Overcoming Challenges to Enable the Potential of Metaverse Platforms: A Qualitative Approach to Understand Value Creation

Metaverse is the buzzword of modern society. Practitioners and researchers have discussed metaverse platforms extensively, but the potential and meaning of the metaverse remain controversial. In this paper, we investigate and identify challenges that enable the potential of metaverse platforms. If these challenges are overcome, there will be value creation for practitioners, organizations, and society. We used a qualitative approach whereby we interviewed 34 metaverse experts to identify the challenges, potential, and value associated with the metaverse. Our results demonstrate that technical and societal challenges obstruct the ability to handle user-related and organizational challenges. If these challenges can be overcome, we can use the opportunities that our participants identified to create functional, social, and emotional value. Our work theoretically contributes to current knowledge on metaverse platforms by elaborating on handling metaverse platform ecosystems and determining instrumental challenges in their realization. With our qualitative approach, we provide room and directions for future research to develop a better understanding of the role and meaning of value creation in the metaverse. Our findings are useful to practitioners by presenting challenges organizations must overcome to create metaverse platforms or participate in a metaverse ecosystem. Furthermore, we present opportunities for vendors of metaverse platforms and organizations by identifying relevant processes that can be transferred into the metaverse.