Metaverse hype is dead, admits Meta’s Indian-origin executive Vishal Shah
San Francisco, July 12: Meta’s Indian-origin executive Vishan Shah, who oversees Meta’s metaverse project, has claimed that the “hype” around the metaverse is dead.
He said that the metaverse was part of a “hype cycle” that attracted many investors, reports Fortune.
“I think the metaverse hype is dead. I think we were in a hype cycle. Like any new thing, and those invested last year, because it wasn’t the hype. We didn’t invest for the hype, we have been investing in the space for years; the Oculus acquisition was 2014,” Shah was quoted as saying.
Moreover, the report stated that the metaverse market appears bleak from an outsider’s viewpoint, as divisions continue to shut down at an alarming rate.
Disney recently left its metaverse ambitions and shattered dreams of a virtual wonderland behind, plus Microsoft said goodbye to a social virtual-reality platform it purchased in 2017, effectively ending its own metaverse journey.
However, Shah sees the bust differently.
“I’m actually pretty happy that there was both a hype and a trough of disillusionment last year; it was tough to live through that, of course, ourselves. But now we have our heads down and built because that’s what it takes to build something difficult to iterate and do it,” he said.
Further, the report said that there are many exciting new developments in store for Meta’s Metaverse.
Meta Quest 3, the company’s next-generation VR/MR headset, will be in the hands of consumers later this year.
Apple has entered the AR headset market with the Apple Vision Pro, which will be available early next year at $3,499.
“Meta is gearing up to unveil long-awaited legs for its metaverse avatars later this year. More than 1 billion people have created avatars so far,” Shah mentioned.
Meanwhile, Meta has launched Twitter rival Threads, which has crossed 100 million user sign-ups within a week of its launch.
