RIP Metaverse, we hardly knew ye ...It's not clear if there is a specific death knell or if this is just a vibe check, but I don't think VR has really found its legs.
The real metaverse action seems to be in Roblox and Second Life- each have about 60 million players, and encourage building new things in the shared world. Fortnight has 5 or 6 times the player base of either, but is more "The OASIS" of Ready Player One than the metaverse of "Snow Crash".
Apple is widely expected to release its VR or AR goggles soon - I am dying to see if they come up with a compelling usecase. Ever since the return of Steve Jobs their new products have been category-making or -dominating: music players, smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, wireless earbuds. So on the one hand it would be surprising to see them make a big misstep; on the other hand, what is the killer app? And even if the price is half the predictions (as was the iPad) it's still pricey.
I've only dabbled with a few VR products, but they so isolate the user from the physical environment...it's psychologically not comfortable. AR, projecting objects into a view of the real world vs VR's attempt at immersion, might help. But I still don't know what they will offer me in terms of productivity that a big old flatpanel won't...
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