The metaverse dominated headlines, screens and boardrooms in the second half of 2021. Now brands and companies are rushing to prepare for this next iteration of digital engagement.

Big Tech brands are setting their sights on the metaverse. Facebook unveiled a massive brand pivot when it changed its company name to Meta in October 2021, after Mark Zuckerberg announced that the Meta’s future lies in becoming a metaverse company. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in August that year that Microsoft is working on building the “enterprise metaverse.”

Gaming companies began seriously carving out space for the metaverse on their platforms in 2021. In April, Epic Games closed a $1 billion round of funding to support its “long-term vision for the metaverse.” Niantic, the game developer behind Pokémon Go, raised $300 million in November to build what it describes as the “real-world metaverse.” Nvidia jumpstarted its “metaverse for engineers” with the opening of Omniverse in August. Now, other companies are shelling out to buy up game developers. Most recently, FarmVille creator Zynga was purchased for $12.7 billion in January 2022, and Tencent purchased UK game developer Sumo Group for $1.7 billion in July 2021.