PEOPLE

Epic Games CEO opposes the "metaverse is dead" narrative! Mocks: Let's hold a 3D online memorial for our six billion users

share
Epic Games CEO opposes the "metaverse is dead" narrative! Mocks: Let

The CEO of PR firm EZPR, Ed Zitron, recently published an article on Insider titled "RIP Metaverse," in which he heavily criticized Meta CEO Zuckerberg's ambitions for the metaverse and declared the concept dead in the industry. However, the CEO of renowned game developer Epic Games seems to disagree.

Is the Metaverse Dead? Zuckerberg's Meta Criticized

"The once hotly debated technology of the metaverse, promising to bring users together in an awkward and confusing virtual world reminiscent of a video game, has been declared dead in the business world. The concept only lasted for three years," said Ed Zitron at the beginning of the article.

Ed Zitron mentioned that the metaverse trend took off after Zuckerberg changed the company name from Facebook to Meta, drawing attention from various industry giants who then launched metaverse-related products, such as Disney, Microsoft, and Walmart.

Furthermore, the positive reports on metaverse development released by consulting and management companies also boosted people's optimism towards it, attracting a large number of Wall Street investors to join in.

However, issues such as the unclear commercial positioning of the metaverse and the scarcity of actual users surfaced over time. Meta's metaverse division also faced billions of dollars in losses every quarter, leading various companies to close their metaverse divisions amidst financial losses.

In response, Ed Zitron stated that the metaverse is heading towards the grave of failed tech ideas, and once the tech industry shifts towards a new and more promising trend, such as generative AI, the metaverse is doomed.

Epic Games CEO Humorously Counters Criticism, Still Bullish on Metaverse Development

Following the publication of this highly pessimistic article on the metaverse, Tim Sweeney, the CEO of game developer Epic Games, took to Twitter today to sarcastically counter the claims made in the article.

"The metaverse is dead! Let's organize an online memorial where the six hundred million monthly active users of 'Fortnite,' 'Minecraft,' 'Roblox,' 'PUBG Mobile,' 'Sandbox,' and 'VRChat' can mourn its departure together in a real-time 3D environment."

Although the metaverse hype has been waning recently, Meta's temporary failure does not mean failure for all operators. For Epic Games, the fact that their products are currently beloved by a large number of users is undeniable.

However, some Twitter users pointed out that the examples Tim Sweeney provided are just games and cannot be interconnected, seemingly not aligning with the concept of the metaverse.

In response, Tim Sweeney stated that sometimes a change in the scale of something can bring about a change in its stage and make it serve a completely different purpose than a smaller version.

He cited the period from 1982 to 1989 as an example, where there were many popular online services and some protocols allowed them to communicate with each other, but not enough to provide an excellent user experience. Tim Sweeney believes that over the next decade, everything will continue to evolve and change.