Xbox CEO says metaverse is ‘a poorly built video game’

Phil Spencer spoke at the Tech Live 2022 conference candidly about the metaverse, calling it “a poorly built video game.”

The CEO of Xbox said the metaverse is “a poorly built video game,” referring to the most recent updates announced by Meta.

The metaverse, an ongoing project by Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, has been loudly and widely laughed at since its inception.

With models that look worse than games released in 2008 and a seemingly imagination-less goal of “boardroom meetings, but in a game,” most people have written it off as yet another project for the ultra-rich that have no connection to what ordinary people want.

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live 2022 conference, CEO of Xbox Phil Spencer appeared to agree: “If I think about video games, for years we’ve been putting people together in 3D spaces to go and save the world from invading aliens, or conquer the castle,” Spencer said. “Building a metaverse that looks like a meeting room, I just find that’s not where I want to spend most of my time.” (Thanks, PCGamer.)

This was a grand reveal of what the metaverse could do — some low-poly models and unfinished textures. Picture: Mark Zuckerberg

Even Palmer Luckey, the co-founder of Oculus VR, who made VR products and paved the way for Meta’s journey into metaverse territory, had some issues with the current state of things.

“I don’t think it’s a good product,” Luckey said. “It’s not. It’s not fun, it’s not good. I think actually most of the people probably on the team would agree that it’s not currently a good product.”

When you look at what current-gen video games have achieved, it’s hard not to agree. Final Fantasy XIV already allows you to live a second, and much more fantastical, life as a roaming adventurer, god slayer, housing decorator, card-game savant, mahjong master, and market manipulator — and that’s not an exhaustive list. Why would anyone want to go from that to falling asleep in a virtual boardroom?

It appears the majority of the population agrees: Meta is dying as a result of the metaverse. Since the shift into Meta, the company has reached nearly $15 billion in losses, with $5.6 billion from this quarter alone.

Furthermore, Meta has stated in previous investor calls that “operating losses in 2023 will grow significantly year-over-year.”

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.