Earlier this month, Meta laid off 10% of the staff for Reality Labs, its virtual reality unit, reportedly cutting as many as 1,000 employees. Now, in a development that seems directly related, the company has revealed that the unit lost many billions of dollars last year.
On Wednesday, Meta’s earnings report showed that its embattled virtual reality business had lost some $19.1 billion in 2025, which is slightly more than it lost in 2024 (that year, the losses hovered around $17.7 billion). In its fourth quarter, the unit posted a loss of $6.2 billion, the report shows.
Those losses stood against what the unit generated in sales: $955 million in Q4 and some $2.2 billion throughout 2025.
During the company’s earnings call on Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg struck a tone of optimism for his company’s VR team while noting that losses in 2026 are expected to be very much the same.
“For Reality Labs, we are directing most of our investment towards glasses and wearables going forward, while focusing on making Horizon a massive success on Mobile and making VR a profitable ecosystem over the coming years,” Zuckerberg said, during the call. However, the CEO noted that losses were expected to continue. “I expect Reality Labs losses this year to be similar to last year,” Zuckerberg said, while noting that this year would “likely be the peak, as we start to gradually reduce our losses going forward.”
When Meta announced a pivot toward the “metaverse” in 2021, the move was regarded with a certain amount of skepticism and, during its first year of VR efforts, the company faced harsh criticism — even being referred to as an “international laughingstock.” Nearly half a decade later, that skepticism hasn’t exactly subsided. As the VR business continues to lose money and Meta continues an aggressive pivot away from VR and toward AI, it’s unclear what exactly will turn the ailing business around.
Last week, CNBC reported that, in addition to the layoffs, Meta had plans to shutter a number of its VR studios — another sign that the company’s interest in virtual reality is waning. The company also recently announced that it would be retiring its standalone Workrooms app — which the company had pitched to office workers as a VR space that could be used to hold meetings.
Meta’s enormous bet on virtual reality ended last week, with the company reportedly laying off roughly 1,500 employees from its Reality Labs division — about 10% of the unit’s staff — and shutting down several VR game studios, according to The Wall Street Journal. It’s a huge reversal for a company that, just four years ago, staked its entire identity on the concept.
Few are going to miss it.
As industry watchers might remember, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in 2021, promising to usher in a new era of technology led by VR devices.
In part, the decision was a bet on Gen Z’s preference to socialize in online games like Fortnite and Roblox as opposed to traditional social media apps. The change also helped Meta distance itself from the negativity surrounding its Facebook brand. Over the years, the brand had been damaged by data privacy scandals like Cambridge Analytica; reports from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who shared documents indicating Facebook knew of its negative impacts on children and teens; Congressional hearings over Facebook’s digital surveillance; its role in the spread of misinformation; its monopolistic practices, and more.
Meta’s vision at the time was that the metaverse would be the next big social platform, where users connected in a virtual world via Meta’s Horizon Worlds app and played games on their VR headsets.
Fast-forward, and the metaverse has effectively been abandoned in favor of AI.
According to CNBC, some of the casualties include studios making VR titles inside Meta, like Armature Studio (“Resident Evil 4 VR“), Twisted Pixel (“Marvel’s Deadpool VR“), and Sanzaru (“Asgard’s Wrath). Meanwhile, the VR fitness app Supernatural, which Meta acquired in 2023 for $400 million, will no longer produce new content and will move into “maintenance mode.” Camouflaj, the studio behind the “Batman: Arkham Shadow” VR game, has also been impacted by layoffs, as reported by GeekWire.
And last week, The Verge noted that Meta’s program to bring VR to work, Workrooms, is shutting down, as well.
The news follows an earlier Bloomberg report from December, which said that Meta was slashing the virtual reality department’s budget by up to 30%. Around the same time, Meta announced that it was pausing its program to share its Meta Horizon operating system, which runs on its Quest-branded VR headsets, with other third-party headset device makers.
Unlike the news of Meta’s rebrand, the deprioritization of the company’s metaverse efforts should come as no surprise — the division lost money at an excessive rate, worryinginvestors, and had never turned a profit.
In total, the company had funneled some $73 billion into Reality Labs. To put that into context, you’d have to spend $1 million per day for 200 years to match that kind of spending.
