One of the most common questions is where is the metaverse and how can I access it? Especially from new users. Ready Player Me are the user friendly go-to platform where I usually send people. You can create a full body 3D avatar in your likeness in seconds and use it to explore over 4000 apps and games immediately. It's super user friendly for newcomers but also integrated into the NFT and blockchain side of the metaverse. Timmu Tõke is the CEO and Co-founder of Ready Player Me , who've been wo...
Jan 18, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 88
Web3 has touched every creative industry even in these early experimental stages and the film industry is looking on with interest. Ben Klein isn't waiting and is actively experimenting with this new community owned approach as Founder and CEO of Mugsy Media Corp. In this episode, we discuss the legacy film industry, how a film is usually brought to market and where the value accrues. We then dive into the Web3 model, how it is different, what it can potentially bring and how community ownership...
Jan 13, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 87
Calvin Harris, the biggest DJ in the world has officially entered the virtual building by announcing The Calvin Harris Experience in partnership with WAVE, Pico and TikTok Live. We talk about that plus the latest news from the major tech conference CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas and a brand new major Roblox experience too. Thank you as always for your support, if you'd be happy to leave a review, that is always so appreciated. Also drop me a message on Twitter - did you notice this...
Jan 05, 2023•14 min•Season 1Ep. 86
2022 has been a wild year, it launched the concept of the 'metaverse' firmly into mainstream awareness but where are we now and what are the big trends to watch in 2023? On this episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, I highlight 5 areas I'm watching closely that I think will be the hottest topics of the next 12 months. I'd love to hear your predictions! Do reach out on Twitter here Happy New Year and here's to another mind-blowing year in the metaverse in 2023! ======================= ...
Dec 30, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Gemma Sheppard is the first Metaverse Global Fashion Director, whose portfolio includes Tom Ford, Alexander McQueen and Daphne Guinness amongst others. She works very closely with Roblox and Dubit - the UK's leading metaverse studio who have created experiences played by millions daily. In this conversation we dive into the current world of digital fashion and discuss why it is a trend lining up to be a huge opportunity in 2023 - both creatively and in terms of monetisation in virtual worlds. We...
Dec 21, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 84
The term ' Open Metaverse ' gets thrown around a lot but what does it actually mean? How will we build a metaverse where avatars, assets and environments all are able to communicate and work with each other across multiple worlds? We discuss these questions and many more on this week's Welcome to the Metaverse Podcast with the awesome Neil Trevett . Neil is the Chair of The Metaverse Standards Forum, which is helping to coordinate the efforts of over 1800 companies and individuals to create thes...
Dec 16, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 83
With all the negative news of late around the ongoing FTX saga, I wanted to showcase a really clear, undeniably positive use case of blockchain technology and it just so happened that I came across a platform doing really amazing work, called TinyTap . On this week's episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we chat to TinyTap CEO - Yogev Shelly . TinyTap are a platform that empowers teachers and educators to create interactive, gamified content. You can do this on their website, using th...
Dec 08, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 82
Nina Schick is an author, speaker, advisor and expert in deepfakes, synthetic media, cybersecurity and the geopolitics of technology. She has advised global leaders, including Joe Biden and the former Secretary General of NATO amongst many other major companies and government agencies. In this episode we discuss what is about to happen as as we begin to unlock the power of Generative Artificial Intelligence models. Nina believes that by 2025, up to 90% of all digital content will be generated by...
Dec 01, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 81
Nike have always been at the forefront of sport, apparel and the culture that surrounds it. It's no surprise that they are ahead of the game when it comes to digital goods and the metaverse. They recently dropped their major campaign ahead of the World Cup pointing towards their 'Footballverse'. A coherent Nike universe that spans across the physical, digital and into the metaverse, giving users the chance to co-create with them for future virtual products. We also of course talk about RTFKT and...
Nov 25, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Not everyone has the time to dive into and explore the range of virtual worlds that make up the wider metaverse. The goal on this week's episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, is to do that for you and bring you the latest news, stats and a review of the experience. We did this previously about 9 months ago and the show had great feedback so I thought it was time to revisit with an update! This is by no means an extensive list, just a light overview to keep you up to date. I always lov...
