In the future, the metaverse will connect people and companies more and more immersively. When it comes to fitness, we're seeing concepts like digital rewards for athletic performance. What role will this social technology play in fitness - and how might gym owners benefit, Frank Ditz (Meta) and Richie Allan (OliveX)?
+++ Breaking News in Fitaverse +++
+++ 400 million people already entered Metaverse-like spaces +++ Metaverse expected to have 5 billion users in 2030 +++ Experts predict an $8 to $13 trillion Metaverse market in eight years +++ “Potential for “Metaverse” in Germany is surprisingly high”: 61% of respondents are interested in the Metaverse +++(Sources: boersennews.de 2022, omnicommediagroup.de 2022)
First, the status quo: What the hell is the metaverse?
Frank: The Metaverse will be the “walk-in” version of the internet. Now we're at the tipping point with technology making that possible. We have to remind ourselves: We are at the firsts steps of an evolution of the Metaverse. For Meta, 6.000 developers are currently working on the metaverse. In the next two or three years, we will add 10.000 developers - in Europe alone.Second: What does the metaverse need to avoid becoming a second Second Life?*, Frank?
- Presence: You don't have the feeling of presence yet. Personally, I had an eye-opening experience when I used the Oculus glasses and we had a business meeting in a digital room with other avatars. For the first time, I really had this feeling of being present.
- Sustainability: The Metaverse will help us drive sustainability. Do I really have to go into the plane and fly to a meeting? Can the whole ecosystem can be rebuilt around sustainability?
- Comfort: It needs to be easy, accessible, and usable for the people.
*What Is Second Life? A Brief History @makeuseof.com
After earning his master's degree in business administration, Frank Ditz handled marketing, sales, and products for companies such as Vivendi, Sony, and 20th Century Fox for more than 15 years. He moved to Facebook in 2017. Today, he heads sales for Meta in the entertainment, media & sports sector in German-speaking countries. He advises companies such as Warner Bros, DAZN, and Sky on how to push their business into the future via social media. Meta not only changed its brand name to lay the focus on building the metaverse. It also pushes the technology to enter it. In 2021, the VR-Glasses Meta Quest 2 was sold 8,7 million times. That means 78% of all VR- or AR-Glasses that have been shipped worldwide. (🤝 Meet Frank at Linkedin)
Meta: From the go-to-social media to Metaverse builders
(👁️ Check out what Meta does)
Third: What does the metaverse bring to the fitness world?
Meta: Conquering digital spaces with state of the art VR-glasses
Frank: In the real world, people who go to a gym also go running and cycling. Whatever type of exercise people do, the metaverse is going to have a place for people that want to do that in the metaverse. That's what we're trying to do at Meta. Our products and services help people enter the metaverse. At the same time, we want to get them more active and keep them healthy. The Meta Quest 3 will be a high-quality device that will contain "half-eye" tracking. It will scan your face so that all the movements you do on your face are projected to your avatar in the virtual world. Very soon, we will be able to do short videos with your VR-Glasses provide fully mixed reality classes where you can have visuals on screen.
OliveX: Integrating NFT to combine motivation, gaming, and new business models
Richie: The Metaverse merging with the fitness world is a new way to create businesses with NFT-logic. But it's also a new way to get in touch with new communities - like the gamers. We will motivate the fitaverse users by letting them earn our own cryptocurrency from exercising. That allows them to get NFTs. NFTs will allow people to create and transform their product services digitally. Based on that, businesses in the fitness industry not only look at this as a new way to do business but also a new way to create engaging content, extra benefits, and value for the users. That might be a portrait or a photograph that will sit static on a wall or a virtual wall in their meta- or fitaverse house. In the fitness context, it might be that you sell memberships in the future by an NFT. For doing exercise, members could earn NFTs and spend it on partnering businesses - such as a gym membership, new clothing for your avatar, and many others.
What is OliveX up to in the Fitaverse?
💰 OliveX acquired ...
Six to Start to work more closely with the game developers of Zombies, Run! and many more.
Sol cycle, the first blockchain cycling game for the Fitaverse.
🧑🤝🧑 OliveX collaborates with
- Marvel Entertainment, will make Fitaverse-Gamers fight against villains and feel like real superheroes. (Source: proactiveinvestors.com.au 2022)
- Gym Aesthetics, a german fitness clothing brand, will create a virtual collection, fit for the Avatars of Fitaverse-users. They can buy the collection by activity-earned NFTs. (Source: newsdirect.com 2022)
- Laplap, a web3-player and GameFi-ecosystem that will help grow the community of Fitaverse-builders and -users. (Source: globenewswire.com 2022)
🧩 OliveX created the DOSE token.
Richie: DOSE is a Non-Fungible Token. It's the token of purchase, utility, and action and is at the heart of the OliveX gamified fitness ecosystem. Players will receive DOSE tokens for completing workout-based gameplay in 22 Pushups, Dustland Runner and Dustland Rider. These tokens can be used to unlock items, purchase NFTs and participate in special events and game modes.
Since 2006, Richie Allen has been a general manager in the fitness industry and developed brands like Total Fitness, Esporta, Fitness First, and Les Mills. In November 2021, he joined OliveX and now serves as the director of business development.
(🤝 Meet Richie at Linkedin)
OliveX: Connecting the dots for the FItaverse
(👁️ Check out what OliveX does)
Fourth: What does exercising in the Metaverse mean, Keith Rumjahn?
(🤝 Meet Keith at Linkedin)
Last: Who is fitting into Fitaverse?
🎮 Gamers: 3.2 billion people ...
... represents the number of gamers worldwide (Source: invisioncommunity.co)
Richie: The guys that are in the gaming industry and the blockchain industries are used to being part of a metaverse. So this is our great opportunity to take the fitness industry to the metaverse.
👦🏻👧🏾 Gen Z: 80% ...
... of all gym-goers today belong to Generation Z, which was born between 1995 and 2010. For them, it will be nothing new to see gym data and those tools aggregating all inside of a Fitaverse (source: lesmills).
Richie: Gen Z is at the heart of the development. They grew up with YouTube and using fitness apps or devices.
👵👴 The elderly: Only 22.3% ...
... off all gym members are represented by visitors older than 55 years. (Source: financesonline.com)
Richie: Especially for the older generation, working out in the gym doesn't always feel good in the beginning. So for them, starting at home is a safe space and the metaverse might be a better solution
🏋️ Gym-goers: 85% of them ...
... also workout at home since the pandemic (source: lesmills).
Frank: Operators need to look at their business outside of the four walls and consider digital offerings to keep members engaged in their ecosystem and within that community.
The context of the contents of this article: The sixth FitTech Summit at FIBO 2022. The German- and English-language business conference asked: How are fitness technologies (Fittech) developing our society? Answers were provided by 14 experts on three live stage shows:
Power to the People - how fittech is changing the reality of (new) audiences.
Cases of Places - how Fittech transforms places of (public) life.
The Planet's Tenet - how fittech influence worlds and systems.