Remember back in January when SpatialOS developer Improbable released a poll that asserted that a large number of gamers and game devs believed a metaverse would be populated within ten years? Remember also that Improbable called itself “a full-stack service provider for any company seeking to launch, or participate in, a metaverse project,” likely with a knowing smirk? Consider that marketing-styled poll to be all but confirmed now, as Improbable has announced the creation of M² (MSquared), which is described as “a network of interoperable Web3 metaverses powered by its Morpheus technology.”
“The M² network will combine Improbable Morpheus technology with new services designed to support interoperability, commerce in digital assets and governance in Web3. It will bring together companies, existing communities and fans in sports, music, fashion and entertainment and enable them to interact in dense virtual spaces with unprecedented fidelity. The network is being designed to support integration with existing worlds as well as new projects. Improbable has established M² as a distinct entity to better enable governance in partnership with other businesses and eventually with its community.”
The nods to Morpheus technology is noted in the announcement as the evolution of SpatialOS, which reportedly can support over 10,000 players in one densely packed area and process over 350 million communication operations per second. The rest of the announcement is the text version of financial institutions dragging their saliva-coated forked tongues across their jagged teeth in ravenous glee, while Improbable has managed to raise $150M USD to make M² happen.
We note here that Improbable making things happen in relation to its SpatialOS tech has been an exception and not the rule: We haven’t seen many SpatialOS titles release, but we have seen some shutter, including Nostos and Worlds Adrift, while Zenith is still online (the upcoming Fractured Online is also using SpatialOS but is yet to fully launch). Otherwise, the history of SpatialOS is littered with titles that failed to launch outright, fell completely off of the radar, or otherwise dropped the tech.
