At a Wall Street Journal conference, Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming chief and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said that they don’t like the current metaverse.
Spencer called the current metaverse iteration “poorly constructed video games”, referring to its poor graphics and low-quality interfaces.
Microsoft’s gaming chief pointed out that the gaming industry still has an edge over the metaverse when it comes to creating engaging virtual worlds. He also explained that most of the current metaverse projects can be compared to virtual reality rooms meetings.
“Videogame creators are able to create compelling worlds that we would love to spend time in. […] To me, creating a metaverse that looks more like a meeting space is the best way to go. It’s just not where I want it to be.”
Spiegel on the other hand, said that the metaverse experience was like “living in a computer”, and suggested that current iterations are not very advanced and that he wouldn’t enjoy spending too much time there after a long day at work.
He said that Snap is more concerned about minimising hardware and bringing the experience into the real world through Augmented Reality (AR), taking a swipe on the virtual reality hardware trend in the metaverse.
VR creates a virtual world, while AR enhances real-world scenes. AR doesn’t require a headset, but VR does. AR users can contact the real world while VR users can move in a totally fictional world.
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Greg Joswiak, Apple senior vice president for worldwide marketing, said that the metaverse was “a word I won’t use”, reflecting Apple’s preference for AR over VR. Disney CEO Bob Chapek stated that the company does not use the term metaverse because it is too broad. It’s next-generation storytelling for us.”
Metaverse was the next big thing in Web3’s ecosystem at the height of the bull market. Facebook even changed its name to Meta to show that it is determined to be a leader within the new tech ecosystem. The Fortune 500 company has lost $3.67 billion on Meta’s metaverse bet. This was in the third quarter 2022 . These losses are expected to get worse next year.
