Metaverse Hype Declared Over by Senior Executive of Meta

Vishan Shah, an executive of Indian descent at Meta, responsible for overseeing the metaverse project, has stated that the excitement surrounding the metaverse has diminished.

He said the metaverse was part of a “hype cycle” that attracted many investors, Fortune reported.

“I think the Metaverse hype is dead. I think we were in a hype cycle. Like any new thing, and we invested last year because it wasn’t hype. We didn’t invest for the hype, we’ve been investing in the space for years; Oculus was bought in 2014,” Shah said.

Additionally, the report noted that the metaverse market looks bleak from an outsider’s perspective as divisions continue to close at an alarming rate.

Disney recently left behind its metaverse ambitions and shattered dreams of a virtual wonderland, and Microsoft said goodbye to the social virtual reality platform it bought in 2017, effectively ending its own metaverse journey.

However, Shah sees the bust differently.

“I’m actually quite happy that last year was both hype and disappointment; it was hard to live through it, of course for ourselves. But now we’re putting our heads down and building because that’s what it takes to build something that’s hard to replicate and do it,” he said.

In addition, according to the report, there are many exciting new development projects planned for Meta’s Metaverse.

The 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 for $3,499.

“Meta is gearing up to reveal the long-awaited legs of its metaverse avatars later this year. Over a billion people have created avatars so far,” Shah mentioned.

Meanwhile, Meta has launched a Twitter competitor, Threads, which has surpassed 100 million user signups within a week of its launch.