Personal Note
Hi Everyone đ,
Quite a lot of "brands in The Metaverse news" this week. But maybe the most exciting news is Coinbase launching their own NFT marketplace. If they can make NFTs as accessible as they did to crypto. This might be a big boost to the NFT market.
Thanks also to Marc Bresseel, one of our subscribers including the Metaweek.ly newsletter is his opening keynote speech at The 5th Conference yesterday. And welcome to all the new subscribers following this shout-out đ.
Cheers,
Trends & Game Changers

Can Niantic Unlock the Real-World Metaverse?
Though known best for its breakout hit PokĂŠmon Go, Niantic's true fate may be as an AR platform. Enter Niantic Lightship, which turns PokĂŠmon Goâs architecture into a platform on which others can build geospatial AR experiences.

Shopify Built an Animal Crossing-Esque Video Game for the Office.
Shopify's solution for video fatigue? Building a free-play, internal game where employees have avatars and can race cars, hop on lily pads and run into caves. The game is called Shopify Party, and it's become the commerce platform's go-to way to make meetings, one-on-ones and other work events more fun.

Coinbase Is Launching Its Own NFT Platform to Make NFTs More Accessible to the Masses
Coinbase is readying the launch of an NFT marketplace that will compete with existing major players in the space, like OpenSea, debuting a user waitlist for the desktop product that it hopes to launch by the end of the year.

Twitter Invests in Avatar Economie With Startup Facemoji
Apple is increasingly interested in avatar representations through Memoji, Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be a metaverse company, and platforms like Roblox, where users enter a virtual world and buy accessories for their character, have never been more popular.

NASCAR Driving Into the Metaverse With Immersive Digital Platform
NASCAR to construct a branded digital platform for racing fans, an online experience designed to push the hugely popular circuit into the future Metaverse of interactive immersive experiences.

The BAYC Announced That It Is Working On Issuing a Bored Token
Question, Wen Token? Answer, Soon. The Bored Ape Yacht Club answered one of itsâ members most pressing questions this afternoon, after the club announced that it is looking into issuing a token during the first quarter of 2022.
Facts & Figures

Virtual World Will Surpass Real World If We Donât Do Something About It
BLS announced only 194,000 jobs were created in September, far below expectations. There are still over ten million unfilled jobs across the country, while the total number of employees remains about five million lower than in February 2020. Some of this labor gap will shrink over time as Covid-19 subsides, but there are underlying trends that will delay, and maybe even prevent, a full return to the pre-pandemic labor market if things do not change.