August 30, 2002 | Mike Fischer | Senior Advisor – Games, VR, AI
There seems to be cohort of metaverse haters who leap on any bad news (usually from Meta) to pronounce the metaverse is dead. It reminds me of these days…
…or the reaction when Amazon started rolling out AWS.
Most new ventures fail, so the best way to have an accurate prediction rate is to predict everything will fail. I guess these investors are still holding on to their stock in Sears and Chrysler.
Some of the metaverse evangelists annoy even me (especially Mark Zuckerberg), but to judge the potential of this world-changing trend based on the limited performance of today’s devices is ridiculous. First, the tech has already made amazing progress in the last five years. I know because I’ve owned them all. Can you imagine judging today’s internet experience based on your dial-up connection experience in 1992? Second, there is no reasonable way to expect that the internet has reached its optimal user experience. Mouse/keyboard and monitor, or a handheld mobile touchscreen with so-so voice recognition is it? I don’t think so.
Interface devices will continue to become lighter, easier to use, and have higher fidelity. Photo-realistic avatars, full-body tracking, and realistic facial expressions will be coming soon. Connectivity anywhere and everywhere will just keep getting better. Social media will become even more realistic and real-time. Furthermore, younger users have become comfortable with virtual goods, virtual relationships, and virtual worlds. This is natural for them.
The metaverse haters can continue to post their concerns to out-of-date media like emailed newsletters and grumpy Facebook posts. The rest of the world will leave them behind.