GenZ

Generation Z is the first generation to have grown up in a digital world. It is no surprise that the metaverse appears to be ubiquitous – and Gen Zs are being portrayed as the potential inheritors of this virtual universe.

Gen Z is more familiar and comfortable with environments that have the potential to exist within the Metaverse than any previous generation. According to Gen Z research, 87% of Gen Z plays video games on smartphones, gaming consoles, and computers weekly if not daily [1]. Minecraft, the famous world-building game that allows users to interact and construct with friends and strangers in real-time, has been played by 76% of UK Gen Zs and 85% of US Gen Zs [1].

Moreover, Gen Zers aren't limited to a single virtual universe. 86% of US Gen Zs play Fortnite and 84% play Roblox (it’s 68% and 58% respectively in the UK, but still a majority) [1]. Therefore, Gen Zs have a collective inclination for creating virtual worlds together, as seen by the large number of young people that play these games.

Gen Z are the trendsetters when it comes to how the Metaverse will grow, as well as which businesses and corporations will thrive and fail inside it. The finest illustration of how new users and operators will adapt to Metaverse-creating technologies as they grow is this generation. Other demographics and less tech-savvy generations may find Gen Z to be extremely influential in persuading them to try out the Metaverse for themselves. They then become the primary enabler for the success and growth of an interdependent Metaverse structure in which multiple online and augmented reality spaces can interact. Fortnite's Rift Tour, which featured a fifteen-minute performance hosted by pop superstar Ariana Grande, is an example of this trend. The concert drew nearly one million people at its peak, more than four times the capacity of the world's largest stadium, Prague's Great Strahov Stadium [2]. The Metaverse was created and continues to operate on a worldwide scale, with no restriction on the number of people who may participate, and is thus social and multicultural at its core.

Because of these current Gen Z trends, the question becomes less about if the Metaverse launches into something significant and more about how to succeed within it when it does.

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