Microsoft CEO believes that the company is holding many factors to be able to build the metaverse, the virtual universe that is considered the future of the Internet.
In January, Microsoft spent $75 billion to acquire video game company Activision Blizzard. After the acquisition, Microsoft became the world’s third-largest game revenue company, behind only China’s Tencent and Japan’s Sony.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Microsoft President and CEO Satya Nadella said that games are the foundation for the company to build virtual reality – the metaverse, which he calls the future of the Internet. The deal with Activision is the factor that helps Microsoft get closer to this goal.
“We are building a metaverse application. In just one platform, users can experience all three spaces belonging to meeting applications, games and tools related to work and business,” said Microsoft CEO.
Microsoft’s Metaverse Vision
Microsoft CEO said the company wants to open the platform for anyone to build games in the metaverse, so that everyone can build their own space.
“Basically, the metaverse creates games, allows users, places, everything in general that appear in the game to interact physically and make those platforms link together,” Nadella said.
The application Microsoft is developing is aimed at users being able to immerse themselves in virtual reality and interact with their surroundings.
The Microsoft CEO also believes that players don’t just focus on a single game genre like first-person shooter (FPS).
While FPS allows players to experience the action through the protagonist’s point of view, Nadella said many other game genres lack the ability to bring real feelings to players. Users cannot experience the feeling of being present right inside the game world.
“Now, thanks to the metaverse, we can dream of actually being in the world of video games,” said Microsoft CEO.
According to Microsoft CEO, the good programming of the virtual reality game series will push the company to build the future of the Internet – a space where users work, interact, and entertain through avatars.
Taking over Microsoft since 2014, Satya Nadella has faced many existing problems. This technology group used to want to focus its resources on cloud computing to compete with rivals, like Amazon.
However, Nadella saw the online gaming community as an opportunity to build a new customer base for Microsoft. Upon taking office as CEO, Nadella acquired Minecraft – a three-dimensional world-building game.
Developing a working environment in virtual reality
Currently, Microsoft’s Teams application has updated the avatar feature. Avatars receive cues from both the user’s face and sound. Participants can confidently present in an online meeting through a vivid avatar.
Besides, another feature of Team allows users to place meeting participants in a context of their own choosing, such as lecture halls, meeting rooms, offices…
According to Nadella, Microsoft’s partner in the field of digital technology, always advised him to rethink the company’s development plan. However, in fact, the Microsoft CEO thinks that focusing on developing a virtual reality platform is a step forward. Nadella focuses on researching applications for work.
Nadella agrees that users can’t suddenly change the 200-year-old way of doing things. However, the public has had time to get used to interacting and working online.
“Because of the pandemic, users have adapted to cooperation, improving personal skills, and stabilizing their mental health when working and interacting with each other on digital platforms,” Microsoft CEO shared.
Nadella claims to create a “hybrid working environment”. Microsoft meetings typically have 10-15% of participants online instead of in the meeting room.
He adds about a survey about the work expectations of employees and users in general. In which, 70% of people want to meet and work in person and 70% of people want a flexible working environment – a combination of face-to-face and online environments.
“Currently, we have to adapt to the camera equipment in the conference room. Each participant has their own frame and can message in the online meeting room. Microsoft will develop many tools to support the collaboration. effective collaboration of groups of people in different places,” says Nadella.
Microsoft will allow users, either organizations or individuals, to use their identities across different platforms. This is done through identification and authentication operations.
According to Nadella, on the unification of identities in the virtual reality space, Microsoft will start from the Windows Store. This app store will allow various forms of payment and creators can own multiple app channels.