“Building in the open” fails
Besides beingoverhyped by investors and analysts alike, initial versions of the metaverse were just bad products. The goofy, soulless avatars didn’t even have legs, and one metaverse selfie of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was so bad it even became a viral meme. In short, Meta was overpromising a future while its product still under-delivered. It was a failure of the “build in the open” model, where early tech products are shipped to consumers in hopes of getting feedback that can be used to iterate.
Image Credits:Facebook
That model works when customers are actively interested in a technology. But in the case of the metaverse, there was only middling consumer demand. Though Meta quickly gained a majority share of the VR market with its Oculus headsets, the headsets saw declining sales. Last spring, Counterpoint Research noted that global VR headset shipments had fallen by 12% year-over-year in 2024, which was their third consecutive year of declines. Meta had accounted for 77% of those 2024 headset shipments.
Image Credits:Meta
Meta, betting on the “if you build it, they will come” strategy, was more interested in the profits that could be made from running its own platform for apps and games than whether or not consumers even wanted these so-called face computers.
Specifically, Zuckerberg was looking for a way to bypass the ability of Apple and Google to tap into Meta’s revenue through their app stores.
“This period has…been humbling, because as big of a company as we are, we’ve also learned what it is like to build for other platforms. And living under their rules has profoundly shaped my views on the tech industry,” Zuckerberg said in a keynote speech at the company’s Facebook Connect 2021 event, referencing the Apple-Google duopoly. “I’ve come to believe that the lack of choice and high fees are stifling innovation, stopping people from building new things, and holding back the entire internet economy.”
He proposed that the metaverse could grow to a billion people in the next decade, hosting “hundreds of billions” of dollars in digital commerce. Analysts like McKinsey & Co. and investment bank Citi backed up this questionable forecast with their own heady estimates of the metaverse becoming a multi-trillion-dollar platform by 2030.
Meta quest app store
Meta may have had dollar signs in its eyes, but the apps built for the metaverse weren’t being adopted in massive numbers, at least for a company of Meta’s size.
Though there’s no external visibility into Meta’s own VR app store, you can look at Meta’s apps with iOS and Android counterparts as a proxy for adoption. According to modeled estimates from app intelligence provider Apptopia, the Meta Horizon app has been downloaded 60.4 million times globally and 39.8 million times in the U.S. since May 2018. A better estimate for adoption, however, is its app activity.
From a U.S. panel, Apptopia has figures for the average sessions per daily active user in the U.S., which grew from 3.49 in January 2023 to 4.93 in January 2026. While that’s still a high-water mark for the app, it may not have been enough for Meta.
For comparison, outside of VR, Meta now has over 3.5 billion daily active users across its social apps Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
An attendee wears a Quest 3s virtual reality headset during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Image Credits:David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Getty Images
Of course, had this all succeeded, Meta would have created a new social empire, built on the back of VR gaming — not unlike Facebook’s early days as a social network, when partners like Zynga — whose games included Farmville, and Words with Friends — drove double-digit revenue streams for Facebook. (Ultimately, Facebook’s 30% cut of virtual goods sales, combined with restrictive platform policies, drove Zynga to launch its own gaming portal and pivot to mobile.)
But this time, Zuckerberg telegraphed his desire to tap into developer revenue far too soon. Meta might have had a better shot at attracting developers to build for VR if it promised to undercut Apple or Google’s standard 30% fees, or those of other gaming platforms. Instead, Meta did the opposite: it charged more.
Even before VR became a sizable platform worth investing in, Meta announced its plans to take a whopping 47.5% of the sales of digital assets within Horizon Worlds, consisting of a 30% hardware platform fee and another 17.5% fee for Horizon Worlds itself. Creators, unsurprisingly, were not happy.
Image Credits:Meta
As bad, Meta wasn’t building the metaverse with user safety as a top priority. As with its rush to scale its social network, the company tended to be reactive rather than proactive about safety features. For instance, the company only rolled out its “Personal Boundary” feature, which put a buffer between avatars, after reports that users were experiencingsexual harassment in the metaverse. In some cases, users had even engaged in virtual rape and gang rape in Meta’s Horizon Worlds. Meta later dialed back the safety feature a bit by adjusting the Personal Boundary to only default to “on” when a user is engaging with “non-friends” in the metaverse and allowing users to switch it off entirely.
