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Although it was not a new term, it gained the spotlight, a lot of content on specialized websites and an even greater number of searches by the curious, in the second half of 2021, when Facebook announced the change in the name of the company that controls Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which would be renamed Meta.
At the same time, Zuckerberg also announced part of the plans for the development of the platform that many considered the new directions of the Internet and which became popular as the metaverse.
However, lately the optimism, excitement and uproar created around the metaverse seems to have changed direction and has raised questions about its future, which is why we will try to establish the scenario related to the theme.
What is Metaverse?
If you are part of the large group of people who looked for information about it, when it was popular on technology websites and blogs, we have an article explaining what metaverse is, examples, uses and possibilities.
If you don’t want to pay too much attention to the answer, as briefly as possible, it is the neologism formed by the words meta and universe, where meta is the Greek prefix for “beyond” or “after” and therefore means something like “something beyond the universe” which we traditionally imagine and refer to.
It can be said that it would be an alternative to the “conventional” universe, and there could be several others and not just one.
In the case in question, the metaverse or alternative universe would exist in the virtual world, based on the Internet and on a set of systems and technologies specifically used for its viability, such as virtual reality, augmented reality and blockchain, in this case and more specifically , Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
Is this the end of the metaverse?
However, the enthusiasm and even part of the euphoria that there was as soon as the subject gained attention, cooled down a lot, to the point that some even considered the end of the metaverse, even before consolidating itself.
If you are one of those anxiously awaiting the day when the many promises of new possibilities and experiences become real, even if virtual, you must be asking yourself: What happened anyway? Where is this so-called metaverse?
No, this is probably not the end and there are even heavy investments still being made and several initiatives beyond the Meta project – whose responsible area is called Reality Labs – and which make us believe that, at least for the time being, we will still have to wait for the news.
Zuckerberg has even determined that he will dedicate 20% of his Meta resources to the business division responsible for technologies linked to virtual reality and which is one of the foundations of Horizon Worlds, the free online video game developed by Meta Platforms.
It is also necessary to remember that despite the uproar initially caused by Meta’s daring plans, the metaverse is not an initiative and much less exclusive to the company formerly known as Facebook. Many companies have been carrying out their own projects, some even in more advanced stages of development and with more appreciable and “tangible” results, however paradoxical the use of the term may seem.
But then why are users still not seeing results? Or why the matter “cooled”?
There are a series of challenges and issues that need to be overcome and that are decisive for the future of the metaverse…
What challenges does the metaverse face?
There are a large number of companies that dare to claim that they already offer their users metaverse experiences on their platforms or in part of the web services they provide.
We say they dare, because in most cases, they are just some of the many concepts that are present in an experience like the one in which Meta is proposing, such as, for example, a virtual reality application, or who knows, an NFT as a means to enable a digital economy within the platform.
In either case, they will remain just one service with virtual reality and another with NFTs, but they do not include the set of things that one expects and imagines from one that contemplates a universe beyond what we are used to.
There are many challenges to tackle, but we will only focus on the biggest and most immediate ones…
1. Investment and infrastructure
The first challenge comprises the binomial investment and infrastructure, aspects that are practically inseparable, especially on platforms such as the one intended by Meta, are one of the basic requirements.
It means existing technology that needs to be developed or improved, servers in data centers, cloud computing, software, CDN, to name only the primary aspects, but there are still issues that are not so apparent, but which are equally essential, such as security and all. what is needed to secure it.
Still taking Meta as an example, a good part of this either already has or has expertise and even so, there will be billions of dollars invested in 2023. For those who do not have the same firepower, the path can be much longer, or even unpassable .
2. Real-life practical situations
A complete and immersive experience along the lines already imagined and also practicable by some platforms, are incompatible with many everyday situations.
An immediate and concrete example is virtual reality glasses. Many of the best existing models, including Meta’s own product, are in the order of several thousand reais, with the most expensive entering the five-digit range. Yes, there are glasses worth more than R$ 15,000.00.
And it’s not just the price, which is already an important limiting factor to the number of users, but imagine having to use one on public transport or outdoors to be able to enjoy a resource on some platform. It is impractical in most situations.
