We thus examine eight enabling technologies rigorously - Extended Reality, User Interactivity (Human-Computer Interaction), Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Computer Vision, IoT and Robotics, Edge and Cloud computing, and Future Mobile Networks. First, technologies are the enablers that drive the transition from the current Internet to the metaverse. This survey paper presents the first effort to offer a comprehensive framework that examines the latest metaverse development under the dimensions of state-of-the-art technologies and metaverse ecosystems, and illustrates the possibility of the digital `big bang'. While the metaverse may seem futuristic, catalysed by emerging technologies such as Extended Reality, 5G, and Artificial Intelligence, the digital `big bang' of our cyberspace is not far away. At the core of the metaverse stands the vision of an immersive Internet as a gigantic, unified, persistent, and shared realm. The term `metaverse' has been coined to further facilitate the digital transformation in every aspect of our physical lives. Such virtual environments, albeit non-perpetual and unconnected, have bought us various degrees of digital transformation. We have created various computer-mediated virtual environments including social networks, video conferencing, virtual 3D worlds (e.g., VR Chat), augmented reality applications (e.g., Pokemon Go), and Non-Fungible Token Games (e.g., Upland).
Since the popularisation of the Internet in the 1990s, the cyberspace has kept evolving.