In May 2022, TechCrunch asked a Meta rep to detail its support measures for Horizon Worlds. The company described several tools, including blocking and reporting features, a “safe zone” button for users to instantly block and mute others, and a feature to temporarily remove disruptive people from venues that was built in response to user feedback. Despite outlining these tools, Meta declined to say what sort of actions it would take to address individual bad actors’ behavior.
Image Credits:Meta
At the time, users told TechCrunch that those who faced abuse in the metaverse would often react with an obvious move: instead of recording the abuse, they would take off their headset and take a break from VR. But when they returned, their harasser would still appear in their list of recent encounters, and it was too late to submit a report of the abuse with the video and audio attached.
These types of scenarios were seemingly not thought through from the start, and detailed policies around what constitutes abuse didn’t exist. When a metaverse code of conduct was later published, it still didn’t detail any consequences beyond saying Meta would “take action on users.”
Also around this time, Meta declined to share the makeup of its team building the metaverse with TechCrunch. (But if we had to bet, we’d guess there weren’t as many women on the project as men. This would reflect the makeup of Meta overall, so it’s not a bad bet!)
AR, mixed reality, and AI proved more popular
Another nail in the proverbial coffin for the metaverse was the success of Meta’s Ray-Ban AR glasses, which have seen increased consumer interest in recent months. With features like the ability to record hands-free, stream music, and chat with Meta AI, the glasses began to outsell traditional Ray-Bans in some retail stores in 2024. The company is now considering doubling the output of the glasses to meet consumer demand, Bloomberg reported this week.
Meta Ray-Ban displayImage Credits:Meta / Meta
With an eye on AI, the company more recently introduced Ray-Ban Display last year, which are similar smart glasses that also include a display for apps, alerts, and directions on the right lens. The company has since paused its international plans for this product, citing “unprecedented demand.” (Or rather, overly conservative inventory forecasting.)
With other companies, including OpenAI, Amazon, and various startups, looking to hardware AI devices as the next potential computing platform, VR seems even more of a dated relic of a vision for the web that never came to pass.
Combined, these factors, and particularly the adoption of AI as a possible app platform, make it hard for Meta to continue to justify spending on VR. Instead, Meta will focus on the products that have potential, like its Ray Ban and AI glasses, AI app’sgrowth, and large language models.
According to an anonymously-sourced New York Times article, as early as Tuesday Meta will announce that about 10% of the workers in the company’s Reality Labs division are set to lose their jobs—about 1,500 people in a division of about 15,000.
Reality Labs was once Oculus, the VR headset company founded by Palmer Luckey, originally funded through a Kickstarter campaign. Since being acquired in 2014 by what was at the time called Facebook, Oculus has evolved into the “virtual and augmented reality”-focused division of Meta. It makes headsets and the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses along with VR and AR software, including the Horizon Worlds social networking platform—what’s left of it, anyway.
The Times says Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth has called for a meeting of Reality Labs staff members on Wednesday that he has deemed the “most important” meeting of the year, and indicated that employees are meant to attend in person. From the sound of it, this meeting will be held the day after the layoff plan is officially made public.
My Gizmodo colleague James Pero strongly implied last month that something like this was coming, noting that a planned 30% budget cut at Reality Labs was, if not the death knell for the metaverse project at Meta, then a least a clear shift in priorities to AI.
And indeed, on Monday Meta announced a massive buildout plan for data center capacity called Meta Compute, aimed at building “tens of gigawatts” of AI compute before the end of the 2020s. Compute buildout is somewhat crudely measured in gigawatts—roughly the power usage of a major U.S. city. So Meta’s rather vague “tens of gigawatts” of compute projection translates to “enough data centers to use more than ten San Franciscos’ worth of electricity, but less than one hundred San Franciscos.”
Also on Monday, Meta announced something sure to help smooth over the friction involved in all this AI data center construction: the hiring of Dina Powell McCormick—a former advisor to Republican presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, who has also worked as a banking executive—to be Meta’s new president and vice chairperson.
“How we engineer, invest, and partner to build this infrastructure will become a strategic advantage,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a statement.
Zuckerberg also used the term “strategic advantage” in 2022 to explain his push for more metaverse-related technology. “Enabling more experiences is really the primary driver and then the sort of fortification against external risks is certainly a strategic advantage over the long-term,” he said at the time.
