AI is on the rise, but what happened to Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse? VR is far from becoming a reality
Mark Zuckerberg has hailed the dawn of a new age with his metaverse, but where is it?
Back in 2014, Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus sparked visions of a future defined by virtual reality, with Mark Zuckerberg’s outlandish rebranding pushing that dream further amid talk of his sprawling “metaverse.”
The tech mogul promised digital worlds in which people could not just view but visit and inhabit, proudly declaring that “in the metaverse, you’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine." It’s a question people have been asking for years now, as we await the birth of a truly immersive virtual space.
By April 2023, speculation that Zuckerberg had pivoted away from his metaverse dream had grown so intense that he was forced to deny it publicly: “A narrative has developed that we’re somehow moving away from focusing on the metaverse,” he told investors. “So I just want to say upfront that that’s not accurate.”
So, Zuck, where is it?
Recent reports on the latest VR tech suggest it still lacks polish—possibly even a ‘sea sickness’ warning sticker. NPR’s Alisa Chang wrote: “All I have to do now is walk across the room to open a door. And that is when a wave of nausea hits me. I do feel like I’m going to barf.”
Vishal Shah, Meta’s vice president of the metaverse, was recently asked whether we’re still on track to see Zuckerberg’s vision realized. The response was telling: “I think the hype around the metaverse, I think, is dead.” He did go on to say, “we believe in it,” and “it is actually growing much more quickly than people realise,” but admitted that gaming remains the only major area of success.
Gaming, however, is not enough. Business Insider reported that “Meta recorded a $4.2 billion loss in Reality Labs, totalling over $60 billion since 2020,” and the company has “faced layoffs and struggles with declining revenue and underperforming Quest sales.”
A 2025 report adds that “Meta could shift focus to AI and Ray-Ban smart glasses,” a shift Zuckerberg appears to have embraced in recent months. The tech exec recently admitted: “There are more investments that I think make sense to make.”
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At least for now, Meta’s VR universe still exists, but the day may come when it becomes nothing more than a Trivial Pursuit answer, played through a pair of smart Ray-Bans.
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