OMA3, an association based in Zug, Switzerland, is announcing a new project called the Spatial Store to enable the open 3D internet. OMA3 is a consortium of the top creator companies in Web3 building standards and infrastructure to enable the user-empowered metaverse.
The 1990s gave rise to the consumer internet, born out of closed systems like Compuserve and AOL. These walled gardens constrained innovation, and the web’s potential was not fully realised until the research community continued to evolve open standards like HTML and HTTP. OMA3, as a non-profit consortium, aspires to do the same for the spatial/3D web as the research community did in the 90s for the 2D web.
In 2023, OMA3 announced the start of work on the Inter World Portaling System (IWPS), the 3D hyperlink for the spatial internet. OMA3 released the initial specification draft for public comment in 2024 and held a public forum on the specification with the Metaverse Standards Forum. OMA3 has now begun work on adjacent technologies to fulfill its mission, the next being the Spatial Store.
OMA3 envisions a spatial store.
The Spatial Store will enable end users to interact with the open spatial internet in its entirety. Users will be able to navigate between virtual worlds in a 3D environment, visit worlds on any platform using IWPS, communicate with friends across the metaverse, and transact using cryptocurrencies such as the OMA token.
The base of the Spatial Store is an application registry that runs on blockchain technology. Instead of submitting applications to an application store, developers “tokenize” their apps on the blockchain. The application registry is a decentralized alternative to the privately controlled servers behind popular application stores today.
Like Netscape Navigator in the 1990s, a Spatial Store “browser” reads and filters applications on the application registry and presents applications to the end consumer. OMA3 intends the Spatial Store browser to be just one of many application “browsers”. In line with this direction, OMA3 intends to open-source the browser so anyone can build their own browser to navigate the same decentralized application registry.
Dirk Lueth, cofounder of Upland and chair of OMA3, said in a statement, “Today’s app stores are limited by design — they only showcase apps built for their platforms. But the metaverse is much bigger than any single ecosystem. With the Spatial Store, we’re bringing the entire metaverse to the user in a way that’s open, cross-platform, and truly immersive.”
Robby Yung, CEO of Investments at Animoca Brands and Vice Chair of OMA3, said in a statement, “Animoca Brands has backed hundreds of Web …