After Chain Games, Will the Metaverse Social Sector Be the Next Investment Hotspot?

The sci-fi and romantic metaverse world is everyone's childhood bold fantasy of the future. A world that doesn't fully rely on physical objects and has a freer way of expression is fascinating. The rapid development of science and technology has turned many historical whims into reality, yet imagination and discussion about the future continue. Beyond technological advancements, the significant improvement in people's depth of thinking and ideological level in recent years has also made the concept of a virtual world within reach. Especially with the rapid development of blockchain technology, as well as NFTs and chain games, the distance between the metaverse and the real world is no longer far.

What is the Metaverse? What is it Composed of?

In the article "Exploring the Metaverse: Let Your Imagination Soar with Blockchain Technology" first published in the OKX Beginner's Academy, we provided a detailed introduction to the metaverse. The concept of the metaverse first appeared in science fiction writer Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel "Snow Crash," describing a virtual world detached from reality. Like the real world, it has specific economic operating rules and individual social interaction methods.

In the movie "Ready Player One," the metaverse is depicted more concretely. In the created virtual world, people can transform into game characters and "live" according to the rules in the game, socializing with anyone. Although the metaverse will feature many mappings of real-world order and rules, it still has enormous "plastic space." Through careful shaping and precise grasp, we can obtain rich experiences in the virtual world that are difficult to obtain in the real world. People's living space and life experiences will inevitably be infinitely extended and broadened. This not only enhances the metaverse's appeal to people but also deepens people's real touch of the metaverse.

Since the metaverse is about building a virtual world that simulates and surpasses reality, it must encompass many application fields. "Metaverse First Stock" Roblox proposed 8 key elements: identity, friends, immersion, low latency, diversity, anywhere, economic system, and civilization, with civilization being the ultimate development direction. Beyond element attributes, the metaverse contains diverse forms of applications covering categories such as artificial intelligence and social communication, which can be roughly summarized as: economy, entertainment, and social modules.

Data source: qkl123

Economy: DeFi, translated as Decentralized Finance, originated as a concept from the crypto-native community. It is essentially a financial system based on blockchain technology, where trading no longer relies on traditional intermediaries. Since 2020, DeFi has experienced explosive growth, with various sectors maintaining high popularity in the crypto market. DeFi has officially become an important part of the crypto market. Today, DeFi applications widely cover lending, payments, decentralized derivatives trading, and other fields, with a market capitalization exceeding $67.7 billion.

Entertainment: The two most important applications in the entertainment sector are NFTs and chain games. NFTs are virtual extensions in the cultural direction. Their diverse artworks such as audio and images are important components of civilization. NFT series like Cryptopunks and Loot were all the rage for a time, with floor prices constantly breaking new highs. Chain games, as applications with eye-catching and money-making attributes, have been favored by various capitals and users. Chain games represented by Axie Infinity have attracted attention in the market. According to Token Terminal data, Axie's single-day revenue has repeatedly exceeded Honor of Kings' average daily revenue. As of the writing of this article, its single-day revenue peak exceeded $17.54 million.

Data source: Token Terminal

Social: The economy and entertainment sectors of the metaverse have both achieved rapid development and market recognition, with applications blooming throughout public chain ecosystems. So, as another important sector of the metaverse—social, how is its development progressing? Will it become the next investment hotspot?

Will Social Be the Next Metaverse Sector Investment Hotspot?

The fundamental purpose of the origin and development of online social networking is to solve communication problems, not to satisfy people's social desires. The reason is that people have shown sufficient talent in social methods, leading to diverse forms of offline social interaction without new social needs. However, with the rapid rise of the internet, while providing convenient life services, it has also cultivated people's dependence on the network. Web 2.0 provided powerful space for communication and interaction, which amplified people's emotional needs. Beyond pursuing fast communication, social needs regarding emotions became a new battleground for various capitals to compete for. Since the metaverse aims to simulate the real world, the operating patterns and rules of modern society are the basic logic and major construction of the ecosystem. As an important sector reflected in all aspects of behavior such as economy and entertainment, the social sector will inevitably receive attention from all parties.

**1.** Metaverse Favored by Capital

This January, IMVU, a 3D character and scene chat software, obtained $35 million in financing led by NetEase. In March, "Metaverse First Stock" Roblox landed on the New York Stock Exchange, with its stock price rising from $45 to $70 on the first day of listing, currently with a market capitalization of nearly $45 billion per share. In April, American game developer Epic Games announced the completion of a new round of financing of $1 billion, with a company valuation of $28.7 billion.

Why is the metaverse favored by capital? The reason is that the market currently generally believes it is one of the next main entry points for internet traffic.

