VR/AR of some sort is the future, and some big companies will be formed or be made bigger, but I think this whole metaverse thing is just trying to force it.
They've got a succesful VR gaming headset but that's not gonna replace the slowly declining Facebook ad revenue and its not gonna guarantee a seat at the table when this stuff does become the next thing.
Skimming Google, it says Meta's key businesses are: FB, Instagram, Whats App, the VR Labs stuff, Beluga, Onovo. And a google search says Onovo is shut down. I dont know if theres shit I'm missing as I just took what I saw.
I have no idea how profitable Instagram, WhatsApp and Beluga are. But it's amazing FB is still super profitable. I thought by now the articles you read about FB being social media for older people, young people doing TikTok and such that FB would tank. I dont think it is, but the profits sure are amazing still.
It looks like Zuck has bet the farm for Meta growth not on traditional social media stuff like site XYZ, but gunning for VR/metaverse.
Personally, I still dont think this will work. The VR experience can be awesome (like riding a roller coaster), but I still dont see any kind of VR/AR life changing shit coming from it. Not only do VR goggles cost good money to buy, but I dont think the typical person wants to live life with a brick strapped to their face for hours when they can get through their daily grind normally just by doing stuff on their phone, PC or walking around like a human being. No doubt humans are often defaulted to being lazy first, but I just dont see the typical human being that lazy they'll do it. There's only so many people I see willing to pay $500-1000 for goggles and doing this so much it's the next big tech thing on planet Earth.
Then again, maybe Im wrong and 10 or 20 years from now, everyone will carry around a set of wireless super slim 2 ounce goggles and do it every half an hour.