Why the Metaverse is Inevitable

There’s a lot of healthy skepticism about the metaverse, both in the press and in conversations I’m having with clients. I want to address where the skepticism is coming from, and why it’s healthy, but ultimately misguided.

What’s Driving Metaverse Skepticism

I believe the skepticism is coming from two places:

First, too many skeptics are not gamers, and the idea of navigating a 3D, immersive space is something that doesn’t feel natural or obvious to them. The anti-gaming bias is real, and something that I’ve been grappling with for years, as gaming has steadily overtaken most other forms of media in terms of both revenue and attention. But for those who don’t play games themselves, it’s tough to scrub the image of teenage boys playing Xbox in their basement, and to imagine using 3D applications as a core part of their work or leisure activities.

Second, Facebook’s rebranding to Meta is the spark that set off the current wave of discussion about the metaverse. And here, the skeptics have a point — is this really just a Hail Mary for a company looking to distract from its?current political woes, or?mounting competition, or capture teens when they’re not allowed to buy?the next big social platform? Is this another?pivot to video? These are all logical points!

But in the end, they won’t matter.

Why the Metaverse Will Defy Skeptics

First, the anti-gaming bias against the metaverse is easy to debunk, as billions of consumers are already very comfortable in 3D immersive environments, using them weekly if not daily. And generational turnover will soon mean that?notusing 3D apps regularly will become the outlier, since?every generation spends more time with video games. It’s tough to make someone try a hobby they’re not interested in, but when it starts to become a job requirement, people will put in the effort.

As for Facebook, their presence is far less important than they would have you think. Their pivot to the metaverse can fail, and the metaverse itself will continue to develop unscathed, with companies like Epic, Roblox, and Niantic continuing to build out the platforms and toolchains necessary for the metaverse to develop. In many ways, the metaverse would be better off without Facebook’s involvement, championed instead by torch bearers that have less negative cultural baggage.

The Real Inevitability of the Metaverse

The history of technology has been about advancing the way that humans communicate with each other over distances.

From the telegraph and the printing press to TikTok and Zoom, every major advancement in technology has had communication at its core. To think that we’re going to stop and settle now that we can stream live 4k video from many places on earth would fly in the face of human ingenuity and history. It’s inevitable that we will one day be communicating with each other using 3D representations of ourselves, in virtual rooms, and that those avatars and rooms will improve in resolution and detail, becoming more lifelike every year. Eventually, they’ll break out into the real world using some combination of AR and holographic technology that might not exist yet.

So while the implementation details may vary, and the companies who build it almost certainly will, as long as humanity has the resources and drive to keep innovating, the metaverse will inevitably become a reality.