Although the metaverse's development stage is still in its very early stages, and technological maturity and rule consensus still require considerable time to implement, and will inevitably face obstacles from technical hurdles and development bottlenecks, the path of infrastructure construction, forming interaction, and finally completing the benign operation and development of the entire ecosystem is long and difficult. However, the novelty and foresight of its concept have earned it enough attention both inside and outside the crypto market. Known as the "ultimate form of the internet," for internet giant companies whose rapid user growth period has long passed and face development bottlenecks, this is undoubtedly a perfect and brand-new development opportunity.

**2.** Social Internet Giants Join the Metaverse

As early as a few years ago, some companies and institutions began laying out the metaverse. Due to the initial "success" of NFTs and chain games sectors, these giants' determination to join the metaverse wave has been further strengthened. Various platform companies have thrown themselves into the metaverse: Facebook founder Zuckerberg publicly stated "Facebook's future is in the metaverse," launched a VR social platform, and announced that within 5 years, the company will be transformed into a metaverse company. Tencent and other enterprises have applied for metaverse-related trademarks, and acquisitions and fundraising regarding VR are also in full swing.

As mentioned above, social internet giants joining the metaverse indicates on one hand that metaverse social has huge development space, and capital is very optimistic about this sector's prospects, firmly believing that future users and traffic will gather in the metaverse. On the other hand, it also represents that the traditional internet's experience in building and maintaining good social networks will be better applied in the metaverse. Everything is to realize people's beautiful vision of a complete virtual world. Beyond tools and technologies like VR, how to give users more immersion in rule-making, scene construction, and other aspects may be what needs to be considered when attempting metaverse social networks.

**3.** Social Needs and Technological Evolution

When things develop to a certain stage, social interaction will inevitably become a top priority because almost any event involves human relationships, and where there are people, social interaction will inevitably be involved. Similarly, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, people's needs always advance from lower levels to higher levels. After satisfying basic communication needs, people's requirements for social interaction will gradually improve. To meet the continuous development of needs, technology is also constantly evolving. Needs and technology complement each other, both rolling forward with the wheels of history. Therefore, when the metaverse develops to a certain stage, social interaction will inevitably become an important topic.

In fact, Cryptopunks avatars are widely used as social software profile pictures. Their unique characteristics symbolize the holder's identity, which can be described as the initial emergence of social attributes in the metaverse. In "Analysis of the Relationship Between Metaverse, NFTs, and GameFi", first published in the OKX Beginner's Academy, through exploring the relationship between the metaverse, chain games, and NFTs, we found that there are already many cross-relationships, and the three cannot be independently distinguished. For example, chain games map the metaverse ecosystem, game items can also be traded as NFTs, and the same applies to social interaction. When participating in chain games or NFT trading, we are more or less generating social behaviors. Currently, concepts such as social NFTs and social tokens have also emerged. Moreover, in social networks, besides human presence, various item elements such as film and television audio, game exhibits, etc., are also indispensable parts. The social sector will inevitably have thousands of connections with other sectors in its future development process.

Conclusion

Economy first, entertainment follows, social development lags behind. Applications have not yet landed, which is not only limited by current technology but also more complexly involves how to handle the relationships between developers, social platforms, and users, as well as how to perfectly solve privacy issues existing in real internet social interaction. Currently, applications in various metaverse sectors are severely fragmented and have not formed good connections and interactions, making it difficult to create a complete virtual world, and naturally difficult to carry out social attempts. Various problems have not yet been solved, but they are issues that must be considered in the metaverse development process. This clearly puts forward higher requirements for current metaverse participants.

Disclaimer

This article may contain product-related content that is not applicable to your region. This article is intended to provide general information only and does not take responsibility for any factual errors or omissions therein. This article represents only the author's personal views and does not represent OKX's views. This article is not intended to provide any advice, including but not limited to: (i) investment advice or investment recommendations; (ii) offers or solicitations to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins) involves high risk, may fluctuate significantly, and even become worthless. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation. For questions about your specific situation, please consult your legal/tax/investment professional. The information appearing in this article (including market data and statistics, if any) is for general reference only. Although we have taken all reasonable precautions in preparing these data and charts, we assume no responsibility for any factual errors or omissions expressed herein. © 2025 OKX. This article may be reproduced or distributed in full, or excerpts of 100 words or less of this article may be used, provided that such use is non-commercial. Any reproduction or distribution of the entire article must also prominently state: "Copyright © 2025 OKX. Used with permission." Permitted excerpts must cite the article name and include attribution, for example "Article Name, [Author Name (if applicable)], © 2025 OKX". Some content may be generated or assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Derivative works or other uses of this article are not permitted.

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