Why is Facebook So Interested in Having a Metaverse?

Why is Facebook So Interested in Having a Metaverse?

The concept of a metaverse is nothing new. In Silicon Valley, metaverses have been discussed for years. Some examples include Second Life, and Jeff Bezos has also shown interest in the idea. Facebook has the resources to invest more money into this project over the next two to three years. 

First, the metaverse offers excellent potential for economic and commercial development, posing several security and privacy issues. And the metaverse would require outside developers to build products and services.

Facebook’s recent rebranding as Meta Platforms Inc. indicates the company’s focus on building products for the metaverse. Facebook is betting heavily on virtual reality, and dozens of companies are already crafting hardware and software. Interestingly, Facebook was one of the first companies to take this approach, though the company’s rebranding came much later. Nonetheless, the need for outside developers to build products for the metaverse continues to grow.

The Economic And Commercial Potential Of The Metaverse

Facebook is preparing to become a metaverse company, a move that is not without risk. While tech companies have struggled to capitalize on the idea, Facebook is a prime candidate. Facebook executives spoke about the metaverse 20 times in a recent earnings call. The company earned over $28 billion in revenue last year from advertising. Moreover, Facebook has a loyal following among millennials. In the coming years, Facebook’s metaverse business model could be a massive boon for Facebook, giving it a new way to generate revenue.

The metaverse has been viewed as the next best thing since a working teleportation device. Facebook, however, is making no secret of its plans to use it as a tool for its growth. Facebook’s first headset, the Oculus Quest 2, costs just $299, lowering the entry price of VR devices. By comparison, the HTC Vive Cosmos is close to six hundred dollars.

The social media giant has also begun to invest in the metaverse, citing its massive potential as a successor to mobile internet. While Facebook has not responded to any criticisms, the recent acquisition of VR and AR startup RTFKT has given it the momentum it needs to launch its metaverse. Facebook is betting big on this concept, hiring over 10,000 people to develop it and pledging tens of billions of dollars to develop it. 

The Literary Origins Of The Term

The term “metaverse” is a portmanteau of two words: meta (prefix of Greek origin) and verse, from the word “universe.” The term was first used in Neal Stephenson’s dystopian novel, Snow Crash, published in 1992. Its literary origins are also associated with the movie Ready Player One, in which a character named Hiro is immersed in a metaverse.

The literary origins of the term metaverse are obscure, however. The term is a pre-Internet concept that predates most modern technologies. The word is a portmanteau of “meta” and “universe” and refers to a parallel universe of virtual reality. Metaverse is also known as an alternate universe in popular culture, and it has gained some popularity as a buzzword for promoting new projects and services.

Its use in popular culture is rooted in literary history. Novels like Alice in Wonderland and Bleak House are essential “metaverses,” They are not only fictional stories but also depicted in a real-world world. It speaks to the long human history of world-making. The term is also associated with games, similar to virtual worlds. 

Read More: When Does the Facebook Metaverse Launch?

 Need For Developers To Build Products For  Metaverse

The Metaverse is a new platform that assumes that platforms will transition away from hardware-based operating systems and centric experiences. The most popular games, for example, are designed to be available on any platform without needing to be optimized for specific hardware. This makes the Metaverse a platform that relies on interchange standards, protocols, formats, and services. The industry expects that the Metaverse will be a massive marketplace in the coming years.

If the Metaverse is genuinely open, then Amazon is likely to be more supportive of this trend. After all, they don’t have to control the ID or the user experience. In addition to that, they would benefit from the increased usage of their back-end infrastructure. And they would benefit from increased digital transactions. But even if Amazon is not driving Metaverse development, it is unlikely to prevent outside developers from building products for the Metaverse.

 Metaverse-A New World

While the idea of a virtual environment is an interesting one, Facebook’s plans for the metaverse seem to fall short of consumer interest. The company sees VR as the primary interface for the metaverse, but that technology is still years away from being ready for mass consumer adoption. Zuckerberg described VR as a 3D virtual world, yet the vast majority of digital interfaces are still being developed for 2D screens.

The lack of consumer interest in the concept of a virtual world may have many causes. Consumers in younger age groups are more interested in augmented reality, gaming, and television. Adults in the eldest age group have less interest in virtual experiences. This lack of consumer interest may be because consumers are not aware of the concept yet. But once this concept becomes widely known, brands may begin to see some success.

Although the concept of a virtual world is still relatively new, it is still gaining momentum. Facebook, for example, has heavily invested in metaverse-related technology, but there is still a need to sway youth away from such technologies. The anti-social movement of recent years is an excellent way to check the Metaverse in action.