The metaverse is about more than Virtual Reality.

When facebook announced in October 2021 that it would change its name to ‘meta’, two things were set in motion that were not immediately clear to everyone:

1. Rather than clearing the air around their name (something that many highlighted as the ‘reason’ for the name change), a bad smell started developing around the word ‘metaverse’ (remember that in 2021 it was nearly voted word of the year? How long ago that seems today..);

2. Facebook’s (or “meta’s”) interpretation of what the metaverse is became leading in the eye of the general public. With their heavy focus on VR – with limited success so far – the metaverse became synonym for the virtual world you can (or must) explore using a VR headset.

Both of those combined have led to steep decline of the popularity of the concept. While Meta keeps burning cash, metaverse job hires at big tech are disappearing.

Meanwhile, however the industry is relentlessly continuing developments to make virtual products more accessible, more open, more versatile and more dynamic with countless smaller players and startups popping up developping new products and innovations.

All of which leaves us to believe that, even though we won’t be wearing VR headsets to join zoom meetings any time soon, 3D is a long term disruptor in everything digital. And why not? Our natural way of understanding the world is, after all, through 3 dimensions. We see the most ready-to-use applications in these areas:

In online shopping, objects will become dynamic, with customizations and variants digitally applied, while you can look at articles from all sides and zoom in as far as you like

In real estate, you will see more than pictures / renders / videos.

In your local high-street, you will be tempted by interactive digital twins on screen in the stop(window)

But it won’t be “one metaverse” as it was originally coined. It won’t be controlled by one organization as Mark Zucherberg would prefer. Instead, it will grow organically, all around us. First in the real world and then, slowly and increasingly, in the virtual one. 

Don’t forget that the metaverse as a digital place to play, stay, make friends and and spend money has allready already for decades. Today the most successful one goes by the name Fortnite. One of the first was World of Warcraft first announced all the way back in 2001.