PlayStation’s Creator Is Not a Fan of The Metaverse

The inventor of the popular video game console PlayStation – Ken Kutaragi – sees the Metaverse as pointless. He is not keen on VR headsets either, calling them “simply annoying.”

‘Being in The Real World Is Very Important’

The Metaverse has quickly become one of the hottest topics, especially after the social media giant Facebook changed its name to Meta at the end of last year.

Despite becoming a trend, the network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection is not an intriguing niche for everyone. One such individual is Ken Kutaragi – the creator of PlayStation and former CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

In a recent interview for Bloomberg, the 71-year-old Japanese argued that the Metaverse is not the next big step in the tech universe. To him, it has rather dividing functions than unifying:

“Being in the real world is very important, but the Metaverse is about making quasi-real in the virtual world, and I can’t see the point of doing it. You would rather be a polished avatar instead of your real self? That’s essentially no different from anonymous messageboard sites.”

Separately, the engineer admitted he is not a fan of virtual reality headsets, either. He believes they could isolate people from reality, and thus they are “simply annoying.”

Who Thinks Differently?

While Kutaragi is against the Metaverse, this is not the case with the world’s largest asset management firm – Grayscale. Not long ago, it envisioned that the niche would be valued at more than $1 trillion in the next few years.

The investment giant outlined that the Metaverse potential is not connected only to the gaming sector but extends far beyond. Advertising, digital events, social commerce, and developer/creator monetization are all aspects incorporated in the industry.

Haim Israel – a strategist at the Bank of America – is also bullish on the matter. In his view, the Metaverse is a tool that would drive the crypto universe towards mass adoption, assuming certain conditions are met:

“I definitely believe this is a massive, massive opportunity. You need the right platforms… that are definitely going to be a big opportunity for this entire ecosystem.”

Israel also thinks the Metaverse is where “we’re going to start using cryptocurrencies as currencies.” Bitcoin, Ether, and the other private digital assets, however, are currently too volatile to fit in this role. As such, stablecoins would probably further evolve as they are pegged to fiat currencies or precious metals, and thus tend to fluctuate a lot less.

Featured Image Courtesy of Aroged