You can enable subtitles (captions) in the video player
Remember the Metaverse? It was envisioned as a futuristic realm where we would navigate immersive digital landscapes through personal avatars. However, the initial hype surrounding this concept has faded away, despite Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg rebranding the company as Meta and investing $10bn annually to make it a reality.
Initially, Zuckerberg planned to hire 10,000 Metaverse employees in the EU alone, while luxury brands eagerly jumped on board, anticipating lucrative opportunities in virtual worlds. This enthusiasm propelled valuations of the Metaverse economy to astronomical heights, with Goldman Sachs estimating $8tn and Citi predicting $13tn in value over the next two decades.
Curiously, nowadays, Zuckerberg focuses more on AI and efficiency rather than the Metaverse. Meta’s Reality Labs division, responsible for manufacturing Meta Quest headsets, continues to incur losses, reporting an operating deficit of $13.7bn last year. Moreover, only a small fraction of visitors to their flagship social space, Horizon Workrooms, return as regular users.
In the wake of advertising losses and significant downsizing, Zuckerberg has been compelled to redirect his attention towards Meta’s social media applications. Consequently, the Metaverse now receives only 20% of the company’s investments. Additionally, Zuckerberg’s new text-based service, Threads, seems disconnected from reinforcing the Metaverse, instead targeting rival X (formerly known as Twitter).
This disillusionment extends beyond Facebook. Microsoft abruptly terminated its Metaverse division just four months after its inception, resulting in the layoff of 100 personnel. Disney followed suit by shuttering its own Metaverse division and laying off 50 employees. There remains considerable confusion as to what the Metaverse even represents, compounded by technical hurdles and widespread apathy. Astonishingly, 40% of organizations pay no attention to the Metaverse at all.
Although the virtual real estate platform Decentraland achieved a recent valuation of $1bn, virtual land prices have since plummeted. Nevertheless, Meta maintains its optimism and continues to heavily invest in augmented reality technology, still aspiring to revolutionize people’s lives and shape the future of computing.
However, Apple’s newly released mixed reality headset has seemingly disrupted the Metaverse, ushering in a new era of spatial computing and extinguishing what little investor enthusiasm remained less than two years after its grand unveiling. For those who are still navigating the desolate landscapes of Zuckerberg’s crumbling construct, time may be running out.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
