With the Dubai Metaverse Strategy aiming to increase the sector’s contribution to the emirate’s economy to $4 billion by 2030, it is clear that the metaverse business is booming in Dubai.
In fact, given the MENA region’s abundance of creative talent, it is no wonder that UK-based World’s Online Festival (WOLF), which focuses on digital events, is focusing on the region in its expansion.
The company established its regional headquarters in Amman, Jordan, in 2017 with employees extending throughout the GCC and the wider MENA region, according to its CEO Gary Knight.
“Our vision has always been to foster a vibrant community through live audio entertainment, performances, and chat. Even though we are a UK-based startup, we have always been aware of the immense talent and creativity within the MENA region which provided the perfect opportunity and product-market fit for WOLF,” said Knight.
“Over the years, we’ve come to understand and appreciate the regional demographic’s desire to create content, perform, and express themselves online in virtual ways, particularly through Arabic content.
Although the MENA region is home to an extraordinary ecosystem of content creators, they face limited opportunities to take centre stage in the real world.
“The region is continuing to diversify, with the entertainment needs of their growing young adult populations only expanding. This attractive market gives us a chance to understand the region and cultural requirements and build our offering to have an authentic Arabic feel – made by the community, for the community,” he continued.
In practical terms, a regional presence means the start-up is able to offer a fully localised experience for MENA, rather than just translate text from English to Arabic.
“We believe that MENA-orientated social mobile apps have amazing potential in the region for engagement and revenue,” said Knight.
“As a UK-based company, we’ve spent considerable resources and time understanding the culture, and ensuring communication with consumers in the region is optimal. This necessity led us to increasing our resources locally,” he said.
“Hiring qualified regional talent allowed us to diversify our offering by providing a variety of perspectives and insights on the Arabic-speaking world. In addition, we spent a substantial amount of time learning the local business requirements and laws in order to comply with them,” Knight continued.
With its new feature, Showreel, WOLF is providing its users to stream 3D metaverse videos, the next step being “to create 3D immersive worlds so that viewers can not only watch these metaverse gigs, but also immerse themselves in them,” explained Knight.
“They will be able to generate their own digital venue, selecting from a variety of 3D festival stage environments, and perform, or host other performers on their own stage. Through this, entertainers such as poets, comedians, and singers will be able to receive real-time interaction and rewards from the audience,” he continued.
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