Mark Zuckerberg Expected To Give Update About ‘Unprofitable’ Metaverse; What’s the Future of Immersive Virtual Reality?

Mark Zuckerberg is expected to speak about the metaverse two years after he bet on the technology. According to one report, immersive virtual reality was less profitable than expected.

Mark Zuckerberg May Give Update About Metaverse

Zuckerberg's company will hold its annual VR event called Meta Connect on Wednesday. The Meta founder may give an update about his metaverse venture after he diverted his extremely profitable social media company to focus on the metaverse, which is reportedly an "extremely unprofitable VR venture."

The most recent Meta statistics are staggering. Reality Labs, the virtual and augmented reality division of Meta, has lost a startling $21 billion since the previous year. Long-term investment is reflected in some of the losses.

Meta didn't anticipate immediate gains. The company's biggest concern is that there is little proof that this huge bet will pay off so far.

The closest Meta has come to building a metaverse is with the video game Horizon Worlds. Users can enter various locations to hang out and play games, including coffee shops, comedy clubs, nightclubs, and basketball courts.

In comparison to the billions of users on Facebook and Instagram, Meta claims to have only 300,000 monthly users. And much fewer than that are actively playing the game at any given time.

According to user reviews, there aren't enough people to make it enjoyable. They also complain about empty worlds. If there are individuals, they are frequently kids.

Regarding the virtual reality headsets made by Meta, it isn't easy to see how existing technology can even come close to the vision the CEO of the firm has outlined.

To be candid, VR is still on the periphery. It's not how the majority prefer to spend their time or how most people play video games. Real life is still obstinately alluring to many.

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What's the Future of the Metaverse?

Zuckerberg hasn't made huge progress after announcing the metaverse. The tech billionaire was so committed to it in October 2021 that he changed Facebook's name to Meta. According to him, the defining quality of the metaverse is the "feeling of presence."

"Feeling truly present with another person is the ultimate dream of social technology. That is why we are focused on building this," he said. "In the metaverse, you'll be able to do almost anything you can imagine."

In April, he was accused of dumping the idea. Zuckerberg, however, denied that it was the case. The billionaire said the claim that he was moving away from the metaverse was inaccurate.

A survey involving 624 technology innovators, developers, and business and policy leaders revealed mixed opinions about the metaverse. Fifty-four percent said they expect the metaverse to be a much more refined and truly full-immersive and well-functioning aspect of daily life. However, the remaining 46% believed otherwise.

Metaverse is a shared, immersive 3D virtual space. It allows humans to share the same experience in ways they couldn't in the physical world.

Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov, who is part of the 2045 initiative, a non-profit organization that seeks to increase human longevity, claimed that artificial bodies may become a reality by 2045, allowing people to live longer for 150 years by leaving their physical bodies and entering the internet. He believes the metaverse and artificial intelligence (AI) will make this happen.

However, individuals would need to abandon their physical bodies and transform into living apps to experience eternal existence. It would only be achievable in virtual reality, thanks to advances in digital technologies.