xg153 days ago
I wasn't following the project very closely and so might have missed something - but could someone explain what happened there and where all those billions went?
The idea of an immersive, persistent, multi-user virtual reality is not exactly a new one and we've had several mature implementations over the years - VRChat, Second Life, in some sense most MMOs, etc.
Compared to that, all the impressions of the "Metaverse" that made some larger rounds in the press looked more like the prototype of a WiiFit knockoff. And that for 85B? Did they do some significant research/development in other problem areas that are less visible than the graphics? Or what was going on there?
ChrisArchitect3 days ago
Related:
Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47427214
Meta Horizon Worlds on Meta Quest is being discontinued
furryrain3 days ago
Tech sentiment around 2022 was time was Zuckerberg was a good leader for actually setting a clear direction for his company.
I'm not sure what to conclude from this.
pseudohadamard2 days ago
It was? I've always thought he's just someone who will say anything to protect his stock price and... yeah, and that's about it.
throw031720193 days ago
Facebook -> Meta -> AIBook -> ??????
urbandw311er3 days ago
Are they? I thought they were moving the access to it to be solely via their app or something like that
renegade-otter2 days ago
They renamed the whole company after this...
flw_03113 days ago
didn't they rename the company to Meta because of their investment in Metaverse.... what will the company rename itself to next?
glensteina day ago
I think they actually renamed to avoid anti-trust by attempting to shift the company's identity away from social media monopoly. If you're perceived as pointless and weird (and actually are), it's much better than being perceived as a monopoly which is the target of bipartisan effort to be dismantled.
I think they took a boutique idea that had no legs and leaned into it because it also happened to be complementary to a strategy to escape the anti-trust heat.
wduquette3 days ago
They won't rename themselves again. They're um, "beyond" that.
pfannkuchen2 days ago
If they wanted to broaden their brand association beyond the legacy product they should have dropped “book” to become Face. A bit of a stranger name than Meta I guess but it’s more historically explainable and doesn’t tie it to any specific new product that could fail.
nchmy2 days ago
Face would be an absolutely awful name. Though, interestingly, that's what people in (at least some) Latin American countries (inexplicably) call Facebook.
pfannkuchena day ago
Why would Face be an awful name? To me it feels similar to “Apple”, which might also sound like a stupid name for a computer company if it wasn’t established already.
GeoSys3 days ago
On to the next hype ...
makeitrain3 days ago
AI generated content and chat bots.
GeoSys2 days ago
Next a rename to SlopBook ...
cat-turner3 days ago
Restore Facebook.
AbstractH24a day ago
Make Facebook Again Great!
renegade-otter2 days ago
Launch Facebook into the Sun.
metalman3 days ago
it was so bad that they couldn't even get anybody to form negative opinions about it
al2o3cr3 days ago
[dead]