Meta is investing a large number of dollars each year in the development of augmented and virtual reality new generation devices and their software. Along with that, the new social VR platform is also gaining large investments. When asked Mark Zuckerberg about the worth of the investment, he replied that he wasn’t to live in a world where giant companies utilize their resources to take huge shots.
In an interview with Protocol, Mark Zuckerberg talked about the huge investments in the metaverse, its comparison to Facebook’s transition to mobile, why the social VR by Meta is a walled garden for now, and how Zuckerberg wants to open those platforms.
It’s been some time since Facebook has named Meta. How frequently is it required to explain this change and what is all the metaverse about?
Zuckerberg explained that it’s been a lot better than what he had thought about. This experience is actually very hard to understand unless you have used some of its devices. However, there is much more excitement and interest in the idea. He said that this is exactly what they’re going to work on for the upcoming 20 years.
Critics say that Meta’s branding itself indicates controlling the metaverse. It is like Facebook calling itself the Internet.
Zuckerberg replied that it’s not like that. By giving that name, they were clear about the focus of the company. However, today they’re not the only company working on it, many other companies like Nvidia, Unity and Unreal, Roblox, Satya, and many more are building and working on it. He also mentioned that they require software as much as possible, in order to run their systems.
Do the investments in Virtual Reality provide any advantage to platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite, or mobile experiences are required for that?
They have some advantages as they have been doing this for quite some time now. We have a great number of people using our platforms, hence a good base. We can afford a huge R&D effort to work on many different things simultaneously, we are going to make huge progress. For Horizon, that is going to be pretty much valuable. You can make a world of your own and share it on your Facebook and Instagram so that people on your friend list can directly jump from there. In the upcoming future, a lot of people are going to be on Mobile phones rather a VR. However, we would like to balance both experiences as it is important.
Currently, you’re investing a lot of money on metaverse, however, there are not quite many users there, and monetization is also not available. Is it much hard to make that case, and does the rocky stock market, as it is currently, affect it?
He mentioned that their company is not a typical company, it is rather controlled, which is why Zuckerberg said that he can make more decisions than other companies. And this gives him a chance to come forward and do what other companies might not be able to do.
Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that he is making a bet of spending 10-15 billion dollars per year, with reality Labs, to help the invention of the next set of platforms. He says that he wants to live in a world where giant companies use resources to take big shots. He wants to make sure that it ends up a good financial decision for the new employees who join his company. But along with that, he feels a responsibility to go for it.
He mentioned that at this point they have made a lot of content transitions, as the initial stage was just text. Then they got phones with cameras, pictures, and mobile connections improved. Currently, Facebook is a partial video. People spend 20% more time on Reels than they do on Instagram.
However, this is not the end of the line. You are about to get more mesmerized and immersed. Today it seems like a huge bet or not, Zuckerberg thinks that it is certain that something like this has to be invented, and he just wants to make it come true.
Photo: Anthony Quintano / Flickr
Read next: Why is Meta getting late removing the Facebook linked account login for Quest users?
In an interview with Protocol, Mark Zuckerberg talked about the huge investments in the metaverse, its comparison to Facebook’s transition to mobile, why the social VR by Meta is a walled garden for now, and how Zuckerberg wants to open those platforms.
It’s been some time since Facebook has named Meta. How frequently is it required to explain this change and what is all the metaverse about?
Zuckerberg explained that it’s been a lot better than what he had thought about. This experience is actually very hard to understand unless you have used some of its devices. However, there is much more excitement and interest in the idea. He said that this is exactly what they’re going to work on for the upcoming 20 years.
Critics say that Meta’s branding itself indicates controlling the metaverse. It is like Facebook calling itself the Internet.
Zuckerberg replied that it’s not like that. By giving that name, they were clear about the focus of the company. However, today they’re not the only company working on it, many other companies like Nvidia, Unity and Unreal, Roblox, Satya, and many more are building and working on it. He also mentioned that they require software as much as possible, in order to run their systems.
Do the investments in Virtual Reality provide any advantage to platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite, or mobile experiences are required for that?
They have some advantages as they have been doing this for quite some time now. We have a great number of people using our platforms, hence a good base. We can afford a huge R&D effort to work on many different things simultaneously, we are going to make huge progress. For Horizon, that is going to be pretty much valuable. You can make a world of your own and share it on your Facebook and Instagram so that people on your friend list can directly jump from there. In the upcoming future, a lot of people are going to be on Mobile phones rather a VR. However, we would like to balance both experiences as it is important.
Currently, you’re investing a lot of money on metaverse, however, there are not quite many users there, and monetization is also not available. Is it much hard to make that case, and does the rocky stock market, as it is currently, affect it?
He mentioned that their company is not a typical company, it is rather controlled, which is why Zuckerberg said that he can make more decisions than other companies. And this gives him a chance to come forward and do what other companies might not be able to do.
Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that he is making a bet of spending 10-15 billion dollars per year, with reality Labs, to help the invention of the next set of platforms. He says that he wants to live in a world where giant companies use resources to take big shots. He wants to make sure that it ends up a good financial decision for the new employees who join his company. But along with that, he feels a responsibility to go for it.
He mentioned that at this point they have made a lot of content transitions, as the initial stage was just text. Then they got phones with cameras, pictures, and mobile connections improved. Currently, Facebook is a partial video. People spend 20% more time on Reels than they do on Instagram.
However, this is not the end of the line. You are about to get more mesmerized and immersed. Today it seems like a huge bet or not, Zuckerberg thinks that it is certain that something like this has to be invented, and he just wants to make it come true.
Read next: Why is Meta getting late removing the Facebook linked account login for Quest users?
