A Japanese brokerage firm celebrating its 120th anniversary is giving employees to channel their inner Buzz Aldrin on a virtual moon landing in the metaverse.

Japan's Daiwa Securities Group has created a metaverse for its employees where they can interact with each other in the metaverse as part of a virtual moon landing experience, according to a «Bloomberg» (behind paywall) report on Wednesday.

Enterprise, venture capital, and private equity firms are seeing the potential and investing heavily, to the tune of over $120 in the metaverse this year. That's more than double the $57 billion invested all of last year, according to a report from McKinsey. The overall market could be worth over $5 trillion in a decade.

Worker Interaction

For Daiwa, part of the aim is education, but mainly it is to encourage workers to interact and bond with one another, the Bloomberg report said, citing Chiharu Mori, a director of human resources. In addition, it allows employees to learn about the technology.

Swiss bank Julius Baer is also harnessing the metaverse, earlier this year offering its own video game where candidates can take the «Be Baer Challenge» in the metaverse.

Virtual Moon

In its virtual moon metaverse, the firm's more than 15,000 worldwide employees can manipulate their avatars on the virtual moon, while enjoying a digital beer. They are also able to listen to a speech from CEO Seiji Nakata in a theater and tour the company's former headquarters. No mention was made of whether they saw Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin on the virtual moon, however.

Daiwa opened the space this week for employees and staff to celebrate the company's 120th anniversary, which predates the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air flying machine by the Wright Brothers.

Giant Leap

From those early days before the powered flight to interacting with colleagues on a virtual moonwalk is indeed «A giant leap», as Armstrong famously said on July 20, 1969, when he and Aldrin become the first earthlings to walk on another, non-virtual, world.

For the potential of the metaverse, a quote from another Buzz comes to mind. That of Star Command's «Buzz Lightyear»: 

«To infinity and beyond!»