2021 – We were all supposed to be spending lost of our time in the Metaverse by now, but it feels like the hype has fizzled out.
It seemed like everyone (from tech giants to startups) was betting big on the metaverse. We envisioned a future where we’d be virtually attending concerts, working in digital offices, and owning virtual real estate. So why did interest seem to evaporate?
Did corporations realize the tech wasn’t ready, or were we just victims of another overhyped tech trend? What do you think went wrong, and do you believe the metaverse still has a future?
I myself did not want to see it become a thing before we individually had the ability to build our own or opt out with no social cost.
Key Thoughts on Metaverse, a Fortune 100 company.
- Cost / return on investment: not seen as worth it, when a monitor provides a good enough analogous experience without…
- Over-immersion: when you are wearing the headset, you can’t see anything in the real world, although the new Apple headsets allow much better pass-through. But many don’t like not seeing their younger siblings taking a video of them doing Beat Saber and posting to TikTok. Plus, the best experiences need to be bought through…
- The Content Store: that charges you sometimes quite a lot for software you can only use on the headset, including…
- Fitness apps: which are in theory an amazing use case for alleviating workout boredom, especially for those who aren’t enthusiastic fitness people, but have a major downside of…
- A form factor with a heavy device on your head that you sweat into: even leading to cases of heat rash and pimples and the added step of having to clean the sweaty liners. And no one wants to share a dirty sweaty liner with another family member. Plus, as mentioned by others, VR gives a sizable percentage of folks…
- Motion sickness. Instantly, in the case of my spouse.
But I think upon reflection the biggest two challenges were:
- Lack of real productivity and business applications. Sure, we have all seen the video of the technophole in his virtual office with 100 spreadsheets and browser windows open around him, his physical keyboard and mouse sort of connected, living in a minority report world. But in practice –I tried– the set up was janky and if your keyboard or mouse wasn’t exactly where you programmed it, you feel around and even have to take off the headset to find it or reposition it. And you couldn’t take notes with a pen, have a word with a coworker or kid when they come in your office, flip to a page of notes from Make It Stick that you’ve had forever. It just wasn’t there yet. So, businesses weren’t willing to make mass purchases. And that’s really where the big money was. Plus…
- The Pandemic ended, and companies wanted butts back in seats. Those buildings are expensive, and overnight we saw the project I was working on Virtual Offices and Workplaces (including hybrid real-world/virtual experience, that merged actual spaces in the office with virtual ones through PCs and VR headsets) go from a key initiative to a dirty word. Starting with the first RTO announcement from the CEO.
I personally DO think things will come back, but it will be a product of new and better form factors, especially ones that are Glasses form factors, maybe ones that find ways to send light signals directly through the cornea to the retina to create the imagery, then combining with Human Brain Interfaces and perhaps new generation of haptics. But, we are a ways away from that.
