When The Matrix burst onto the scene, it ignited our collective obsession with VR. This VR-metaverse craze reached its peak after Facebook transitioned to Meta. For a time in Web3, it seemed like we were only weeks away from a world where we would do everything online in VR, from shopping to dating. But today the VR metaverse take seems overbought… It's been over a year and not much has changed, leaving only questions. What happened? What was missing in our predictions? What will the next evolution of the metaverse look like?

To predict where we’re going, we need to examine where we’ve been. For all the talk of a VR metaverse, the mainstream applications of Web3 have been very 2D. While there’s a handful of whales buying virtual land and importing 3D models into niche VR servers, most Web3 applications have been and continue to be built on top of the platforms that we already spend time on - gaming, music, fashion, and social media. Before Web3, we were already hanging in Discord, playing games, and sharing memes on Twitter. Now we’re doing all of those same things but with NFTs as a backdrop, in the form of play-to-earn games and generative PFPs.

The metaverse isn’t some alien technology waiting to be invented - it is and already has been here, in the form of the internet. Web3 is spreading to the platforms that already have adoption, adding decentralized ownership to the activities we already do. If we want to guess what platform Web3 will spread to next, we should look to existing places that Web3 hasn’t touched, instead of expecting people to jump to a transformative new platform overnight. Until VR becomes vastly more accessible in terms of price and technology, it won’t claim the title of the dominant metaverse platform, or even the next one. Even Zuckerberg is cooling his jets on VR - maybe that’s for the better.

While it’s compelling to paint our future as an interconnected ecosystem of fully-digital worlds, this narrative ignores that our bodies are made of atoms, not bits. The virtual worlds of Ready Player One and The Matrix are awe-inspiring, but in the backdrop of each of these stories lies a dystopian reality where the “real world” is a barely habitable wasteland as people drink from tubes and pee in bottles. This brings us to a core belief we hold at JIO: for “the metaverse” to reach its full potential to improve our lives, Web3 must seamlessly extend and interconnect our digital existences with our physical world.

The metaverse of the future will contain many virtual worlds, but it will also entail a significant layer that extends into the physical world. This physical metaverse layer will enable us to hook real-world events and interactions into our virtual lives similar to how the apps of Uber, Google Maps, and Pokemon Go power Web2 today. We don’t need groundbreaking new tech to make it happen either - smartphones, the same technology that powers offline Web2, are capable of hooking Web3 into many of our daily activities. Meeting up with friends, interacting with retail brands, exploring new places through tourism - these all have the potential to be gamified and integrated into our Web3 existence.

Mobile phones hold a major advantage over PCs. More people have smartphones than computers. This is especially true in developing nations, where billions of new internet users are coming online. Phones are also portable and always with us. This portability enables unprecedented immersion and will allow Web3 creators to transform mundane chores into exciting adventures that have on-chain consequences, thanks to location-driven experiences. A routine trip to the grocery store becomes a thrilling quest for items that can unlock new perks in your digital Web3 life when you get home. By infusing real-life experiences with mobile technology and the blockchain, we can create a world where the metaverse enriches every aspect of our lives.

Many Web3 projects have aspired to merge the physical with the digital, with innovations like PBTs providing early glimpses into the potential of bridging the virtual and real worlds. But we still haven’t explored the full capabilities of today’s technology. In the future, Web2 brands like Adidas will launch exclusive quests, offering special drops and rewards to participants who visit designated locations. The combination of real-world interaction and digital assets will open the door to untapped partnership opportunities, business models, and sustainable revenue streams - things that have evaded many aspiring Web3 projects in the past.

We’re excited to reveal the meaning behind JIO: a phonetic play on “geo”-location and an acronym for “Joyful Interactions Offline”. For the last year and a half, we’ve developed a technological platform to support mobile-driven and location-based Web3 interactions. We aim to experiment and push the boundaries of what’s possible, incorporating Web3 into real-world experiences. We look forward to building unique interactions with our community and forging rich connections that transcend the virtual and spark joy - indoors and out.