3. User requirements
Depending on how complete the experience is, for it to be fluid and work properly or even at minimum but satisfactory standards, the user-side requirements must meet minimum standards as well.
In practice, it means that not all hardware will do, sometimes requiring more RAM, good processors, eventually a dedicated video card, internet connections with good speed, bandwidth and no franchise limits.
Added to this, the already mentioned virtual reality glasses and eventually other resources. And how to achieve all this on a smartphone?
The situation is evident in game platforms, which are the most “advanced” niche when it comes to the metaverse.
However, the gamer public generally already invests heavily in this type of item, as the most popular titles have always been demanding in this regard.
Many aspects of infrastructure also tend to accompany the computer games industry, which also partly helps to explain why they seem to be a step ahead of the rest.
4. “End” of social networks
The future of social networks, which lately has been treated as “the end of social networks”, has produced an environment of uncertainty in this group of companies that appear as the most likely candidates for “sponsors” of the metaverse.
Here again it is impossible not to use the Meta as an example. Investors and shareholders of the company have been questioning and trying to contain the allocation of resources to the division responsible for the metaverse project, after all, in the first nine months of 2022 alone, losses reached the figure of 9.4 billion dollars.
There are those who pointed out at the time of the announcement that the future of Facebook was the metaverse, since at the time there were already indications that the social network’s heyday had already happened and from then on would come its decline.
The signs of shortness of breath from some important companies in the sector, the unprecedented drops in revenues and even possible losses and the waves of tens of thousands of layoffs, raised the alarm and made many reassess whether it would be worth investing heavily in the new bet, in an environment of so many uncertainties and negative results.
5. Big bet and circumstances
And speaking of betting, possibly some did not consider a very particular circumstance, which was the pandemic and social isolation, which made the Internet and social networks the shelter of millions who were forced to do without social interaction.
With the cooling of isolation measures and the return to “normality”, not that the Internet lost space, but people wanted to kill the longing for community life in face-to-face relationships and not just in virtual ones.
For many even, it was an opportunity to remember that everything that the virtual offers can be cool, but the face-to-face is sometimes irreplaceable.
Often, some of the layoffs that we are seeing in technology companies are a readjustment to an oversizing that occurred during the pandemic, when the large network was often the only alternative for the world not to stop.
6. Security and privacy
If issues such as the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal, or the increasingly frequent data leaks, are challenges that are difficult to solve, what about this transported to a scenario in the metaverse?
How is a stolen or cloned account? What about the privacy and exposure resulting from the interaction of social network users?
If in the “conventional” social network model, a data leak already represents a serious threat, what will it mean in a scenario where a user’s entire experiences are stored on a server or in the cloud of a platform?
Implementing and guaranteeing more rigid and secure policies and protocols will be crucial and goes beyond these aspects, by others that need to be resolved for the very future of the Internet.
The future of the metaverse
Well, naturally the question that remains is: what is the future of the metaverse?
Just as social networks will not end in 2023, nor in the coming years, neither will the metaverse.
We do not have the answer to what the metaverse will be in 2023, or after, and even Zuckerberg, one of the most excited about the idea, is already more restrained in his initial momentum, when he recently declared that he envisions a positive prognosis for the metaverse in the coming years. 5 to 10 years.
Well, that – 5 or 10 years – is a long time when it comes to technological innovation and the Internet!
However, we are not taking too much risk in saying that it will be a reality, but perhaps in a more organic way, which means saying that some changes that are underway need to mature first, such as, for example, the technologies on which their implementation depends, after all, you can’t imagine that everyone will invest at least R$ 5,000.00 in the cheapest virtual reality glasses, nor that we see everyone using them around.
Nor can you imagine that, especially the older generations, incorporate it at the same speed as a young person from Alpha or even a young person from Z.
It is also possible to risk that some who today do more Marketing than present consistent results, will no longer be here when the metaverse arrives to stay, as happened with the first Internet bubble, in which all those who did not have solid foundations, closed their doors doors.
Finally, in the same way that TikTok broke the seemingly unshakable paradigm of some social networks, some startup or who knows a hitherto unknown on the other side of the world, establish a new metaverse model, different from the one currently proposed.
Conclusion
What will become of the metaverse in the coming years necessarily involves responding to some challenges that are essential for its consolidation and success.
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