Building a Responsible Metaverse Between August and September 2022, Accenture conducted a two-part global study spanning 19 countries and 17,500 respondents to understand consumer perceptions of the metaverse (both extended reality and web3). The results revealed that consumers care about more than just the front-end experience and that organizations must dig deeper to earn their trust. Three key findings emerged from the study: 1. Respondents indicated that safety, security and privacy were the most important elements. This was consistent across age group, gender and geography. 2. The metaverse is at a fork in the road when it comes to trust. Just over half of respondents believe the metaverse will be the same as social media in terms of securing consumers’ data, concern for respondents—nearly 60% of consumers cited convergence of technologies in the metaverse tech stack protecting their safety and ensuring their privacy. “strong security and data protection capabilities” as a top factor brings new challenges. The framework is characterized The other half is about equally split on whether when selecting NFT marketplaces.2 by eight dimensions that we believe are fundamental to 1 the metaverse or social media will be worse. building both trusted and human-centric experiences in the To earn and maintain users’ trust, companies must make metaverse. It is relevant to every organization—big or small, 3. The underlying ethos of crypto (e.g., sense of a complex array of questions and trade-offs related to private or public—and applies to builders, enablers and users decentralization, transparency) is technology, policy, ethics and business strategy. Companies alike. not the driver of consumer interest in will also have to apply past lessons to entirely new paradigms cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Consumers ranked around data, ownership and governance. Finally, we identify six major emerging challenges and explain potential financial value 4x more important than why these matter, as well as what organizations should the ethos of crypto. This aligns with our finding The following sections present a framework to guide consider as they enter the metaverse. that scams and other security threats are a top responsible innovation in the metaverse, particularly as the 4 4