Why metaverse technology is still important for businesses
Although the vision of a rapid gestation of fully-realized virtual worlds where humans work, shop and socialize from the comfort of their couches has dimmed, the metaverse isn't dead. Components of it are gaining traction as graphics and capabilities for virtual and augmented reality, bolstered by AI, rapidly improve. The development of new technology such as eye tracking, which uses sensors to monitor and record eye movements, promises to make visual experiences more engaging.
In the area known as the industrial metaverse, epitomized by the Nvidia Omniverse platform, companies are building digital twins to design and monitor physical objects. Businesses are also using virtual reality (VR) to train employees and applying augmented reality (AR) to overlay information on real-world objects, helping their employees work better.
In e-commerce, customers are clamoring for virtual products that "tie back to the physical world," according to a June 2023 McKinsey report, which stated that the market for metaverse commerce alone -- "from home and food to fitness and apparel" -- could drive "$5 trillion in value creation by 2030." A report from data-gathering company Statista pegs the metaverse market at $74.4 billion in 2024 and predicts that by 2030, at an annual growth of rate of 38%, it will reach $507.8 billion with over 2.6 billion users.
A metaverse guide for the enterprise
What are companies to make of a technology phenomenon that's hot one day, cold the next and in the throes of rebranding itself? TechTarget's guide to the metaverse breaks down where this rapidly evolving set of technologies stands today and where it's headed.
Topics covered include the various technologies and platforms that support the metaverse, ongoing challenges, real-world use cases and the metaverse's impact on the future of work. Readers can follow the hyperlinks to other TechTarget articles for deeper dives into these and other topics, as well as to our in-depth definitions of key metaverse terms and novel techniques such as digital threads and Gaussian splatting.
Four years in, Meta has burned through $45 billion chasing its metaverse dream
Bottom line: More than four years after Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta to chase his metaverse vision, the company has poured tens of billions into the effort – with little to show for it. The ongoing losses have raised serious doubts about the strategy and its long-term viability.
Insiders say the metaverse project has become a financial sinkhole, consuming $45 billion by early 2025. That's nearly equal to the combined market caps of social media rivals Snap and Pinterest – or the amount Elon Musk paid to acquire Twitter. Worse, Zuckerberg warned in last year's earnings report that losses would continue to "increase meaningfully," whatever that means.