McDonald’s Has Big Plans for the Metaverse: What Does it Mean for You?

McDonald’s, one of the biggest fast-food multinationals in the world, has become the latest giant to demonstrate an interest in joining the metaverse craze after filing trademark applications. The move would allow the company to launch a virtual restaurant and offer digital services/goods to metaverse citizens, bringing more use cases to the growing metaverse ecosystem.

Over the past months, interest in the metaverse has grown rapidly as brands continue to explore how to offer their services in it. Not only have financial giant JP Morgan opened a virtual office in the metaverse but other names like Walmart, Nike, Panera Bread, Gucci, and many more have also announced their own plans.

The metaverse is considered to represent a $1 trillion opportunity by many investors, it is not surprising that brands around the globe are racing to establish a presence on it. With the barrier between real and digital becoming increasingly thin by the day, users are already getting ready to participate in what promises to be the future… And McDonald’s is counting on it. 

While the metaverse has gained popularity over the past year, there are still a lot of misunderstandings on what it entails. Despite the rapid growth in popularity, the concept of “Metaverse” has been around since 1992, more than 30 years ago!

The metaverse was first referred to by American author Neal Stephenson in his science-fiction novel by the title of “Snow Crash” and has been around ever since. In his novel, Stephenson described the metaverse as the successor of the internet, which operated as a virtual world that users could access via portable terminals and interact with just as the real world.

The idea of such a world has already been made popular by movies and TV shows like “Tron”,” Ready Player One”, “Log Horizon”, “Sword Art Online”, and many more. While usually associated closely with gaming, the truth is that the metaverse encompasses much more. 

The original concept of the metaverse was bound to the laws of physics just like in real life, with users even having to walk or use monorails to commute in the virtual world, as well as similar constraints you would see in everyday life. However, the concept of metaverse has evolved to represent a virtual world in which users can live a second digital life. If you have ever heard of games like “Second Life” you are familiar with the concept of the metaverse but not its range.

Unfortunately, agreement on what the metaverse actually entails is non-existent as everyone seems to have their own idea of the requirements a platform must fulfill. The idea of metaverse can range from that of an open world like” Second Life” to that of movies like “The Matrix”, in which it is indistinguishable from reality. Which concept is applied, depends entirely on the company or expert you ask.

If you are a gamer, the idea of the metaverse might not be that unfamiliar to you. While we already mentioned Second Life, other games like Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, and Minecraft have already created what many consider the precursors of the metaverse. These games have seen the creation of complex economic systems, social interactions, and high degrees of freedom, with players hosting anything from weddings to burials in them.

Now, by increasing the level of interaction with the real world, these open worlds have the potential to become much more interactive and “useful”. This is because it is not only companies like McDonald’s joining the metaverse, very soon we could see the same brands and stores you would expect to visit in a mall while also gaining access to all of their services.

While McDonald’s hasn’t openly discussed its future plans, the 10 trademark applications filed by the companies provide a general idea of what we can expect. These applications cover both the McDonald’s and McCafe brands, allowing them to offer services and goods in the metaverse.

By filling these applications, McDonald’s would be able to participate in the metaverse in different manners. This includes the offering of:

• “Virtual food and beverage products. Downloadable multimedia files containing artwork, text, audio and video files and non-fungible tokens”
• “Operating a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods, operating a virtual restaurant online featuring home delivery”
• “Online retail services featuring virtual goods”

Some of the trademarks also show that the company is not planning to limit itself to using the metaverse as a medium of selling NFTs or delivery services. Take application #97253767 as an example, which would allow McCafe to offer “Entertainment services, namely, providing on-line actual and virtual concerts and other virtual events”. 

What Does This Means for McDonald’s Customers?

As the review process is likely to take over 6 months, McDonald’s won’t be able to start operating in the metaverse immediately. However, everything seems to indicate that the applications are likely to be approved, according to what trademark lawyer Josh Gerben told Forbes. The lawyer referred to the implications of the applications by tweeting:

“These trademark filings are made to protect the idea of a McDonald’s restaurant in the metaverse that can sell you “virtual” food, or, real food (that would be delivered to you).”

This means that a user who wanted to order food while on the metaverse would be able to do so directly from the virtual restaurant without having to interrupt their experience. While this might sound like something simple enough, ordering in the metaverse wouldn’t only make the process simpler and faster but also allow the company to interact with its customers in new ways.

The inclusion of NFT-baked goods also suggests that McDonald’s could establish partnerships with other projects if it plans to make them available in a widespread manner. While NFTs are mostly used for the distribution of collectibles, their potentials in the metaverse could go beyond that. 

McDonald’s has established partnerships with e-sports organizations and video game titles like FaZe Clan, GenG, Pokemon Go, and League of Legends. This has cemented its reputation as a brand that constantly monitors the pop culture, gaming, and entertainment worlds to provide its customers with new events and benefits. NFTs represent a unique means to do this, especially as gamers are the most likely to become power users of the metaverse.

It is easy to underestimate the potential that the metaverse holds due to how most of its development has been depicted. While it is true that most depictions of the metaverse in movies and existing platforms show it from a perspective based purely on entertainment, there is much more to it. In fact, most of the work being done on developing the metaverse at this time is focused on bringing other applications to the open digital worlds we have grown used to.

Nvidia, known as the leader in the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) industry, is working on developing what it calls the omniverse: A version of the multiverse specifically designed for engineers. Launched in August 2021, Nvidia’s platform shows the applications that the metaverse could have from a business perspective by facilitating collaboration and simulation.

Ever since the COVID19 pandemic stroke, businesses around the world have started transitioning toward hybrid and remote work models, which have resulted in the fragmentation of remote teams. The metaverse has offered a solution for these companies by providing a means for team members to interact remotely. This type of application of the metaverse has seen companies like Microsoft launched their own platforms in an attempt to make collaboration easier.

With the metaverse relying on brands, businesses, service providers, and users to generate engagement, it is not a surprise that a lot of money is at stake. Many experts have predicted that working on the metaverse could be the future, an idea that has been already implemented in games like Second Life but would benefit greatly from the additional features of metaverse platforms.

While online sales represented 17.8% of all retail sales in 2020, this percentage increased to 19.6% in 2021. This trend, which has been taking place since 2015, is expected to continue over the next 3 years. As e-commerce continues to gain relevance in the future, technologies like the metaverse will prove instrumental by providing consumers with some of the benefits of brick-and-mortar stores.

By bringing an additional level of reality to the shopping experience, industries that have struggled to integrate online shopping could gain fast adoption. For example, fashion brands would benefit from providing their users with a means to try clothes in a virtual environment, reducing operational costs, and providing consumers with a better experience.

The effect that the metaverse will have on society will be as big as that the internet had when it became mainstream: No matter if you are ready for it or not, you will eventually need to make it part of your life. Fortunately for everyone, it promises to make goods, services, and interactions more accessible by getting closer to real life.