This article is part of a series exploring the key themes from the Metaverse Roadmap 2007—a foresight exercise conducted nearly two decades ago by a group of developers, technologists, and futurists from the games industry.
One of the biggest takeaways from the Metaverse Roadmap was that virtual and augmented realities were on a collision course, and that eventually, the distinction between the two would become irrelevant.
But if we’re being honest, we didn’t get it quite right. We originally framed virtual worlds and augmented reality as distinct ideas, but even then, we knew they were two sides of the same coin.
What we didn’t fully anticipate was how game technology would become the common denominator across industries, blurring the lines between entertainment, simulation, commerce, and the physical world itself.
Game Tech As The Key Driver
From the beginning, we understood that video games were more than just entertainment—they were the testing ground for the technologies that would power the future of immersive computing. The Metaverse Roadmap anticipated that game engines, real-time graphics, and simulation technology would become foundational to industries far beyond gaming.
Unreal Engine, Unity, and NVIDIA’s real-time rendering tech → What started as tools for game development are now standard in film production, architecture, automotive design, and digital twins.
Digital health and digital therapeutics → Game-based simulations are driving physical therapy, mental health treatment, and VR-based cognitive rehabilitation.
The defense and aerospace industries → Real-time 3D engines are powering military simulations, drone training, and next-gen battlefield visualization.
What was once game tech has become the tech that underpins multiple trillion-dollar industries. And while that shift happened faster than we predicted, we knew from the start that games would be the vanguard of technological adoption.
The Infrastructure Powering This Shift
The increasing demand for real-time, high-fidelity digital environments has pushed cloud computing, distributed rendering, and decentralized infrastructure to the forefront.
The ability to simulate digital worlds with real-world complexity is no longer confined to entertainment—it’s becoming fundamental to industrial applications, smart cities, and AI-driven virtual spaces.
Example projects from the current Greenstone portfolio include MetaGravity’s work on large-scale simulation infrastructure with a vision of creating a DePIN SuperComputer, and our own Greenstone RWA’s work around the concept of the ‘Owner Champion’ approach to real-world asset tokenization and ownership layers. But these are just a few among many projects exploring how the computational and economic backbone of digital spaces is being redefined.
The broader trend is clear: as demand for shared, persistent digital environments grows, so does the need for scalable, open, and sustainable infrastructure. And as these systems evolve, the distinction between fully virtual and augmented spaces becomes increasingly irrelevant.
Games Are the Driver of Web3 Adoption—Again
Another area where we underestimated the roadmap’s predictions is in wallet adoption and digital commerce. While we recognized the importance of virtual economies, we didn’t fully grasp how games would lead the charge in Web3 adoption, digital asset ownership, and real-world financial integration.
Game-based digital wallets have onboarded more users to blockchain than any other sector.
In-game economies have pushed the boundaries of crypto adoption far beyond speculative trading.
Game developers are pioneering on-chain identity, microtransactions, and interoperable assets, forcing the financial industry to rethink digital value exchange.
If you want to understand where consumer adoption of new technologies is heading, look at games. They’ve consistently been the proving ground for new interfaces, new payment systems, and new interaction models—and they remain at the forefront today.
Virtual & Physical Are No Longer Separate—They Are the Same System
The convergence of game tech, decentralized infrastructure, and immersive simulations means that virtual and physical no longer exist as separate categories.
The Metaverse Roadmap was right about where things were going, but we were too rigid in our distinctions between digital and physical reality. Today, we see that spatial computing, AI-driven simulations, and decentralized infrastructure have made those distinctions irrelevant.
Whether you’re building an industrial digital twin, running an AI-driven city simulation, or playing an open-world game, it’s all part of the same system—one that is shaping how we work, interact, and build the next phase of the internet.