{"id":4146,"date":"2023-08-31T09:24:08","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T09:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/2023\/08\/31\/whatever-happened-to-the-metaverse\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T11:05:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T11:05:58","slug":"whatever-happened-to-the-metaverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/2023\/08\/31\/whatever-happened-to-the-metaverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Whatever happened to the metaverse?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been about 2 years since the Metaverse was announced by Mark Zuckerberg. We spent a year or more following the announcement getting asked over and over again – What do we need to do about the Metaverse?<\/p>\n

Some more adventurous clients ran projects with us where we explored the possibilities and planned campaigns or experiences that they might offer users in this new digital space, and it felt like a very exciting opportunity.<\/p>\n

Sadly, a couple of years on, it\u2019s rare to even be reminded of its presence, let alone be running exciting campaigns.\n<\/p>\n

So what exactly is the Metaverse?<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s a virtual space, a bit like an online game, where people can socialise, play or interact with brands. The Metaverse launch created a lot of hype, and promised to revolutionise day to day life. It looked to be the future of entertainment, social media and everything in between.<\/p>\n

A big ask right? That requires a big budget. Meta reported losses of around $10bn in its \u2018Reality Labs\u2019 division in 2021 while developing the Metaverse and a further $13.7bn in 2022. This is no hobby project, it\u2019s a seriously chunky investment by Meta, one that shareholders have been shaken by, and one that\u2019s cause Zuck\u2019s number 2, Sheyl Sandberg, to step down \u2013 she \u201cwanted no part of it\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

With all that investment it must be working right?<\/h2>\n

Well, Horizon Worlds, the game at the centre of this new digital revolution is estimated to have around 200 thousand active players per month<\/strong>, and reports are that that number is shrinking.<\/p>\n

As a comparison, Second Life \u2013 remember that? – The similar digital world style game that celebrates its 20th birthday this year. Well it\u2019s still boasting 200,000 DAILY users, and estimated that creators in Second Life earned more than $80m from the platform\u2019s economy last year.<\/p>\n

We can certainly see that search interest in the Metaverse has also petered out \u2013 actually according to Google trends there were comparatively more searches for Second Life than Metaverse back in July.<\/p>\n

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For perspective \u2013 Fortnite, a game that some lump into the \u201cmetaverse\u201d category has an average of over 200 million users per month.<\/p>\n

So what does Meta say about all this?<\/h2>\n

Well Meta\u2019s VP of the Metaverse, Vhisal Shahm has recently said that \u201cThe metaverse hype is dead\u201d<\/a>. He explains that Horizon Worlds is focused on user retention\u2014not growth, but without large user numbers surely this only last so long?<\/p>\n

Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s focus seems to have been taken away from the Metaverse, in particular recently annoying Elon Musk with Threads, and rivalling ChatGPT, Microsoft BingChat, and Google\u2019s Bard with an AI language model called LLaMA 2.<\/p>\n

If we haven\u2019t already, is now the time to forget about the Metaverse?<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s hard to say. As of right now, I don\u2019t seem to have much more to say about it than 2 years ago. It\u2019s certainly not revolutionised anything on my end, or for any of our clients.<\/p>\n

One of the big challenges for me is the entry point. Playing Horizon Worlds requires an VR headset, that might set you back \u00a3300-\u00a32000. If you\u2019re the type to already have a headset like this then is Horizon worlds really the thing you\u2019re going to play?<\/p>\n

Experts are estimating that the VR Hardware market is expected to grow in the coming years, and penetration is expected to reach 1.7% by 2027<\/a> . More tech in more homes, means more potential Metaverse users. But is that going to be enough?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve recently had Apple\u2019s announcement about their foray into this space too, and we know typically when they make a play, adoption is likely to become more mainstream, but even their product \u2013 the vision pro \u2013 best described as a scuba mask with a battery pack, doesn\u2019t seem particularly accessible at a minimum entry point of $3500.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t see how any of this is going to significantly increase uptake on the Metaverse. Horizon Worlds needs to up its game to stay relevant.<\/p>\n