Fujitsu and Mitsubishi look to create Japanese 'metaverse economic zone'

A group of large Japanese companies — including Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and banking giant Mizuho — agreed to work together to create a "Metaverse Economic Zone" for the country, with the aim of building open metaverse infrastructure. 

The group will be guided by the aim of former Square Enix executive and JP Games CEO Hajime Tabata to "update Japan through the power of games," according to a release. 

Companies that signed the agreement will integrate their technologies and services, including gamification and fintech, to build the technical infrastructure. It is currently called Ryugukoku.

The new social infrastructure will be used for information dissemination, marketing and workstyle reform for domestic enterprises, the release said. Users will be able to engage in an RPG-like experience as they travel through different realms. The service could also be extended beyond Japan to other jurisdictions and governments. 

Mizuho will provide infrastructure for "metaverse coins," Mitsubishi will give capacity for "web3-type metaverse financial functions" and Sompo Japan Insurance will work on insurance and risk policy development for the web3 era. 

The project echoes established players' attempts to create open metaverse infrastructure that allows for interoperability – or the ability to port assets and characters across multiple virtual worlds run by different companies. The Open Metaverse Alliance (OMA) will be governed by a DAO and has been in progress since 2021. The big tech-heavy Metaverse Standards Forum, backed by the Khronos Group, is also attempting to accelerate the adoption of blanket rules for the online space. Its founding members included the likes of Meta and Microsoft.