Into the Metaverse

As Director of Social and Influencer at Chipotle, Candice Beck drives the brand's strategic, rapidly growing social media marketing program. Candice strategizes first-to-market social and digital programs that drive brand buzz and amplify awareness for Chipotle's global campaigns. Candice is responsible for leading award-winning activations, partnering with cross-functional leaders to maintain Chi...

Joost van Dreunen is an entrepreneur and author. He teaches the business of video games at NYU Stern School of Business and wrote a book called ONE UP: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games . He spent the last two decades as an industry analyst working with all of the major firms on strategy. After selling SuperData Research , a games research firm he co-founded, to Niels...

Louis Rosenberg is a pioneer in fields of augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. He earned his PhD from Stanford, has been awarded over 300 patents for VR, AR, and AI technologies, and founded a number of successful companies including Unanimous AI , Immersion Corporation, Microscribe, and Outland Research. We cover in detail the important aspects for how we build a metave...

Yon is Founder and CEO of Supersocial, a metaverse company that develops, publishes and operates cutting-edge virtual worlds on Roblox and other emerging platforms. Its business platform – which includes a development studio and publishing services, enables world-class brands and IP owners, as well as its owned IP, to enter the metaverse through bold creativity and unmatched product quality. Yon i...

MiniToon is the creator of Piggy , one of the most successful games ever created on the Roblox platform, with 11 billion+ play sessions, and a cult of followers that propelled Piggy to a sensation status already in the first year of the game. We cover in detail the power of the Roblox platform and the opportunity for creators to build next generation game franchises starting on emerging platforms....

Timmu Toke is the co-founder and CEO of Ready Player Me . We cover in detail the role that 3D avatars play in enabling new forms of expression, exploration and socialization in the next era of the Internet, and what are some of the use cases that are already showing promise today. https://www.intometamedia.com/

Samuel Huber is the CEO of LandVault , a company that helps brands establish presence in Blockchain-based, metaverse-type platforms such as Sandbox and Decentraland. We cover in detail why virtual land matters in the metaverse and what are the challenges ahead for mass adoption. https://www.intometamedia.com/

Royal O'Brien is the General Manager of Digital Media and Games at the Linux Foundation. We cover in detail the role of open source technologies in enabling the emergence of a metaverse we can all believe in and get excited about.

Piers Ridyard is the CEO of RDX Works - a core developer of the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol, Radix. We cover in detail the challenges in building a scaled blockchain for a user-owned metaverse and what are key use cases to emerge in the near future.

Jake Brukhman is the founder and CEO of CoinFund , a web3 and crypto-focused investment firm. We cover in detail web3 investing, how does it intertwines with the metaverse, and what are some of his lessons learned from investing in the space, especially web3, for the past 8 years.

Rev Lebaredian is Vice President of Omniverse & Simulation Technology at NVIDIA . We cover in detail the next-generation technology platform that NVIDIA is building, its Omniverse that promises to power an industrial metaverse and what it all means for creators, brands and businesses. We also cover special announcements coming out of NVIDIA’S GTC conference - Omniverse Cloud, an infrastructure...

Tami Bhaumik is the Vice President of Civility and Partnerships at Roblox. We cover in detail why safety and civility is critical not only to ensure that young people can safely play, explore and socialize on Roblox, but how can we nurture a resilient community as the metaverse emerges. Tami spearheads the platform's digital civility initiative. To establish healthy and safe communities, Tami is f...

Michael Auerbach is founder & General Partner at Subversive Capital , an investment firm, and SVP at Albright Stonebridge Group. We cover in detail what the metaverse means to him and his firm, the opportunities ahead, and the notorious PUNK ETF which shorts Meta Platforms.

Welcome to episode 16 of This Week in the Metaverse , our weekly show in which Yon and a guest co-host provide commentary on three metaverse-related news items. Joining Yon today as guest co-host is Mario Stefanidis , Vice President of Research at Roundhill Investments , a thematic ETF sponsor who’s behind the Metaverse ETF alongside Ball Metaverse Research Partners . Mario is responsible for Roun...

The concepts of digital identity and empowering individuals are core tenets of the social movement driving the development of the metaverse. Taylor Monahan from MetaMask joins us to break down philosophically how they view building in web3, the wallet as the potential gateway to your digital identity, bridging the needs and desires of a broad range of potential consumers in web3 and the outlook fo...

Welcome to episode 15 of This Week in the Metaverse, a weekly show in which I provide commentary on three news items with fantastic guest co-hosts. Joining me today as guest co-host is Jonathan Stringfield , whom we recently hosted on our podcast! Jonathan is currently the VP of global business research and marketing at Activision Blizzard and recently published a new book - Get In The Game . Our...

Building an open, decentralized, democratic Internet is the aim of many web3 metaverse platforms, seeking to create a better future for our digital lives than the one controlled by walled gardens fueled by personal data. Marja Konttinen, the marketing director of Decentraland, joins us to break down the ethos of their platform, how they view the metaverse as a public good, just how nascent the dev...

On episode 14 of This Week in the Metaverse, Yon talks about the new partnership between the virtual influencer, Miquela, and teen retailer brand, Pacsun, and why it’s an interesting experiment. Then he closes the loop on the unsolicited acquisition proposal from AppLovin to acquire Unity which resulted in Unity’s board rejecting it and staying committed to the merger with ironSource. He finishes...

Second Life was one of the first examples of a proto-metaverse gaming platform, a persistent, shared, virtual world where individuals could socialize, play and learn together. We were delighted to have a wide-reaching conversation with Philip Rosedale, the the founder and creator of Second Life, where we dive into Second Life’s renaissance in the last few years, the push of large technology compan...

On the 13th episode of This Week In the Metaverse, Yon and Matthew dive into a few key topics and circle back to ones from recent weeks with additional color and updates. First, we look at Roblox’s financial results for the second quarter of 2022, look at some of the key numbers for a strong July and look ahead to the platform’s future prospects. Yon also gives a good overview of what, as someone...

Wildcard is an ambitious blockchain-powered game from Playful Studios, looking to leverage blockchain in a unique and novel way to create new social connections within a AAA-quality experience. Paul Bettner, the CEO of Playful Studios, joins us to break down the ambitious Wildcard projec,t how social interactions are key in the metaverse, building great web3 games to attract the billions of global...

On the 12th episode of This Week in the Metaverse, we dive into three topics that are relevant to the development of the metaverse and on which we believe we can provide unique expertise and insight given our experiences and backgrounds. First, we look at a Reuters report that Unity is considering spinning off its China business. Then, we discuss another Reuters article that suggests Tencent is in...

A common thread in our conversations on Into the Metaverse around all things crypto, blockchain and web3 is making the user experience of these applications easier to use for those that don’t fall into the category of crypto-natives. Christine Renee Perry of Skale Labs joined us to discuss how developers are trying to ease the on-ramp to web3, how Skale is positioning itself in a fast-growing web3...

On this 11th episode of This Week in the Metaverse, Yon and Matthew once again break down three key items that we deem influential to the development of the metaverse and on which we believe we can provide a unique perspective. First, we dive into Meta’s earnings and new product announcements, including news that a web-based version of Horizon and the mixed reality Cambria headset are coming out t...

A lot of the discussion around the metaverse is just about what already exists today in online games and elevating those experiences to the next level. J onathan Stringfield, PhD , the VP of global business research and marketing at Activision Blizzard, joins us to breakdown why gaming is at the forefront of the metaverse development cycle, the influx of capital into the sector and what esports lo...