Facebook’s Metaverse Might ‘Misfire’ – Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin says that Meta is jumping the gun with metaverse innovation since “it is far too early to know what people want.”

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin does not think that any of the existing efforts by corporations to develop a Metaverse are “going anywhere,” pointing to Meta as being one of those corporations that he thinks will ‘misfire.’

While responding to a tweet from Dialectic co-founder Dean Eigenmann, who thinks venture capitalists may be wrong about what constitutes a perfect metaverse, Buterin stated that while he thinks “The metaverse is going to happen,” he does not believe any of the current trials from corporates like Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta are “going anywhere.”

The "metaverse" is going to happen but I don't think any of the existing corporate attempts to intentionally create the metaverse are going anywhere. https://t.co/tVUfq4CWmP

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 30, 2022

The Metaverse is generally described as a majorly-interactive 3D online world focused on social connection, with some of them aiming to eventually get powered by virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

Buterin’s comments come despite several successful metaverse projects being launched recently on blockchain technology like The Sandbox and Decentraland (MANA). Nonetheless, Buterin said that its use cases are still not quite clear, adding that he did not think Meta’s attempt at developing a metaverse will be successful in its current form.

“We don’t really know the definition of ‘the metaverse’ yet, it’s far too early to know what people actually want. So anything Facebook creates now will misfire.”

Meta has developed several AR and VR applications, including the Meta Horizons Workroom, a VR room for colleagues to link and collaborate on ideas. Notably, Meta has also built first-generational smart glasses that enable users to connect to the metaverse by recording audio and video and being mostly surrounded by virtual worlds.

My critique is deeper than "Metaverse Wikipedia will beat Metaverse Encyclopedia Britannica". It's that we don't really know the definition of "the metaverse" yet, it's far too early to know what people actually want. So anything Facebook creates now will misfire.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 31, 2022

Many other critics believe that centralized metaverses like those proposed by Microsoft and Meta might affect the decentralization of ownership of goods and services in those platforms.

The Metaverse Space Still Nascent

On the flip side, metaverse developers like Sandbox and Decentraland have come together with many Web3 projects to unleash the Open Metaverse Alliance (OMA3). OMA3 focuses on developing more inclusive, transparent, democratized, and decentralized metaverses.

The Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF) also aims to build on these values and establish standards for an open and interoperable metaverse. Nvidia, Meta, Unity, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Sony are among the 35 tech firms that became members of the MSF.

It reflects well Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s letter to stakeholders in October 2021, where he stated that the Metaverse is the next chapter for the internet, adding:

“We’re seen as a social media company, but in our DNA, we are a company that builds technology to connect people, and the metaverse is the next frontier.”