raising digital pets, or Meta pets.

There are two types of pet in the Metaverse: A Metapet and a Metaverse pet. A Metapet is an avatar representation of a real pet, which is created through holographic and three-dimensional technologies. A Metaverse pet is simply a fictional animal avatar. Both types of pets present unique opportunities for users to experience the joy of owning a pet without the responsibility of having one in real life.

There are a multitude of platforms that provide services dedicated solely to this idea of owning a virtual pet, such as Axie Infinity, CryptoKitties, MetaPet, and MetaGochi. These sites allow pet lovers all across the globe to design and own digital pets, participate in animal shows, breed and train their animals, and even unlock more advanced animal avatars through gameplay. Many of these platforms utilize cryptocurrency to allow users to even monetize their pet ownership through buying and selling with other users in the Metaverse. With these new technologies, pet lovers can enjoy their hobby without the hassle of a real life animal, while simultaneously monetizing their game play to make the most of all that the Metaverse has to offer.