Reality

Increasingly, reality is what you make of it — and what others want your reality to be. Augmented reality, virtual reality and immersive worlds galore have the potential to make any future discussion of social media “filter bubbles” seem quaint. There’s also a potential future where discussions of headsets seem old-fashioned as we might all have a Star Trek “holodeck” in our homes. There is nothing certain about the future. But it’s certainly likely that mixed realities and virtual realities will become more a part of our lives.

In this What the Future: Reality issue, we’ll examine how more people start to take part, what sort of experience will solve the “If you build it, will they come?” problem, whether immersive space will become a safe space for everyone, how we will create our identities, how we will entertain ourselves and where and how we’ll want to experience brands in these spaces.

Be sure to subscribe to the What the Future newsletter for new topics each month. Don’t miss our What the Future: Reality webinar as we lead you through the latest data, panels and insights. Until then, keep reading as the experts in immersive media discuss shifts taking place in AI, virtual reality, the metaverse and “real life” reality, and how they will shape the ways people, society and brands interact and conduct commerce in the future. This first-ever double issue will also explore how immersive realities will shape our actual reality with exclusive research, data and insights. 

• Activision Blizzard, Jonathan Stringfield, author, “Get in the Game” — The missing use case for virtual experiences
• Asher Rapkin, director, global business marketing, emerging platforms, Meta — Why immersive worlds shouldn’t be virtual versions of real life
• Matthew Ball, investor; author, “The Metaverse” — Here’s who should govern the virtual web
• Cathy Li, head of media, entertainment and sports, World Economic Forum — How inclusion can help immersive media scale
• Vera Chien, executive director, corporate research, data & insights, Warner Bros. Discovery — Will viewers cross over to immersive content?
• Josh Shabtai, senior director, ecosystem, Lowe’s Innovation Labs — Getting virtual commerce past ‘If you build it, they will come’
• Lindsey McInerney, co-founder and CEO, Sixth Wall — How brands can fit into new realities
• Andy Carvin, managing editor, Digital Forensic Research Lab, the Atlantic Council — How humans can hold back tech-enabled disinformation

For full results, please refer to the annotated questionnaire.