In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed that the future of Facebook would be through the metaverse. Based on virtual reality, it would be an immersive world where people could work, play, and socialize. To mark the occasion, Zuckerberg renamed the company [of which he is CEO] Meta.
But in recent months, Meta has laid off 10% of the staff in the division working on the metaverse and announced that its main app, Horizon Worlds, a digital ecosystem where users meet through their avatars, was moving away from virtual reality.
Then, Meta delivered the final blow or almost. On March 17, the company announced that users would no longer be able to access this immersive world with virtual reality headsets starting June 15. The next day, some backpedaling: maintenance of some existing virtual reality applications would continue in Horizon Worlds, but there would be no new features. In other words, the metaverse as Mark Zuckerberg originally envisioned it is dead.
Financial Abyss
Even though Meta lost around $80 billion [70 billion euros] in this project, the metaverse and virtual reality continue to interest enthusiasts and some businesses. Other virtual worlds
Context: Meta faced challenges and changes in its metaverse initiative despite significant investments and renaming the company as Meta. Fact Check: Mark Zuckerberg announced the vision of a metaverse future for Facebook in 2021, leading to a shift in focus towards immersive digital experiences but faced setbacks in actualizing this vision.
