Is the metaverse dead? Meta may cut up to 30% of metaverse group's budget
Bloomberg reported today that Meta (read: Facebook) is "considering potential budget cuts as high as 30% for the metaverse group next year." That's the same group behind the Quest VR headsets and the online VR game Horizon Worlds. During its annual budgeting sessions, CEO Mark Zuckerberg usually asks execs to identify 10% in cuts, but "the metaverse group was asked to cut deeper this year given that Meta has not seen the level of industry-wide competition over the technology that it once expected."
Now, we're old enough to remember when Zuckerberg went all in on the metaverse in 2021. He, uh, even changed the company's name.
But the next year, ChatGPT came out and captured everyone's attention. To Zuck's point, since then, we've seen few VR or augmented reality launches outside Meta...and even it seems quite focused on AI. (Is another name change in order?)
Matthew Ball's 2022 book The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything was pretty clear-eyed about the technological, logistical, and financial challenges of creating a viable metaverse that consumers will demand.
So: Do you think the metaverse idea is dead, or just on pause?
Replies
Honestly, I don't think the metaverse is dead, it just grew slower than the hype. Personally, I still believe VR will matter long-term but AI stole the spotlight. I'm more focused on tools that help me work today, not distant promises. Still keeping an eye on both.
someone in my circle bought a Quest headset last year, and usage is still mostly niche. It’s not mainstream yet.
minimalist phone: creating folders
I think that this can be a long term project but it is true that when there was NFT, Web 3.0 hype, we trusted the potential more.