Image source: Getty Images
Comment on the photo,
Many believe that the Metaverse has not achieved the vision that Mark Zuckerberg announced about two years ago
Article informationAuthor, James Clayton Role, North American technology correspondent
7 hours ago
It was the last time the technology world was preoccupied with something completely different, long before the advent of GPT chat.
Do you remember the metaverse?
Metaverse technology has been in the tech news headlines for a while because it’s so breathtaking and attractive that we think it’s worth spending part of our lives inside.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook), was the one leading the speech in support of the Metaverse and its futures.
The technology billionaire showed a great deal of commitment to what he pledged regarding this technology, so much so that he changed the name of his company from “Facebook” to “Meta” in October 2021.
“The distinctive quality of Metaverse is the sense of presence,” Metaverse’s CEO said while announcing the company’s name change.
He added: “The feeling of being present with another person is the ultimate dream of social media technology, and this is the secret behind our focus on building that.”
He continued: “In the Metaverse, you will be able to do anything you imagine.”
In fact, no one could accuse the founder and owner of Meta of lacking ambition.
But two years after announcing the construction of this technology, Zuckerberg’s vision for this transformation is in trouble.
Last April, Meta’s CEO was forced to deny rumors that he had abandoned the idea.
“There’s been rhetoric that we’re going to abandon our focus on the metaverse, so I would just like to stress that that’s not accurate at all,” the visionary of this major technological shift said during a speech to investors at the time.
The company will hold its annual virtual reality conference, entitled “Meta Connect,” next Wednesday.
This conference may give Zuckerberg a new opportunity to explain the justifications he relied on when acquiring a profitable social media company and focusing its attention on an unprofitable virtual reality project.
How unprofitable has this project become?
This may be evident from the dismal numbers of Meta’s recent financial performance.
Reality Labs – which, as its name suggests, is the virtual and augmented reality branch of Meta – has recorded significant losses estimated at about $21 billion since last year.
Part of those losses were for a long-term investment while Meta was not expecting short-term returns. But the worrying fact for the company is that so far there is no evidence that Meta could win the massive bet on the Metaverse.
The “Horizon Worlds” game, launched by Meta, tells a scenario similar to the story of the company building the Metaverse.
Users of this technology can go to different places – such as coffee shops, comedy clubs, nightclubs and basketball courts – to hang out and play games.
Meta claims to have 300,000 Metaverse users per month, a small number compared to the billions of users on the company’s Facebook and Instagram sites.
The total number of registered metaverse users is usually much lower than those actually using the technology.
User complaints in the comments include their suffering from empty worlds in the Metaverse, as they suffer from not having enough people to achieve greater enjoyment. These complaints also point out that even when there are enough people in the metaverse, they are often children.
However, the biggest criticism of the Metaverse is that its designs look so poor that some liken it to the graphics of the 2006 Nintendo Wii video game console rather than the unique virtual reality experience that Zuckerberg promised.
As for the virtual reality headsets produced by Meta, the current technology with which it operates is still far from the vision announced by the company’s president.
Meta has sold about 20 million virtual reality headsets, according to the Verge website, which is a fair number. These headphones, “Quest 2”, also received positive reviews.
But there are many video game consoles that have achieved much more sales than Metaverse headsets.
For example, Sony said that its PlayStation 5 sold 40 million units.
Image source: Getty Images
Comment on the photo,
Zuckerberg may announce more details, including the possibility of playing the “Horizon Worlds” game without virtual reality headsets
However, it should be remembered that Zuckerberg and what he is doing cannot be compared to the success of video game platforms. He wants to revolutionize the way we live and work, and as he says it is a “communication” revolution.
Quite clearly, the reach of virtual reality is still limited and it is not people’s preferred way to play video games. It is certainly not the way most people choose to spend their time, as real life still has a strong appeal that makes it a strong competitor to this technology.
Last July, during a phone call with an investor, someone asked Zuckerberg why he was spending all that money. “Help us understand,” he said.
Zuckerberg said he understood investors’ frustration, admitting: “I can’t guarantee you that I’ll be right on that bet. I think that’s the direction the world is taking.”
Next Wednesday, we expect to hear Zuckerberg trying to breathe new life into a concept that desperately needs oxygen.
We are also expected to hear more about Meta’s new virtual reality headset, “Quest 3,” and we may also hear news about “Horizon Worlds” moving to smartphones and computers (so you won’t have to use a virtual reality headset while playing).
We also expect the unveiling of new artificial intelligence projects.
Without a doubt, we will hear again that the Metaverse is a long-term project – and that we have not seen the real Metaverse yet.
Zuckerberg certainly still believes in this technology – as he expresses with his Meta checkbook.
Last July, Meta’s president said that Reality Labs is expected to record larger losses next year.
Metaverse technology still exists within Meta, while most companies in the world of technology move forward, leaving this station behind.
2023-09-26 19:19:52
#Metaverse #project #progress #launch #BBC #News #Arabic
