Yesterday, Meta unveiled the Meta Quest Pro, the company's new high-end VR headset that is a slimmer, more comfortable, and more powerful gateway into Zuckerberg's avatar-centric future. The signal is clear: Zuckerberg is still planning to bet his entire company on the metaverse.
And in some respects I very much admire what he's doing. It's really difficult for big companies to maintain their innovative and risk-taking edges when they have so many eyes on them and so many Wall Street analysts to please, so it's rare to see a company as big as Meta try to attempt such an extreme pivot. But admiration aside, I still have one big question about Meta's new product strategy that I don't have a clear answer on.
What problem is the metaverse solving?
Zuckerberg has always said everything Meta does is centered around connecting people and encouraging more authentic human interactions, and the metaverse is the natural extension of this mission. The metaverse will be a place where everyone can connect with their friends, family, and coworkers in a fully digital world using full-body avatars that look just enough like you to be mildly creepy but not close enough to be impressive.
What part of what I just said sounds like "authentic human interaction" to you? Everything about this sounds far less intimate than a simple Zoom call; after all, I would much rather see a 2D-version of my friend than a 3D-version of some digital approximation of what my friend kind of looks like. It seems like the main difference between a Zoom call with a friend and a metaverse meet-up with a friend is the ability to see that friend's digital feet, and I never really wanted to do that in the first place.
And if this product isn't actually solving the problem of creating more authentic digital interactions, then what problem is it solving? Meta will sell a truckload of these headsets to gaming junkies and people interested in the sheer novelty of VR, but to really entrench your product into culture over the long-term, it needs to solve a problem. It needs to have a tangible value, whether that's the ability to save time or grow relationships or avoid headaches or whatever. It can't just be a clever or novel product in search of a problem to solve. And unfortunately I still think Meta is in this category.
Comments