- Vitalik Buterin criticized the way certain people and companies are butchering the very definition of the “metaverse.”
- The Ethereum (ETH) co-founder said it has been reduced to a mere marketing ploy.
- The famous Canadian computer programmer also pointed out that there’s more to it than VR.
What is the Metaverse?
The metaverse has been broadly defined as the fusion of physical and virtual spaces. It hosts a persistent world within blockchain or Web3 and accessed using immersive technologies, including but not limited to virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Think of it as the realization of the tech envisioned by the 2018 Warner Bros. Pictures film, “Ready Player One.”
Vitalik Buterin: The Metaverse is Poorly Defined
For Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, we are far from there yet. He slammed how companies have treated it more as a brand name than a product.
The developer of the world’s second largest blockchain hosting the Ether cryptocurrency also highlighted how its utility has been reduced to VR and how it does not really embody a decentralized world. However, he did acknowledge that this is happening due to the lack of a better definition for metaverse.
“The Metaverse is poorly defined and often seen more as a brand name than a product,” said Buterin in a speech at the BUIDL Asia conference in Seoul. “It’s envisioned as a virtual universe where everyone can participate and is not owned by anyone.”
“It’s frequently associated with virtual reality, where needs are simpler, akin to wanting a laptop without the laptop,” he added. “It’s super useful but not really a-verse.”
Buterin explained that in order for the metaverse to work properly, the present iterations of VR, AR, and MR should likewise have cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI) integration.
A Growing Market
After getting eclipsed by generative AI projects in the past couple of years, the metaverse appears to be gearing up for a major comeback this year with major projects underway. Recently, big names such as Apple and Disney have entered the fray while Meta (formerly Facebook) continues to invest in R&D for its metaverse platform and EA Sports is also exploring the possibility of taking its famous titles in the realm.
Markets And Markets just painted a bullish outlook for the metaverse sector in its February report. According to the market research firm, AR and VR are the key driving forces within the industry this year with an estimated market cap of $1.8 billion in 2023, and anticipated growth of $8.2 billion in the next five years, indicating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.6% within that period. The primary contributor to this projected trend will be the wider adoption of these metaverse devices in gaming.