Attendees try the new Oculus Go goggles during F8, Facebook's developer conference in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday, May 1, 2018. The Oculus Quest headsets Meta created to access the metaverse aren't a fixture in most homes, businesses haven't shifted operations to the online space en masse and there's an abundance of questions about how safe the technology is and whether it's really needed at all. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Marcio Jose Sanchez
TORONTO – A new report commissioned by Facebook-owner Meta estimates the metaverse could contribute between $45.3 billion and $85.5 billion to Canada’s annual GDP by 2035.
The report prepared by consulting firm Deloitte says the virtual interactive world known as the metaverse could make up 1.3 to 2.4 per cent of the country’s GDP.
Meta has been one of the most prominent companies to place a big bet on the metaverse, which Meta chief executive Zuckerberg has predicted people will use for work and socializing.
Meta and Deloitte’s report says several Canadian companies already use metaverse-like technology to train medical students for surgery and augment the online shopping experience.
As such endeavours broaden, their report suggests the market for augmented and virtual reality technologies will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.5 per cent between 2022 and 2027.
However, an Ipsos study cited in their report found less than one-third of Canadians surveyed feel positive about the metaverse.
