Wall Street Journal Bestseller
Publishers Weekly Bestseller
Amazon: Editors' Choice in Nonfiction
Tim Sweeney (CEO of Fortnite-maker Epic Games): “Matthew Ball’s essays have defined, analyzed, and inspired the Metaverse for years. His book is an approachable and essential guide to the strategic, technical, and philosophical foundations of this new medium.”
Derek Thompson (Atlantic staff writer and national best-selling author of Hit Makers): “This book feels like a rare achievement: a definitive statement about an emerging phenomenon that could shape the digital world, the global economy, and the very experience of human consciousness.”
From the leading theorist of the Metaverse comes the definitive account of the next internet: what the Metaverse is, what it will take to build it, and what it means for all of us.
The term “Metaverse” is suddenly everywhere, from the front pages of national newspapers and the latest fashion trends to the plans of the most powerful companies in history. It is already shaping the policy platforms of the US government, the European Union, and the Chinese Communist Party.
But what, exactly, is the Metaverse? As pioneering theorist and venture capitalist Matthew Ball explains, it is a persistent and interconnected network of 3D virtual worlds that will eventually serve as the gateway to most online experiences, and also underpin much of the physical world. For decades, these ideas have been limited to science fiction and video games, but they are now poised to revolutionize every industry and function, from finance and healthcare to education, consumer products, city planning, dating, and well beyond.
Taking us on an expansive tour of the “next internet,” Ball demonstrates that many proto-Metaverses are already here, such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox. Yet these offer only a glimpse of what is to come. Ball presents a comprehensive definition of the Metaverse before explaining the technologies that will power it—and the breakthroughs that will be necessary to fully realize it. He addresses the governance challenges the Metaverse entails; investigates the role of Web3, blockchains, and NFTs; and predicts Metaverse winners and losers. Most importantly, he examines many of the Metaverse’s almost unlimited applications.
The internet will no longer be at arm’s length; instead, it will surround us, with much of our lives, labor, and leisure taking place inside the Metaverse. Bringing clarity and authority to a frequently misunderstood concept, Ball foresees trillions of dollars in new value—and the radical reshaping of society.
About the Author
Matthew Ball is the CEO of Epyllion and the former global head of strategy for Amazon Studios. He has written for the New York Times, the Economist, and Bloomberg. His self-published essays on the Metaverse have been read millions of times and cited by leaders at Epic Games, Facebook, Tencent, and Coinbase. Ball divides his time between Toronto, New York City, and Miami.
Industry Reviews
"Writing in an informed and provocative style... [The Metaverse] serves as a comprehensive guide to every aspect of the metaverse, from its technical underpinnings to its societal responsibilities." -- John Thornhill - Financial Times
"Ball certainly knows his stuff... For this emerging generation, the metaverse will be a perfectly natural psychological extension of everything they have ever known. For the rest of us, who will soon need to catch up, Ball's book is the best crash course we have." -- Kit Wilson - The Times
"The Metaverse is a timely, authoritative, and accessible overview of the subject, which is as well-informed as is possible to be about something which does not yet exist." -- Hilary Lamb - E&T Magazine
"Where big tech waffles about the metaverse while spending billions on making it a reality, Ball has exacting standards for what the metaverse must be and what would be needed to achieve it." -- James Ball - The Spectator
"Matthew Ball has been writing massively influential essays on the Metaverse for years now, and here he distills everything he knows into an authoritative guide for anyone the Metaverse will touch--which is to say, all of us. This book not only captures our moment--it will also shape our collective future." -- Taylor Lorenz, tech columnist - The Washington Post
"'Metaverse' is the new buzzword, but few can define it. Matthew Ball's comprehensive treatise lays out the potential and--just as importantly--the challenges in realizing the Metaverse and how it fits into the technological evolution from personal computing to the internet to mobile computing. This book helps separate fact from fiction, hype from reality, and should be foundational reading for anyone that wants to understand the possibilities of the Metaverse." -- Reed Hastings, co-Founder and co-CEO of Netflix
"Matthew Ball's essays have defined, analyzed, and inspired the Metaverse for years. His book is an approachable and essential guide to the strategic, technical, and philosophical foundations of this new medium." -- Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games
"A thought-provoking look at the evolving intersection of technology, society, human nature, and creativity. Matthew Ball's enlightening guide is a must-read for every creator and company that is embarking on their journey to the new frontier that is the Metaverse. A new world shaped by individuals and driven by incredible social experiences has just begun." -- Kenichiro Yoshida, CEO of Sony
"Excellent... Chapters on bringing the various iterations of the developing metaverse together, making them interact, and the hardware required, are lucid and logical." -- Chris Stokel-Walker - New Scientist
"Like the information superhighway, this latest buzzword seems to point in the right direction, but may get lost along the way. For anyone who wants to understand the process and what is at stake, Mr Ball's lucid and timely book offers a portal into a new realm." -- The Economist
"Just as the present internet can be described as a network of networks, so the metaverse will be the virtual world of all virtual worlds. This is the vision offered in The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything by Matthew Ball . . . What, by the way, will happen to the real world that so many of us are supposedly eager to leave behind? Mr. Ball is excellent on the enormous infrastructure investments required to build a metaverse . . . Speaking of computational demands, [he argues] that blockchain-the technology underlying cryptocurrencies-will be crucial to the metaverse. For Mr. Ball, the benefits of blockchain include its ability to reliably authenticate the ownership of virtual assets (as it does for NFTs)." -- Steven Poole - The Wall Street Journal
"You had probably never heard the word metaverse before 2021. Today it's hard to escape it. For those who want to move past the hype and understand where the promise of this technology really lies, The Metaverse by Matthew Ball is the place to start." -- Alok Jha - The Guardian
