DailyPost 2219
META – MONEY GOING DOWN THE DRAIN,!
What is Metaverse? We would not indulge in the definition as each of one you would have got inputs on it helping you to form your imaginary contours of it. Without disturbing the fascinating digital world image of the future, suffice to say, it would be the high-tech recreation of the world, made of digital avatars, and virtual geography, being able to do possibly everything done in the world and more, riding on the next version of the internet Web 3.0 and blockchain technology. What will happen of the Metaverse only time will tell, today we are limiting it to the company Meta and its pioneering foray into Metaverse, which they intend to control considerably.
This thought has been the singular reason for the rechristening of Facebook as Meta, the world was taken into a spin, as it held the promise of a new digital world. With sometime over of this grandiose plan having been announced and practiced, its time to take stock of the progress. At the end of the day, digital internet businesses have thrived on the windfall profits they make and the promise and delivery of a financial dream to its shareholders. Does the dream continue to thrive with Meta or when rubber meets the road it would lead heat, friction and non-delivery or the dream sequence of the next generation of the world will continue with the same fervour, as it started.
Meta share prices tell the real story. Last year Meta was trading at about 353 dollars per share and now it has come down to 134 dollars. It’s being a return giving member of FAANG is in question now. FAANG is an acronym for Big Five of the tech world, Meta (formerly Facebook), Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Alphabet (formerly Google). The reality was that if you invested in these stocks, you would get better returns than investing in S&P 500 and it had been true for years. The founders also made big money in the process. Ironically, as Mark Zuckerberg’s fortunes are tied to Meta’s stocks, and in the process he has lost about $77 billion or over half of his net worth since September of last year. Thus Facebook / Meta is no longer a part of this high-profile group.
Meta has turned out to be world’s deepest financial pit. Their main offering to Metaverse has been Decentraland. It has only 379 active users currently. Meta is out with graphics that are much worse than a lot of PS2 games. You can’t even compare it with Final Fantasy released in 2006 for PS2 with a budget of $48 million. Meta has spent $15 billion on their metaverse just in the past one year. The experts and laymen find Meta characters /avatars thoroughly substandard. It does match with Nintendo of a ten year vintage and so a much simpler technology. It was not known for cutting edge graphics, still gave its character legs, unlike the Meta’s metaverse. This is the result of Oculus headset which is not good at tracking people’s legs. So, it gives the feel of floating torsos. The character don’t have shadows too. Legs are promised as we go by. Apple’s decision to enable any iPhone user to shut all Meta tracking and advertisements, primary to its business model, has shot it on its legs.
META HAS TURNED OUT TO THE FINANCIAL PIT OF THE PROMISED DIGITAL LAND.
Sanjay Sahay