MGM Resorts M life "Convergence" vs. "Metaverse" Convergence
Preview of PARQOR Member Mailing #273
MGM Resorts inspired the PARQOR Hypothesis, & offers valuable precedent for understanding "Metaverse"-type online/offline convergence in media
A lack of transparency has become a feature, and not a bug, of the OTT streaming marketplace.
The more often Disney, WarnerMedia and Apple TV tell us that new series are setting new records but without any data, or when a Netflix executive casually dilutes a success story like?6 Underground?in?an interview with Variety, it becomes objectively less appealing to imagine where the OTT marketplace is headed. Each player seems like they have too much to hide.
Without transparency, how do we think about the future of media in the streaming marketplace?
There are few, if any, good answers.
I think this is one reason why the concept of the Metaverse is capturing more of the collective imagination about the future of media than streaming is.
But, the Metaverse is still a?concept, or “a wide set of protocols, technology, tubes and languages, plus access devices and content and communication experiences atop them”, as essayist Matthew Ball has?described?it.
It was a vaguely defined, guiding concept for the Internet in 1992, and it is still a vaguely defined, guiding concept in 2021. That’s the point of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s tweet, above.
There is now more of an overarching business?logic?to the concept in 2021 than in 1992 with both cloud computing and DTC business models driving the gaming industry towards “Metaverse”-type models (e.g.,?Epic Games). But, beyond gaming there is still not much business?substance?to it,?especially?in legacy media.
The appeal of the concept is convergence: how will gaming, music, streaming, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and e-commerce drive the convergence of digital and physical worlds, private and public networks/experiences, and open and closed platforms?
More importantly, what will this convergence look like operationally and strategically?
I like?The PARQOR Hypothesis?and the?IAC Q2 2020 Shareholder Letter?as helpful baselines for answering this question. Because IAC’s rationale for investing in MGM Resorts in August 2020 was?not?to build a Metaverse.
Rather, the rationale was “to build great interactive businesses and compound capital for our shareholders", and MGM has a rare but clear opportunity to deliver on that promise.”
This has been a preview of this week’s Member Mailing.
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