The metaverse is shrinking in the face of artificial intelligence, according to moves by Disney, Meta, and Microsoft

In October 2021, Facebook officially changed its name to Facebook Goal. It was more than a declaration of intent. It meant setting the tone for the next business model. The metaverse, a concept that was by no means new, has been opening up ever since it was first announced in 1992 in Snow Crash, a sci-fi novel created by Neal Stevenson. Nor was it an unprecedented concept, because since the mid-2000s, such as A second lifevirtual open worlds in which the user is represented by an avatar.

Less than a year and a half later, the metaverse is a fiasco recognized even by parties that have invested millions of euros in it. It was considered as an evolution of the Internet And that it will open up new relationships between brands and consumers, as well as a world of social relationships that did not exist before. But the artificial intelligencewith a more demonstrable application that already points to direct benefits, has gutted the investments of companies, which have once again restructured their divisions.

Disney eliminates the Metaverse division

The most notable recent case is the case Disneyeliminating the business unit that was dedicated to the metaverse, employing 50 people who were responsible for exploring the metaverse. “The Next Generation of Storytelling and Consumer Experiences”. This cut was built into a strategy common in the entertainment industry and in the tech corporate world, which has proposed narrowing salaries for audiences: 7,000 employees in the case of Disney.

In these processes of dwindling resources, the Metaverse It appears as the last of the companies’ priorities, even though they were all caught up in the investment spiral that lasted for months. Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke about Metaverse K “A great growth opportunity, not only in the theme parks unit, but also for the other divisions.” And it cannot be said that his successor, Bob Iger, is a skeptic when it comes to technology reality, because he has held management positions at Apple for years.

They have lost faith in Meta

Even those who worked a greater apostleship in favor of metaphysics lost faith that this unity would bring them immediate benefits, something that was not in another context so demanding, but in the current context of uncertainty and structural changes. Goal from Facebookhas suffered labor attrition in recent times, with thousands of jobs being cut, including at the unit Metaverse In which Mark Zuckerberg deposited a lot of enthusiasm.

In fact, the employees of this department, along with those who work in Reality Labs, the listed reality of the hardware department is another element of the declining work, and they are in the crosshairs of the company’s HR department. And that, logically, affects other companies in the group like Instagram. A more realistic business model is sought, with products that can be accessed and consumed more quickly and that do not require decades of implementation or uptake.

In the same way that there was an avalanche of releases between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, these months have been a series of Ditch the metaverse. It is difficult to survive in a sector if competition is abolished, which ultimately stimulates innovation and revitalizes consumption.

Microsoft: Highly developed devices don’t work

Microsoft recently announced that it will lay off most of the team working on it Hololyn, a section dedicated to generating devices that can then be used in the metaverse. Because the decay of the software necessarily leads to the liquidation of all devices created for its use and enjoyment.

However, as in any crisis, there are discordant elements that have decided to fight contradictions. This is the situation mytaversea company founded in 2020 by Kenneth Landau and Jaime López that designs cloud-based platforms for multi-user and immersive 3D work environments.

Mytaverse resistance

In the first round of Mytaverse, which took place in February 2022, companies such as PepsiCo participated. “In the early 2000s, people were wary of Web 2.0. Later, it swept everything from shopping, with Amazon, to social networking, with Facebook. Many companies missed out on those victories. The same thing will happen with Metaverse.” It’s already here and it’s only going to grow. Like in Web 2.0, the big growth area will be in the company.”say its founders.

In the case of the Mytaverse, a different approach has been suggested devices to be used in the metaverse, Since users are allowed to log in through their phones, computers or other devices, this lowers the barrier to entry. However, the name is starting to gain popularity “meh-taverse”, As a resonant formula for leveling the catastrophe of an initial idea, which is not dead, but must be redirected towards a more concrete reality. It is not feasible to create an environment of mass consumption if only isolated items end up entering it.

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In other words, companies face a similar learning curve to the one they experienced with blockchain technology and everything that arises from it, such as NFT or cryptocurrency. At first, everyone was so much in the water that no one could tell them not to be involved in a business that has amassed millions of Euros at various stages. However, the companies supervised the development in this sense to make it at the service of their daily activity and direct it to solutions with customers.

Authentication, another pending challenge

But in this path, assets and resources are lost, so not all companies want to survive, simply waiting for the perfect solutions to be found. Hence the decision I made Walmart, which closed its Roblox open shop space. The virtual location was called “Universe of Play” and was intended to reach Generation Z through the metaverse. In this case, the issue of children’s privacy was brought to the table, another element of conflict for which the creators of the Metaverse have yet to find an effective shield.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBqkCvW5NRY

As in any digital reality, avatar conversion and character authentication involve coding risks and effort. Working in these safe environments is another great duty metaverse is in trial and error phase, But this has not yet found the effective realization that the universe that was born with a call to be an alternative, but still half-built, need. Its realization is more precious than physical and tangible reality, not so much in servers or hosting, but in making the citizen, and therefore the consumer, believe that the metaverse is indeed a new reality that satisfies their interests and needs.