On Wednesday 5 April, the European Commission opened a consultation period for future measures to develop a vision for emerging virtual worlds such as the Metaverse that respects digital rights and EU laws.
The Commission believes that the EU virtual worlds ecosystem lacks significant players and that there is not enough investment capacity. “There is a risk of having a small number of big players becoming future gatekeepers of virtual worlds, creating market entry barriers and shutting out EU start-ups and SMEs from this emerging market”, the Commission said.
In order to avoid the problems that could be linked to a few players having control in this field, the Commission would first like to present principles and actions for the empowerment of citizens in virtual worlds.
The focus should also be on developing economic arguments, including how virtual worlds can help boost competitiveness. One part of the debate will be devoted to possible solutions to encourage the adoption of virtual worlds by private and public companies.
The initiative could also include measures in several areas, such as governance models to “ensure EU leadership in virtual worlds development and standardisation” or support for the development of specialist skills.
Read the document: https://aeur.eu/f/69b (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)