When The Matrix burst onto the scene, it ignited our collective obsession with VR. This VR-metaverse craze reached its peak after Facebook transitioned to Meta. For a time in Web3, it seemed like we were only weeks away from a world where we would do everything online in VR, from shopping to dating. But today the VR metaverse take seems overbought… It's been over a year and not much has changed, leaving only questions. What happened? What was missing in our predictions? What will the next evolution of the metaverse look like?

To predict where we’re going, we need to examine where we’ve been. For all the talk of a VR metaverse, the mainstream applications of Web3 have been very 2D. While there’s a handful of whales buying virtual land and importing 3D models into niche VR servers, most Web3 applications have been and continue to be built on top of the platforms that we already spend time on - gaming, music, fashion, and social media. Before Web3, we were already hanging in Discord, playing games, and sharing memes on Twitter. Now we’re doing all of those same things but with NFTs as a backdrop, in the form of play-to-earn games and generative PFPs.

The metaverse isn’t some alien technology waiting to be invented - it is and already has been here, in the form of the internet. Web3 is spreading to the platforms that already have adoption, adding decentralized ownership to the activities we already do. If we want to guess what platform Web3 will spread to next, we should look to existing places that Web3 hasn’t touched, instead of expecting people to jump to a transformative new platform overnight. Until VR becomes vastly more accessible in terms of price and technology, it won’t claim the title of the dominant metaverse platform, or even the next one. Even Zuckerberg is cooling his jets on VR - maybe that’s for the better.

While it’s compelling to paint our future as an interconnected ecosystem of fully-digital worlds, this narrative ignores that our bodies are made of atoms, not bits. The virtual worlds of Ready Player One and The Matrix are awe-inspiring, but in the backdrop of each of these stories lies a dystopian reality where the “real world” is a barely habitable wasteland as people drink from tubes and pee in bottles. This brings us to a core belief we hold at JIO: for “the metaverse” to reach its full potential to improve our lives, Web3 must seamlessly extend and interconnect our digital existences with our physical world.

The metaverse of the future will contain many virtual worlds, but it will also entail a significant layer that extends into the physical world. This physical metaverse layer will enable us to hook real-world events and interactions into our virtual lives similar to how the apps of Uber, Google Maps, and Pokemon Go power Web2 today. We don’t need groundbreaking new tech to make it happen either - smartphones, the same technology that powers offline Web2, are capable of hooking Web3 into many of our daily activities. Meeting up with friends, interacting with retail brands, exploring new places through tourism - these all have the potential to be gamified and integrated into our Web3 existence.

Mobile phones hold a major advantage over PCs. More people have smartphones than computers. This is especially true in developing nations, where billions of new internet users are coming online. Phones are also portable and always with us. This portability enables unprecedented immersion and will allow Web3 creators to transform mundane chores into exciting adventures that have on-chain consequences, thanks to location-driven experiences. A routine trip to the grocery store becomes a thrilling quest for items that can unlock new perks in your digital Web3 life when you get home. By infusing real-life experiences with mobile technology and the blockchain, we can create a world where the metaverse enriches every aspect of our lives.

Many Web3 projects have aspired to merge the physical with the digital, with innovations like PBTs providing early glimpses into the potential of bridging the virtual and real worlds. But we still haven’t explored the full capabilities of today’s technology. In the future, Web2 brands like Adidas will launch exclusive quests, offering special drops and rewards to participants who visit designated locations. The combination of real-world interaction and digital assets will open the door to untapped partnership opportunities, business models, and sustainable revenue streams - things that have evaded many aspiring Web3 projects in the past.

We’re excited to reveal the meaning behind JIO: a phonetic play on “geo”-location and an acronym for “Joyful Interactions Offline”. For the last year and a half, we’ve developed a technological platform to support mobile-driven and location-based Web3 interactions. We aim to experiment and push the boundaries of what’s possible, incorporating Web3 into real-world experiences. We look forward to building unique interactions with our community and forging rich connections that transcend the virtual and spark joy - indoors and out.