Mark’s Meta Loses Interest in Metaverse
ChatGPT was too shiny, and Mark just had to have it.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has been hyping up the metaverse for months as the future of social media and technology.
But it seems that the company has quietly given up on its ambitious vision of creating an immersive virtual world where people can interact with each other using specialized glasses and virtual reality headsets.
According to various reports, Meta has been cutting jobs, rescinding offers, flattening its structure, and shifting its focus to artificial intelligence (AI) instead of the metaverse.
ChatGPT was too shiny, and Mark just had to have it.
The company has also seen a decline in revenue from its Reality Labs division, which houses its metaverse projects.
So what went wrong with Meta’s metaverse dreams? And what does this mean for the company and its users?
Note: As a developer on three separate Metaverse projects in the last two years, I can say that the industry is tough and struggling to find product market fit. Consumers just are not ready for Metaverse.
The Metaverse Was a Fad
Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in October 2021 that he was renaming his social media empire as Meta Platforms, or Meta for short, to reflect his vision of building the metaverse.
It made Metaverse-related cryptos do really well. I remember the day clearly, it was around Halloween, and my Sandbox (SAND) tokens pumped incredibly well from around $0.60 to $5 a coin. What a ride!
So what did Mark say?
He described the metaverse as “a virtual environment where you can be present with people in digital spaces” and “an embodied internet that you’re inside of rather than just looking at”.
Zuckerberg invested billions of dollars in developing hardware and software for the metaverse, such as Oculus VR headsets, Ray-Ban smart glasses, Horizon Worlds social universe, and Spark AR platform.
He also acquired several companies specialising in virtual, augmented, and gaming.
The Results Weren’t There
However, Meta’s metaverse products failed to attract users and generate revenue. According to an earnings report, revenue from Reality Labs fell 51% to $285 million in the third quarter of 2021, which was the company’s lowest revenue from the metaverse business in at least eight quarters³.
Reality Labs also recorded a cumulative loss of nearly $24 billion in 2021 and 2022.
One of the reasons for the poor performance of Meta’s Metaverse products was the lack of consumer demand and interest.
I said it! People just are not ready for Metaverse. It’s sad because I’ve been working on some pretty cool stuff and know many great developers making amazing environments.
Way better stuff than we saw from Meta.
Check it out.
Many people found Meta’s vision of the metaverse unrealistic, dystopian, or creepy.
Some critics dubbed Zuckerberg “Zuck the Fourteenth”, a reference to the French king Louis XIV who was known for his hubris and excess.
Others mocked Horizon Worlds as a low-quality video game that offered nothing new or exciting.
Another reason for the failure of Meta’s metaverse products was the competition from other tech giants and startups that were also pursuing their own versions of the metaverse.
For example,
- Microsoft launched Mesh, a platform that allows users to collaborate in mixed reality.
- Roblox created a popular online gaming platform that hosts millions of user-generated worlds.
- Epic Games continued to develop Unreal Engine, a powerful tool for creating realistic 3D environments.
Meta also faced regulatory and legal challenges that hampered its metaverse ambitions.
Several governments and agencies sued the company for antitrust violations, privacy breaches, content moderation issues, and whistleblower allegations.
The company also faced backlash from users and advertisers who were unhappy with its policies and practices.
AI Is the New Shiny Thing
As Meta realized that its metaverse dreams were not paying off, it decided to pivot to a new direction: AI.
In February 2023, Zuckerberg announced that he was creating a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI.
Generative AI is a branch of AI that can create new content or data based on existing data or models.
Zuckerberg said that generative AI would enable Meta to build creative and expressive tools and AI personas to help people in various ways.
He also said that generative AI would be integrated with Meta’s existing products and platforms.
Some examples of generative AI that Meta has been working on include:
- ChatGPT competitors
- Reels using generative AI for content creation
- FaceSwap to create realistic and fun images
- StyleGAN creates stunning and artistic images
Meta hopes that generative AI will help it regain its competitive edge and innovation in the tech industry.
The company also believes that generative AI will improve user experience and engagement by offering more personalized and creative options.
There are Dangers
However, generative AI also comes with its own challenges and risks. For instance, generative AI can be used to create fake or misleading content, such as deep fakes, that can harm people’s reputations or security.
Generative AI can also raise ethical and moral questions about the ownership and authorship of the generated content.
The Future of Meta
Meta’s shift from the metaverse to AI shows that the company is willing to adapt and change its strategy according to market trends and consumer demands.
But Meta’s from the metaverse to AI also shows that it is like a kid who gets bored of his toys and wants something new and shiny.
But it also means that the kid is not very good at sticking to his plans or finishing his projects.
Meta’s metaverse toys are still lying around in the corner, collecting dust and waiting for someone to play with them.
But they are not the kid’s favourite anymore.
Meta’s AI toys are cool and fun, as they can do amazing things and make the kid happy.
But they are also dangerous and scary, as they can break or hurt the kid or others.
The kid must be careful and smart when playing with his AI toys.
He must also be nice and honest to his friends, family, teachers, and rivals.
Meta’s future will depend on how well he can play with his toys without making a mess or getting into trouble. It will also depend on how well he can share his toys and make others happy too.
Translation, Meta’s future will depend on how well it can balance its innovation and responsibility in developing and deploying its products. It will also depend on how well it can regain its trust and reputation among its users, advertisers, regulators, and competitors.