Nov 16, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 79
VEmpire are an ecosystem who are opening up access and ownership to the future of the metaverse. Their DDAO is the world's largest Decentralised Metaverse Investment Organisation and on this episode we chat to CEO of vEmpire - Dominic Ryder all this vision. As always nothing in this podcast is financial or investment advice in any way and shouldn’t be considered as such, it’s for informational purposes only. Always do your own research. This episode is a fairly advanced one as we talk in depth a...
Nov 10, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Imagine being able to expand a human heart to 6 feet tall and climb inside to explore the ventricles or how about learning Paleontology, whilst in an immersive dinosaur world riding a Triceratops. Or even learning about Astronomy whilst on board a space craft, with your teacher and class mates in full virtual reality. Well this is all already possible right now thanks to VictoryXR who’ve built exactly these products and many more. We dive into this fully on this week's episode of the Welcome to ...
Nov 02, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Dibbs are a home to some of the most iconic physical trading cards on the planet, across sports, Pokémon, comic books and more, enabling fractionalisation - aka they turn cards into many ownable pieces, so anyone can start building up their dream collection. All of this is powered by blockchain using fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). On this episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we chat to CEO - Evan Vandenberg all about how gigantic this market is, how we can bring rare physic...
Oct 27, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Myth Division are a next generation IP development studio and team of incredible, very experienced storytellers across multiple platforms : comics, film, tv, animation and video games. On this episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we chat to Founder - Ramon Govea , who himself has worked for the likes of the legendary Stan Lee as well as NBA player Baron Davis. He’s also an NFT OG, was very early in this space and is now focussed on utilising the commercial rights of his Bored Apes, a...
Oct 20, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 75
You may have seen the major announcement recently from the Dubai government - The ' Dubai Metaverse Strategy ' - a framework to turn Dubai into one of the world's top 10 metaverse economies as well as a global hub for the metaverse community. Recently I travelled to Dubai to attend the ' Dubai Metaverse Assembly ' - an event attended by the biggest players in this space including The Sandbox, Decentraland Foundation, Meta, Microsoft, PwC, FTX and more. I was hosted by a metaverse project at the ...
Oct 13, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Marc Charlton is the co-founder of DatesVR - a metaverse speed dating platform in virtual reality! After meeting his fiance on virtual realty platform AltSpaceVR, Mark and his business partner set out to create the world's first VR speed dating event and community with DatesVR. Since then DatesVR has been covered by BBC Worldwide, BBC 5Live, The New York Post and more. On this week's episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we dive into how the weekly DatesVR speed dating (and friend fin...
Oct 05, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Mike Walsh is the UK Head of Strategic Partnerships at Serenade - an eco-friendly, super accessible music collectibles platform & the inventors of a brand new NFT chart eligible format called the 'Digital Pressing' (most recently pioneered by Muse as part of their no.1 album release 'Will of the People') On this episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast - Mike talks to us about where we are with NFTs in music at the moment; the varying success of some use cases today and where we are h...
Sep 28, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Everyone had their favourite toy as a kid, whether an action figure, doll, collectible or play-set. As we trend towards the metaverse and an ever more digital world, what does the future of toys and play look like for the next generation? Introducing Cryptoys - inspired by the success of surprise unboxing toys, Will and the team are creating the next era of digital toys that you can collect, build and play with in an expansive and immersive world. Described as the 'Nintendo of Web3' Cryptoys is ...
Sep 21, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 72
The Ethereum Merge is a historic moment for this space and one that is hugely significant, but in simple terms; what actually is it and how will it affect the average user? This week on the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we've got the brilliant Fatlion aka George (on Twitter here) back on the show to help us understand more about the Ethereum merge. George's previous episode 'All The Technical Questions You Wish You Could Ask About NFTs' was hugely popular and George is so brilliant at explai...
Sep 14, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 70
One of the biggest challenges before NFTs and the metaverse can go fully mainstream, is making it all easy to use. RECUR are a platform who have set out to solve this problem. They have already partnered and released collections with the likes of Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, Star Trek and many more. On this episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, Zach Bruch - Co-founder & CEO of RECUR talks us through how they are solving this problem and are ready to work with even more of the ...
