Over 500 mobile apps are now using the term ‘metaverse’ to attract new users – TechCrunch

A true “metaverse” may not yet exist, but that hasn’t stopped marketers from embracing the buzzword to promote their apps and games on mobile app stores. According to new data shared today by Sensor Tower, there are now 552 mobile apps that include the term “metaverse” in their app titles or descriptions, hoping to spark consumer interest in this next evolution. of the web. And many of the new additions were added in the last few months alone, the firm notes.

Among all global apps ranked on the App Store and Google Play, a total of 86 apps added references to the “metaverse” to their title or description between November 2021 and January 2022, Sensor Tower data shows.

This period follows Facebook’s announcement of its corporate name change to “Meta” and its plans to invest heavily in “metaverse” technologies over the next decade. While Facebook, now Meta, never claimed to have already built the metaverse, the word soon began to be used much more casually to describe almost any immersive online environment where people interact with each other. others as virtual selves. Startups have started to describe themselves as metaverse companies. The Roblox gaming platform has been touted as a metaverse favorite. Crypto-company platforms – which were really just MMORPGs with a heavy financial component – ​​have also been dubbed metaverse, causing land rushes for metaverse real estate. etc

It seems marketers didn’t care much about the actual technical requirements for the metaverse to exist – like the new industry standards that would have to be built to enable movement between interoperable digital worlds, where all your friends, connections and “virtual stuff” comes with you.

After Facebook announced its metaverse efforts on Oct. 28, the number of apps referencing the word “metaverse” rose 66% month-over-month in November. By the end of November, 29 apps had been updated to include the word, more than double October’s 11 apps.

The new venture also analyzed the types of apps that exploited the metaverse trend. He found that many apps also referenced other popular technical terms alongside the word “metaverse” – like “crypto”, “NFT”, “AR” or “VR”, for example.

Picture credits: sensor tower

Of these, “crypto” was the most common term to be spotted alongside “metaverse”, with 23% of apps (144 apps in total) mentioning the term. That’s no surprise, given that the web3 crypto community relies heavily on hype these days, and dubbing something the “metaverse” before it even exists is certainly the definition of hype. media. “NFT” was the second most popular term, appearing in 18% of the study group, or 118 apps in total. The terms “AR” and “VR” were found in 11% and 9% of “metaverse” apps, respectively.

Picture credits: sensor tower

The term “metaverse” has surprisingly also been used in a wide variety of applications, not just games and crypto-finance apps.

However, mobile game publishers are leading the adoption of the keyword since 107 applications in the Game category now refer to the term, or 19% of the applications studied. The second largest category where the term appeared was Finance, accounting for 101 of the “metaverse” apps. Then come Social (70 apps), Entertainment (57 apps), Books (37 apps), Lifestyle (33 apps), Tools (26 apps), Business (25 apps). Art and Design (13 apps) and Education (11 apps.)

Whether or not adding the word “metaverse” to these apps works to attract users remains unclear. While it was clearly adopted to capitalize on user searches in the App Store, apps that succeed in this market likely provide better user experiences than those that don’t.