Meta Platforms’ Vision May Take a “Good Decade” to Materialize

Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) is still betting on the metaverse despite the fading interest in the technology. Nicola Mendelsohn, the company’s head of global business, said while speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF), that it may take a “good decade” to fully realize Meta’s vision. The organizations rebranded in 2021 to shift their focus on virtual worlds.

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“There was a lot of [metaverse] hype a couple of years ago, and we were always playing cautious here, telling people we still see that this is going to take a good decade to get to that full realized vision, and so we still see that we’re on that journey,” Mendelsohn said.

Although there is no official definition of the metaverse, she explained the concept during the event. According to Nicola, “Metaverse is very much the next iteration of the internet, the next computing platform.” She continued, “The real difference here is it’s almost something that you feel a physical presence, you feel that you’re much more immersed in it.”

Usually, Web3 is defined as the next iteration of the internet, a term coined by the creator of Polkadot (blockchain platform), Gavin Wood. It is a decentralized space where people will be able to control their data while centralized entities would be sidelined.

Metaverse has delivered more blows than gains to the company since 2019. According to an October 2023 article by Fortune, a global business magazine, Meta lost $46.5 Billion to virtual worlds, which was more than the revenue of Best Buy, a retail giant.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of  Meta Platforms, said in during an annual showcase event  that, “Pretty soon, I think we’re going to be at a point where you’re going to be there physically with some of your friends, and others will be there digitally as avatars or holograms, and they’ll feel just as present as everyone else.”

Now, the company’s new goal is to develop artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to reach billions of users directly. Zuckerberg told American technology, The Verge, that, “We’ve come to this view that, in order to build the products that we want to build, we need to build for general intelligence.” He added, “I think that’s important to convey because a lot of the best researchers want to work on the more ambitious problems.”

One of the reasons metaverse is likely to take so much time to materialize is the lack of infrastructure. Moreover, most people may not be able to afford the head-mounted displays (HMDs) by companies like Magic Leap, Apple, Microsoft, and more.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in October 2023 that sales forecast for Meta Quest 3 devices declined from 7 Million to 2.5 Million. This also indicates a slower adoption rate for the metaverse and hence, it is possible to take even over a decade for Meta to materialize its vision.

Anurag is working as a fundamental writer for The Coin Republic since 2021. He likes to exercise his curious muscles and research deep into a topic. Though he covers various aspects of the crypto industry, he is quite passionate about the Web3, NFTs, Gaming, and Metaverse, and envisions them as the future of the (digital) economy. A reader & writer at heart, he calls himself an “average guitar player” and a fun footballer.