Sep 08, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 69
The Korean Entertainment industry is estimated to be worth around $30 billion. Bands like BTS sell out stadiums across the globe including in the US. BLACKPINK, a K-Pop girlband recently just won the first ever ‘Best Metaverse Performance’ award at the MTV VMAs. On this week's episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we dive into a project called Anicube, which is bringing K-Pop artists, fans and culture into the metaverse. Anicube is a joint venture between Cube Entertainment and Animoc...
Sep 01, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Chris Ebeling is the Co-creator of Zed Run - a digital horse racing game & ecosystem that uses blockchain and NFTs to give users ownership of their digital horses. Players can buy, breed, race, sell and soon lend their horses just like in the real world but digitally in the metaverse. The OG project has seen incredible success with over 3 million races and over $40 million paid out in race prizes. On this episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, I talk to Chris Ebeling - (Co-creator ...
Aug 25, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 67
Meet Jenkins the Valet, a bored ape who is signed to major Hollywood agency CAA, has a book written by 10x New York Times best selling author Neil Strauss and is about to embark on a whole new adventure to new world Azurbala. On this week's episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we meet the creative geniuses behind Jenkins the Valet alongside the incredible community they've built and vision for the future of IP in this space. Valet Jones and SAFA are the pseudonymous founders of Tally...
Aug 17, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Think 'Squid Game' meets a web3 online game show where you could win a Bored Ape! This week on the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, Jordan Lejuwaan - CEO of Internet Game is back on to tell us all about season 2 hosted by Gmoney and Leah Lamarr. After the success of Internet Game season 1, where a $1.5 million dollar prize pool, including 2 bored ape's (+Azuki's, Doodles and more) were won by players who made it to the end, Internet Game returns with season 2. I'm interested in this concept for...
Aug 11, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 65
This week on the Welcome to the Metaverse Podcast, I chat to Felix Hartmann, a long term crypto investor and Managing General Partner of Hartmann Capital. In this episode we talk in depth about how institutional investment is approaching the metaverse and what trends Felix and his Metaverse Ventures Fund at Hartmann Capital are focussed on for the upcoming months. This is a highly valuable episode in my opinion, especially in the current market conditions. I don't have a financial background mys...
Aug 03, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 64
This week we are getting stuck into the fascinating world of motion capture in major movies, entertainment, sport and a variety of other use cases but crucially for the future of the metaverse. Our guest on the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast is Remco Sikkema, Senior Marketing Communication Manager at Movella, a world leader in this industry who also make XSens motion capture suits, which we cover too. Say hello on Twitter @luke_franks or click to view here or https://www.twitter.com/luke_frank...
Jul 27, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 63
On this week’s episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we’re focussing on how some of the best talent in the world from the film & video game industries are now working on building the metaverse. Say hello on Twitter @luke_franks or click to view here or https://www.twitter.com/luke_franks One team with the skills and talent to help do this is Future House Studios . Our guest this week is CEO Adam Sidwell, who has 2 decades of experience at some of the most well known VFX studios in...
Jul 20, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 62
On this week’s episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we’re diving deeper into the world of web3 gaming - a bubbling new entire ecosystem full of opportunities. Now is a great time to be learning and paying attention to the best projects in the space. Say hello on Twitter @luke_franks or click to view here or https://www.twitter.com/luke_franks Our guest this week is the excellent Vincent Marty - Product & Marketing Director at Darewise , who are an awesome game studio and a subsid...
Jul 14, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 61
On this week’s episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, I talk to one of the biggest companies building the future of the metaverse - Epic Games. Rachel Stones is a Business Development Manager at Epic Games . This conversation was one of my absolute favourites so far. Epic Games , as I’m sure you are aware, have been building in this space probably longer than anyone and I would argue have been paramount in bringing the whole concept of the metaverse to life. To be able to sit down with...
Jul 06, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 60
On this week’s episode of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast, we’re diving back into the web3 play and earn gaming space. As you’ll likely know by now if you’ve been listening to the podcast, there is a big fundamental movement around digital ownership in games, allowing players to own, level up and trade their in-game items as NFTs, enabling full game economies. Gaming is the biggest entertainment industry on the planet and it’s a really clear use of NFTs but also this category of web3 gaming...
Jun 30, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 59
