The metaverse, four years later: Is it finished or just at a standstill?

"Mark Zuckerberg no longer says much about the metaverse. He barely mentions it in interviews, public appearances, or shareholder meetings. This is striking because in October 2021, he presented this new technology of technologies as the future of his company, which he even rebranded as Meta during a period of serious reputational crisis. The metaverse was meant to take the internet to the next stage: move beyond two dimensions to immerse ourselves in a fully virtual world, to step inside the internet itself."

"The tech mogul promised that this new world would generate hundreds of billions of dollars by 2031. Some analysts even speculated that the metaverse business would reach around $800 billion as early as 2024. It now seems clear that those figures were a fantasy. Bloomberg reported last week that the company plans to cut its budget for this venture by 30% next year. The reduction would affect Reality Labs, the division dedicated to long-term projects such as augmented reality glasses (which overlay digital elements onto the real world) and virtual reality headsets."

"In an end-of-year summary on his blog, Andrew Bosworth, head of Reality Labs and one of the people with the most influence over Zuckerberg, mentions the word metaverse only in the last paragraph. Does this mean the metaverse is dead? Should the large budget cut be interpreted as a sign that the project has succumbed to the fierce race to lead in artificial intelligence AI? Some see it that way. Meta itself does not. We are moving some of our metaverse investment toward AI glasses and wearables, given their current success. We do not plan major changes beyond that, Meta sources told EL PAIS."

Mark Zuckerberg rebranded the company as Meta in October 2021 and promoted the metaverse as an immersive next stage of the internet with vast revenue projections. Early forecasts of hundreds of billions, and even figures near $800 billion by 2024, have proven unrealistic. Bloomberg reports a planned 30% budget cut for Reality Labs next year, hitting AR glasses and VR headset projects. Reality Labs leader Andrew Bosworth references the metaverse only briefly in an end-of-year summary. Meta states it will reallocate some metaverse investment toward AI-enabled glasses and wearables and expects no major additional changes. Analysts interpret the cut as a strategic reorientation within digital-capitalist competition.

Read at english.elpais.com