The metaverse, with its virtual-real interaction and cross-border integration, has increasingly become a new engine for the global digital industry to realize the transition. In recent years, the world’s scientific and technological powers have accelerated the layout of the metaverse development road. In this context, South Korea, Japan and the United States are selected as typical cases, and based on the perspective of “idea-goal-measure”, this paper makes an in-depth exploration of their metaverse layout ideas. The research finds that the metaverse layout of different countries is mainly based on their own resource endowment, development goals and governance system, and has different characteristics in terms of ideas, goals and measures. This study provides a reference for China’s future development of the layout of the meta-universe.