About This Constellation ShortList™

Much hype has been made about the metaverse. However, very few organizations have fully grasped the impact the metaverse will have on experiences and engagement for both the consumer world and the enterprise. More than just gaming worlds or hardware devices, the metaverse economy brings new opportunities for brands and enterprises to bring their physical presence and 3D digital presences together in one unified offering to their stakeholders—customers, employees, partners, and suppliers.

Metaverses are digital worlds that can parallel physical worlds or create fictional worlds that allow people to do anything they desire in a digital life. Today’s metaverse worlds are often walled gardens but future designs will have more interoperability. Constellation estimates the overall metaverse economy to be worth a market cap of $20.7T by 2030.

To be included in the Constellation ShortList, vendors need to support at least one of the universal metaverse use cases, have 100-plus customers, and demonstrate a multiyear track record to operate and grow metaverse solutions.   

Threshold Criteria

Constellation considers the following key criteria for these solutions:

  • Manage the design, creation, and operation of digital avatars
  • Support for the major extended reality hardware and human interface technologies
  • Provide for multisided trading networks from creator economy to data-driven digital networks
  • Foster value exchange with digital assets such as NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain
  • Monetize ads, search, goods, services, memberships, and subscriptions
  • Enable decentralized business models
  • Host consumer-grade experiences
  • Keep persistent experiences
  • Deliver on enterprise-class security

Functional coverage of at least one metaverse use case from the following list:

  • Collaboration and meetings
  • Recruiting
  • Onboarding
  • Training
  • Internal comms
  • Digital twins
  • Advertising and search
  • Marketing
  • Sales
  • Commerce
  • Customer service and support
  • Live events
  • Gaming
  • 125 plus customers
  • A working multiyear track record to operate and grow metaverse solutions
  • Operational on at least two continents

The Constellation ShortList™

Constellation evaluates more than 50 solution providers categorized in this market. This Constellation ShortList is determined by client inquiries, partner conversations, customer references, vendor selection projects, market share, and internal research.

  • Bloktopia
  • Boson Portal
  • Cryptovoxels
  • Decentraland
  • Gather
  • HyperVerse
  • Linden Lab (Second Life)
  • Roblox
  • Sandbox
  • Somnium Space
  • Spatial Systems
  • Topia.gg (was NFT Worlds)
  • Wilder World

Frequency of Evaluation

Each Constellation ShortList will be updated at least once per year. There could be an update after six months, should the analyst deem it necessary.

Evaluation Services

Constellation clients may work with the analyst and research team to conduct a more thorough discussion of this ShortList. Constellation can also provide guidance in vendor selection and contract negotiation.

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