NVIDIA, the global manufacturer of graphics processing units and integrated circuit technologies for workstations, personal computers, and mobile devices, wants to step up its efforts to develop more products for the metaverse.
The metaverse is a concept that describes the next generation of internet content, where users will be able to interact with objects (and other humans) in virtual worlds in a deeper, multisensorial, richer way. It involves technologies like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Non Fungible Tokens, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrencies, Procedural Image Generation, among a huge number of other developments.
Build the Metaverse (For Free)
As reported by Reuters, NVIDIA is not developing a metaverse or creating metaverse-focused objects. Instead, it has launched a program to support artists and content creators who focus on building virtual worlds and products that enrich the user’s experience in the metaverse.
To this end, NVIDIA announced that it will distribute free versions of its “Omniverse” software to an undetermined number of artists. The cost of an annual license for this program starts at $9,000 for corporate clients.
Omniverse is a new software developed by NVIDIA for creating virtual worlds and metaverse-ready objects. The idea is to allow users to create assets or worlds that can then be sold in third-party markets.
In addition, the company announced a series of partnerships with several marketplaces oriented to the sharing of metaverse-related content. Although NVIDIA did not provide information about the content of the agreements, they did reveal that the first deals involved Shutterstock’s TurboSquid, Sketchfab, CGTrader, and Twinburu.
Daz3D, ActorCore, and PlantCatalog will soon launch their Omniverse-ready assets collection.
NVIDIA And The Blockchain Industry
With this move, NVIDIA is accelerating its strategy to cement its presence in the nascent metaverse industry.
According to several analysts, the metaverse will be a dominant industry in the medium term, even inserting itself into the mainstream gaming world. Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers notes that product development tools for the metaverse could become a $10 billion market opportunity within five years.
NVIDIA’s relationship with the blockchain ecosystem has been very profitable for the corporation. Over the past year, its stock reached 187% growth thanks to an explosion in sales of its graphics processors —something that was catalyzed mainly by demand from miners of proof-of-work cryptocurrencies like Ethereum.
In addition to hardware development, NVIDIA’s research in graphics processing is also remarkable and could greatly aid the development of better products for the metaverse, particularly thanks to artificial intelligence processes for highly realistic face and landscape rendering.
