Even though the Metaverse is expanding rapidly and gaining widespread attention, it is a blank slate for innovators and early adopters to try out new ideas. Top luxury brands like Gucci and Nike, along with tech giants like Microsoft and Meta (formerly Facebook), are extending intuitive user experiences to capitalize on the potential of metaverse solutions.
It goes without saying that in the era of the Metaverse, companies across a wide range of sectors are looking for ways to expand their operations into the realms of other platforms' creations, whether through the Metaverse as a service development. In this context, MaaS, or the Metaverse as a Service, becomes useful. This configuration level is made possible without knowing how to code, allowing brands to tailor their offerings to specific user groups.
Additionally, Web3 marketplace development plays a crucial role in advancing the concept and idea of the Metaverse, thanks to related technologies like XR, blockchain, NFTs, AI, edge computing, and many others. Metaverses that encourage specialized features, build novel paths for virtual interaction, and cater to specific audiences and sectors will benefit most from using MaaS.
This article will examine the advantages of MaaS services for businesses and how they can enhance current Web3 implementations. Okay, so let's begin.
Understanding Metaverse as a Service
SaaS, short for "software as a service," is a subscription-based business model for using software platforms. Today, nearly any service can be developed and deployed using the "SaaS-as-a-Service" model, giving end users more options and service providers a more reliable revenue stream. Similarly, businesses have begun deploying the Metaverse using a similar model, hence the emergence of Metaverse-as-a-Service (MaaS).
Furthermore, there is no denying that the implementation and development of esoteric metaverse technology are just starting. Even if the Metaverse undergoes radical changes in the coming years, current user experiences are nowhere near optimal. The cost of a virtual reality headset remains a barrier to entry for many users, even as the need to move between a wide variety of blockchain-based platforms, wallets, smart contracts, and NFTs continues to dominate the decentralized landscape.
There has been a shift away from the practice of purchasing software licenses and installing them on computers. Everything from data storage to infrastructure hardware to software is now essentially provided "as a service," so businesses no longer even need to own or operate their hardware.
Inevitably, the next logical step will be MaaS or the Metaverse-as-a-Service. Because of their maturity and widespread adoption, businesses and brands are using preexisting metaverses like Roblox and Decentraland. Most metaverse users eventually end up there, providing a framework to try out and refine their first marketing and branding strategies in the Metaverse. In sum, we can characterize what we mean by "Metaverse as a Service" as follows:
- According to its proponents, MaaS (Metaverse-as-a-Service) is an enterprise solution that helps businesses establish and expand their presence in a 3D virtual world to facilitate various transactions (including financial, collaborative, and non-financial ones).
- Similar to how SaaS allows businesses to take advantage of preexisting IT infrastructure, MaaS will not help companies build their metaverses to compete with Roblox and Decentraland.
Here are a Few Notable Cases of "Metaverse as a Service"
Propel MaaS
Plug-and-play infrastructure tools for the Metaverse are available through the Propel platform, which is based on blockchain solutions. Propel has announced that it will offer MaaS solutions for decentralized finance (DeFi), NFT utilities, and smart contracts. However, the project is still in its infancy, and full details have yet to be disclosed.
This will allow businesses to build decentralized applications using popular blockchain technologies like Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Polkadot, and Ethereum by providing them with the necessary tools and resources.
MetaVerseBooks
As a MaaS provider, MetaVerseBooks equips businesses with resources for NFT creation, VR environment management, and distributed app administration.
Businesses can use the solution to expand and improve their visibility across multiple platforms, including iOS and Android, Microsoft's XBOX Metaverse, and Unity-based virtual reality settings.
Its primary solution facilitates NFTs, allowing businesses to manage NFT purchasers and the metadata associated with them centrally. There is a $10,000 entry fee for this MaaS package.
Lovelace World
The MaaS offering for Lovelace, a digital asset and NFT platform, was announced in October 2021. The goal is to simplify the widespread adoption of the Metaverse by providing businesses with comprehensive MaaS solutions.
To ensure their products and services can compete in any digital environment, the company will help businesses rethink and evaluate the potential of their virtual reality offerings.
In addition, it provides a MaaS toolkit that makes available powerful technologies central to a wide range of use cases, including the creation and trading of NFTs, the operation of smart contracts, the monetization of VR gaming, the integration with other metaverse platforms, and so on.
Touchcast
Touhcast is a virtual reality (VR) and 3D animation studio hosted on the Microsoft Azure platform. At the 2022 CES, where it successfully debuted MCity, the company unveiled its MaaS offering.
They can easily host gatherings, promote cooperation, host educational sessions, construct virtual reality stores, and use virtual real estate to expand their business, all within the Metaverse.
The platform for providing comprehensive MaaS to businesses is powered by Microsoft's Azure Cloud, Epic Games' Unreal Engine, and NVIDIA's artificial intelligence technology. Further, the beta testing phase for MCity is currently by invitation only.
Finishing Up
The need to provide users and businesses with intuitive and hyper-real digital experiences has arisen with the emergence of the Metaverse, an immersive realm powered by next-gen technologies.
However, creating a metaverse from scratch requires extensive knowledge and resources about the underlying technologies, making it challenging for the vast majority of the world's population.
