Why the Birth of the Silicon Valley Metaverse is a Big Deal

In a recent conference call, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed the platform’s latest results with analysts. What made this call different is the mention of the metaverse twelve times in the hour-long discussion. Now, Silicon Valley is mulling over the idea and is making it a moonshot goal, along with other startups, tech giants, and venture capitalists.

The Metaverse

The term metaverse was first mentioned in the cyberpunk novel Snow Crash. It was a means for the main character to escape his life. In the book, the metaverse is a platform for virtual creation. It is filled with problems such as harassment, violence, and discrimination that sometimes carry over to the real world. 

In Zuckerberg’s world, the metaverse is quite the opposite of the novel’s definition. In his mind, the metaverse has full of potentials that are optimistic in nature. While there is no clear definition established just yet, the experts have agreed on a few aspects of the term.

One of these is the idea that users will experience a sense of presence and embodiment. They will get the feeling of being inside a virtual space with other people and see things in first-person and in 3D. On the abovementioned call, Zuckerberg was quoted as saying:

“You can kind of think about [the metaverse] as an embodied internet that you’re inside of rather than just looking at.”

Silicon Valley Metaverse

It may be a goal in the long shot, but Silicon Valley is stoked about the idea of creating a space similar to the internet. Using digital avatars, you’ll walk in and interact with other people inside that virtual space in real-time. This will take the place of a virtual meeting done in Zoom.

Instead of staring at colleagues’ faces in different parts of the world, you can walk in a visual coffee shop and mingle with them. The applications are excitingly endless. Applications that Zuckerberg is excited about and has already envisioned Facebook to do.

Facebook recently announced that a metaverse product group had been created, and Zuckerberg is envisioning the technology to replace mobile internet. This is a concept he has been playing around with since high school.

And the media magnate isn’t the only one who has been fantasizing about the metaverse. Microsoft, through its CEO Satya Nadella, announced that they are already working on the building of the “enterprise metaverse.”

Likewise, Epic Games announced its $1 billion round of funding in April of this year. This is in support of their metaverse plans that pushed its valuation to $30 billion. Two months later, venture capitalist Matthew Ball helped launch an exchange-traded fund for investing in the metaverse niche. This includes other tech companies such as Nvidia (NVDA) and gaming platform Roblox (RBLX).

The Future of the Silicon Valley Metaverse

However, with all the hype around the Silicon Valley metaverse, it is a concept that’s still a long way to go before its fruition. If it does become a reality, it will take years to make using billions of dollars. The discussions are mostly to reassure investors that they won’t miss out on this next big thing and that it will eventually pay off.

Safety, privacy, and if people want to live in a metaverse are prime hesitations the tech companies are pondering. Former Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon employee and now founder of AR and VR consultancy RealityPrime Avi Bar-Zeev summed it up with his concern about the metaverse. “Are we ready? Are we emotionally evolved enough yet to move beyond the safe division of having screens between us and typing words?”

With all these news, whispers, and comments, the Silicon Valley metaverse is indeed a big deal.