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On the metaverse question: does anyone seriously believe Facebook can innovate, let alone build a new industry?

mwint 4y ago
I kind of think FB is uniquely positioned to make the metaverse thing work, if it possibly can. I just think it’s unlikely we’ll ever see it catch on, no matter who is pushing it.
- spaceman_2020 4y ago
  Imagine Facebook comment sections…but in VR. Yikes!
- alangibson 4y ago
  In terms of market position, you're right. But in terms of creativity and innovation, they've got the algorithmic news feed and little else.
- kornhole 4y ago
  They have the capital and people. I keep asking people I know if anybody is excited about their metaverse, and only a marketing person told me she was. Their reputation from past behavior is going to make it difficult for people to adopt. I see a big flop, but I have been wrong before.
Karrot_Kream 4y ago
They have the cash to make the hardware, the capital-intensive side, work. On the actual product experience I'm unconvinced. But all Meta needs to do is be competitive in the space not win it. If they're in the top-3, that's still a huge revenue generator.
- alangibson 4y ago
  They changed their name to Meta... They need to win it or become a footnote. The market won't accept them going from a world leader to an also-ran.
  - ALittleLight 4y ago
    Their share price would just update to reflect their position. The market isn't going to punish a company for declining, just price a company based on current position and future prospects. It is the nature of companies to grow, stagnate, decline, and fail.
  - Karrot_Kream 4y ago
    Right now Meta has product offerings (Horizon Worlds), they have an app store, and they make their own hardware. I find their product offering to be bad, but their app store and hardware are fine. Valve has made plenty of money over the years by owning just an app store alone. I think Meta is still a world leader owning the store and the hardware even if their product offering is middling. Being able to innovate on the hardware end gives them great leverage on what features applications use, the ability to influence AAA studios and indie devs alike. This will eventually stop if VR hardware becomes commoditized, but that's not happening any time soon if it ever does. And if Meta does win the product battle then there's even more value to profit from. And not being a world leader won't tank their stock or somehow erase the company. There's still real earnings/value to be had in VR and they're early in the space. As long as the space as a whole is successful and Meta stays a part of it, they'll continue to receive revenue which will continue to drive stock growth. They might not forever stay a behemoth, but they're not going anywhere any time soon.
kart23 4y ago
uhhh yeah? I don't know another company doing more VR research than Meta. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6AOwDttBsc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6AOwDttBsc
throw149102 4y ago
I don't think anyone can create the metaverse. The technology that needs to be built is a brain-computer interface, but humanity is currently incapable of anything even close to that. No amount of money or political power can make it happen, at least not in the next 50 years.
- wombatpm 4y ago
  I’m sure the libertarian paradise on Mars will allow Meta & Neurolink to perform the necessary human subject experimentation to solve the brain computer interface. It’s amazing the progress you can make if you don’t have to care about consequences
fullshark 4y ago
Have you used Oculus? Metaverse is just a better version of Oculus with more software...it's not really a brand new thing.
mikhmha 4y ago
No I doubt it. Why does everyone forget about the “game” portion of the metaverse? You can’t just build it and expect people to join if the underlying game isnt fun. If it’s just some digital hangout spot then that’s boring sorry - been done before and most people don’t care about virtual chat rooms. I don’t think FB knows how to make games. They know how to make social media platforms and web technologies but making games is it’s own skillset.
lvl102 4y ago
FB/META is still one of the leading organizations when it comes to AI/ML research. They are also sitting on incredible infrastructure that they can open up, just as Amazon did with AWS. I really hope Zuckerberg hires someone to tackle more realistic growth opportunities while he plays around with VRs. I think META should roll out cloud, ecommerce, and payment products.
- daydream 4y ago
  An AWS B2B play seems like a bad fit for facebooks culture. On the other hand I agree going deeper into ecommerce and payments (without the crypto baggage), it seems like a no brainer.
FullStackAda 4y ago
I don't think that Metaverse can be implemented by anyone in the industry at the moment. People consume content either in small chunks or on the background. Sure, teenagers and gamers are different, but the investment one has to make to build Metaverse cannot pay off with just this subset of users.

