RIP Metaverse

stein@opensky

This is the time of year when every self-respecting consultancy company makes predictions for the year to come (i.e. 2026 just now at the start gate) – and, in addition, CES is ongoing as we speak – so more tech news announcements can be expected soon as well. I will not try to predict much myself now – but rather than writing long articles about specific themes (which I have done too often recently), I am issuing a set of short commentaries about various topics that have triggered or still trigger me. Here is a very short commentary on the Metaverse.

I commented on the Metaverse already after the GSMA Mobile World Congress in 2022 (here and here). (after Mark Zuckerberg went all in on it in 2021) but noting it mostly as hype. At the time, the Metaverse was the new buzzword that was positioned as a new battleground, but from my perspective it was only an idea about a possible future of mixed reality and digital assets – with nothing concrete yet.

Recently (before Christmas) I just noticed that Zuckerberg had decided to cut down on Metaverse spending. According to IT Strategy, “Zuckerberg’s reprioritization can be seen as something of a defeat, but that’s not to say the company is fully pulling back: Even slashing 30% from the metaverse budget still leaves opportunity to build. And executives at Meta have told metaverse workers to use AI to work 5-times faster.”

Without explicitly saying I told you so, on a personal note, I can simply re-iterate from my previous commentaries that even if a large number of AR/VR gadgets will come to market, the wireless or mobile networks will have to accommodate the traffic, whether it is for gaming or for outdoor immersive experiences – and even though generations younger than me will find it cool – I for one will not be walking around with goggles any time in the future.