As stubborn as Meta: Determined to cling to the metaverse despite a loss of tens of billions of dollars, confidently asserting that the virtual universe is still the next ‘big thing’

In an online meeting on March 29, Nick Clegg – the head of global affairs of Meta (Facebook’s parent company) emphasized the company’s focus on the metaverse virtual universe.

“ We will continue to stick with the metaverse and truly believe it will be the heart of the new computing platform in the future. However, everything takes time ,” Clegg said.

In addition, he promises that the experience that is considered cumbersome with the metaverse will soon be replaced by a user-friendly experience, for example, their characters will have more legs for perfection.

Clegg’s assertion contrasts with the rest of the tech world’s relative loss of interest in the metaverse. Instead, in recent times, artificial intelligence (AI) and the growing startup sector around it are gaining global attention.

According to Bloomberg, tighter economic conditions force the technology industry to focus resources, in which, some companies have had to shrink their investments in virtual experiences.

Last month, Microsoft Corporation canceled its industrial metaverse project as part of a plan to lay off 10,000 people. This week, Walt Disney also cut a division that was working on its metaverse projects as part of the company’s plan to mass lay off workers.

According to Clegg, there are two main ways for Meta to capitalize on virtual world investments: Advertising and commerce. Mining user data to target specific ads is what has helped Meta’s two social networks Facebook and Instagram reap huge profits. Even so, it remains to be seen how much people will be willing to spend on virtual products or use virtual reality tools to shop.

In 2021, when Facebook changed its name to Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the virtual universe would be popular in the next 5 to 10 years. The company has invested tens of billions of dollars in the metaverse, but the results are not satisfactory, causing suspicion from investors. Metaverse from being pride is now considered the main cause of Meta’s situation deteriorated after only a short time. In 2022 alone, Reality Labs, the division in charge of the metaverse, lost $13.7 billion. This figure in 2021 is 10 billion USD.

Last month, the 38-year-old CEO affirmed that 2023 will be a “productive year” for the company, focusing mainly on short-term issues. In particular, the strongest move of Meta was to lay off tens of thousands of employees. The staff cuts affected all departments, including the metaverse development team. As a result, the price of Meta stock reached an all-time high not seen in a year.

Clegg says some communities, such as gaming and fitness, have been quick to embrace the virtual world, and the company believes there is a lot of untapped potential for health and education applications. He also highlighted Meta’s commitment to engaging researchers, civic organizations, and other companies in the development of the metaverse to create experiences that enable “creativity, ingenuity, and real joy.” the”.

Source: Bloomberg