I kind of think FB is uniquely positioned to make the metaverse thing work, if it possibly can. I just think it’s unlikely we’ll ever see it catch on, no matter who is pushing it.

spaceman_2020 4y ago
Imagine Facebook comment sections…but in VR. Yikes!
alangibson 4y ago
In terms of market position, you're right. But in terms of creativity and innovation, they've got the algorithmic news feed and little else.
kornhole 4y ago
They have the capital and people. I keep asking people I know if anybody is excited about their metaverse, and only a marketing person told me she was. Their reputation from past behavior is going to make it difficult for people to adopt. I see a big flop, but I have been wrong before.

Karrot_Kream 4y ago

They have the cash to make the hardware, the capital-intensive side, work. On the actual product experience I'm unconvinced. But all Meta needs to do is be competitive in the space not win it. If they're in the top-3, that's still a huge revenue generator.

alangibson 4y ago
They changed their name to Meta... They need to win it or become a footnote. The market won't accept them going from a world leader to an also-ran.
- ALittleLight 4y ago
  Their share price would just update to reflect their position. The market isn't going to punish a company for declining, just price a company based on current position and future prospects. It is the nature of companies to grow, stagnate, decline, and fail.
- Karrot_Kream 4y ago
  Right now Meta has product offerings (Horizon Worlds), they have an app store, and they make their own hardware. I find their product offering to be bad, but their app store and hardware are fine. Valve has made plenty of money over the years by owning just an app store alone. I think Meta is still a world leader owning the store and the hardware even if their product offering is middling. Being able to innovate on the hardware end gives them great leverage on what features applications use, the ability to influence AAA studios and indie devs alike. This will eventually stop if VR hardware becomes commoditized, but that's not happening any time soon if it ever does. And if Meta does win the product battle then there's even more value to profit from. And not being a world leader won't tank their stock or somehow erase the company. There's still real earnings/value to be had in VR and they're early in the space. As long as the space as a whole is successful and Meta stays a part of it, they'll continue to receive revenue which will continue to drive stock growth. They might not forever stay a behemoth, but they're not going anywhere any time soon.

kart23 4y ago

uhhh yeah? I don't know another company doing more VR research than Meta. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6AOwDttBsc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6AOwDttBsc

throw149102 4y ago

I don't think anyone can create the metaverse. The technology that needs to be built is a brain-computer interface, but humanity is currently incapable of anything even close to that. No amount of money or political power can make it happen, at least not in the next 50 years.

wombatpm 4y ago
I’m sure the libertarian paradise on Mars will allow Meta & Neurolink to perform the necessary human subject experimentation to solve the brain computer interface. It’s amazing the progress you can make if you don’t have to care about consequences

fullshark 4y ago

Have you used Oculus? Metaverse is just a better version of Oculus with more software...it's not really a brand new thing.

mikhmha 4y ago

No I doubt it. Why does everyone forget about the “game” portion of the metaverse? You can’t just build it and expect people to join if the underlying game isnt fun. If it’s just some digital hangout spot then that’s boring sorry - been done before and most people don’t care about virtual chat rooms. I don’t think FB knows how to make games. They know how to make social media platforms and web technologies but making games is it’s own skillset.

lvl102 4y ago

FB/META is still one of the leading organizations when it comes to AI/ML research. They are also sitting on incredible infrastructure that they can open up, just as Amazon did with AWS. I really hope Zuckerberg hires someone to tackle more realistic growth opportunities while he plays around with VRs. I think META should roll out cloud, ecommerce, and payment products.

daydream 4y ago
An AWS B2B play seems like a bad fit for facebooks culture. On the other hand I agree going deeper into ecommerce and payments (without the crypto baggage), it seems like a no brainer.

FullStackAda 4y ago

I don't think that Metaverse can be implemented by anyone in the industry at the moment. People consume content either in small chunks or on the background. Sure, teenagers and gamers are different, but the investment one has to make to build Metaverse cannot pay off with just this subset of users.