Presented by Identity Digital
The ultimate vision of the metaverse — an immersive environment spanning platforms and connecting the physical and the virtual world, peer-to-peer interactions, transactions, user-generated content and world-building — may not have been fully realized yet. But it’s already guiding consumers expectations, and inspiring brands of every size to experiment with ways to engage younger consumers.
Companies are tapping into organic trends in the gaming and entertainment space that are exciting and meaningful to a generation that lives in an always-online world — among them, embracing non-traditional domain names like .world that reflect the digital future.
“You have no shortage of industries that are trying to tap into what this gaming and mixed reality experience will be,” says Rachel Sterling, CMO of Identity Digital. “It’s not just developers building these immersive experiences, it’s also studios and individual creators. And they’re using non-traditional domain names like .world to take advantage of the creativity on the other side of the dot. They’re using them to demonstrate that they’re cutting-edge, forward-thinking and more modern, when they go beyond the old-fashioned URL.”
Reaching out to the Gen Z .world
“More modern” is a particularly important distinction for organizations interested in wooing new customers. Coming up on the 40th anniversary of the very first registered top-level domain (TLD), those traditional three-letter domain names are still going strong — however, using non-traditional names can help brands stand out from typical URLs.
“They’re more memorable, they stand out in search results, and when you tap into the creativity on the right side of the dot, you can express what’s unique about your brand on the left side of the dot,” Sterling points out. “And there’s just more availability. An organization doesn’t have to compromise on the name it’s picking.”
These TLDs reflect a shift in consumer culture in which streaming experiences have supplanted the old model of content consumption — where Gen X would buy a CD, now there’s Spotify. Where organizations upgraded graphics software packages every few years, now they’re subscribing to Adobe. Where older generations would haunt GameStop to take home the next new release or expansion, today players of every generation are buying Fortnite skins to enhance their play and uplevel their content. New domain names, Sterling says, are a part of that interconnected and inclusive world.
“Gen Z places a premium on authenticity and transparency — they want to ensure that the time they spend is aligned with an inclusive brand that shares their values,” she adds. “A descriptive domain that’s directly aligned with the value you’re providing your customers helps create authenticity and transparency between brand and customer, between content creator and follower or subscriber. And with .world in particular, you’re speaking to that core value of inclusivity when you invite users in.”
The new worlds of dot world
Organizations are taking the .world ball and running with it. For instance, Bungie cofounder Alexander Seropian launched Look North World (looknorth.world), a user-generated content game studio and publisher. The studio recently raised $2.5 million to make games with the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, a self-service platform that lets anyone publish their own Fortnite game islands, and other new creator platforms.
For creators building web3 and blockchain gaming experiences using the ICNX token, there’s Icon.X World (iconx.world). Its GameFi ecosystem helps users build and deploy games with the company’s grants program, community and dev tools.
Meanwhile, fans of the iconic Grand Theft Auto series launched GTA.world as an immersive, collaborative storytelling environment that features all the settings from each of the games, with its own lore and established continuity. Hide and Seek World (hideandseek.world) is an online multiplayer game where users hide somewhere in the world and competitors race to find them, based on street views and other geography clues. Both are using the .world domain to reflect the expansive, connected nature of their platforms.
But wait, there’s more. Identity Digital has seen a 12% year-over-year growth in registrations for .world in 2024, and the pool keeps expanding, through entertainment, global services, social good initiatives and more, because of its flexibility and potential, Sterling says.
“Because it’s been adopted by so many different industries, there’s an opportunity to expand it beyond core verticals,” she explains. “Our initial vision for .world was that it’s great for gaming, developers and content creators building mixed reality experiences. But what we started to see is wider adoption by global businesses, studios and creators.”
“If you’re operating a business with worldwide reach, what better way to indicate that than using a .world domain?” Sterling adds. “You’re planting a flag and saying, I reach all of you. It emphasizes an organization’s global reach, scope and inclusivity.”
How creative TLDs empower brands
“When you’re marketing your brand or your organization, you need to tell a story,” Sterling says. “A story emphasizes the value of your company and your brand, and without it, you’re not going to make anyone care. There’s a creative element to .world that we are excited to support.”
It starts with control — traditional domain names are picked over, and it can be difficult for an organization to secure the domain they want. With .world, because there’s so much availability at this time, you never have to compromise on the personalized URL you need. And finally, new domain names offer incredibly clever branding that stands out in search results (which is especially important today with the frequent changes made to search engine algorithms) and stays top-of-mind — which is also important when you’re amplifying your content in non-traditional formats such as podcasts, TikTok and others.
“Domain names help you align your web address, your internet front door, exactly with your brand.
It also gives you something short, punchy, to the point, and relevant to your industry,” she says. “Once you open up the aperture to consider nontraditional domains, it’s an embarrassment of riches, with so many ways to reflect the value you offer.”
Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. For more information, contact