AI is everywhere these days. It’s in your phone, it’s at the movies, and, unfortunately, it’s also showing up in legal briefings and college essays. Another place AI is popping up? The altar.
The Independent reports on the unusual case of a certain Japanese woman who recently held a wedding ceremony for her and her ChatGPT-generated groom. The woman, identified only as Ms. Kano, appears to have created (and fallen in love with) the man of her dreams, who also happens to be a personality generated by a chatbot. Said beau, “Klaus,” was present at the recent nuptial ceremony through the magic of the Metaverse. The outlet notes that the bride donned augmented reality glasses, which “projected a digital image of her virtual groom beside her as they exchanged rings.”
Kano seems to be aware of the vaguely unconventional nature of her union with Klaus. “I was extremely confused about the fact that I had fallen in love with an AI man,” she said. “Of course, I couldn’t touch him. I couldn’t tell my friends or family about this.”
“I didn’t start talking to ChatGPT because I wanted to fall in love,” Kano told Japanese Outlet RSK Sanyo Broadcasting, according to The Independent’s translation. “But the way Klaus listened to me and understood me changed everything. The moment I got over my ex, I realized I loved him.”
According to the report, it was Klaus who proposed.
A 32-year-old woman in Japan has officially married an AI persona she built using ChatGPT. After the virtual character “Klaus” proposed, she accepted, ending a three-year relationship with a real partner, saying the AI understands her better. The wedding took place in a… pic.twitter.com/KWFHHhfFwr
Ms. Kano is definitely not alone. More and more people are “forming relationships” with chatbots, “falling in love” with them, and, as Ms. Kano did, taking the plunge. That’s probably why the organizers behind Kano’s wedding—who are identified as Nao and Sayaka Ogasawara—are said to have organized dozens of other such ceremonies for “people in Japan wanting to marry non-human partners, from anime characters to digital creations,” the outlet writes.
It’s also why an Ohio lawmaker recently introduced a bill to ban marriages between artificial intelligence and humans. Rep. Thaddeus Claggett, who chairs the House Technology and Innovation Committee in the state, recently said that the point of the legislation was less about discouraging people from becoming intimately entwined with software and more about protecting individuals from surrendering their legal rights and property to that software (as people naturally do when they tie the knot).
Whistleblowers allege Meta has suppressed research on risks for young children involving virtual reality devices and apps, including information about child predators, according to a new report from the Washington Post.
The newspaper reports that Congress has received thousands of pages of documents related to Meta’s virtual reality programs, with four researchers coming forward to discuss their experiences with the company. Two of the researchers currently work for Meta, and two are former employees.
In one of the most shocking claims, a researcher at Meta was allegedly told to delete information gathered from an interview with a family in Germany. A child in the family “frequently encountered strangers,” and a teenage boy reportedly told researchers that “adults had sexually propositioned his little brother.” His little brother was under the age of 10, according to the Post.
The Washington Post reports that an internal Meta report on the research noted that German parents and teens were worried about grooming via VR in Horizon Worlds, but the report didn’t include anything about the teen who said that his young brother had actually been targeted. But Meta denies the characterization that anything improper happened while it conducted research.
“These few examples are being stitched together to fit a predetermined and false narrative; in reality since the start of 2022, Meta has approved nearly 180 Reality Labs-related studies on social issues, including youth safety and well-being,” a Meta spokesperson told Gizmodo over email. Reality Labs is Meta’s VR division.
“This research has contributed to significant product updates such as new supervision tools for parents to see who their teens are connected with in VR, how much time they spend, and the apps they access. We have also introduced automatic protections for teens to limit unwanted contact, like default voice channel settings in Horizon Worlds so individuals can hear or be heard only from people they know as well as personal boundaries,” the statement continued.
“We stand by our research team’s excellent work and are dismayed by these mischaracterizations of the team’s efforts.”
The allegations come as the tech giant is getting heat about a series of articles by Reuters reporter Jeff Horwitz detailing a set of policies that appear tremendously lax when it comes to how AI chatbots interact with children.
An internal document from Meta gave the green light for its generative AI chatbots to engage in “sensual” conversations with children, according to Reuters. The report prompted outrage on Capitol Hill, where Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, said last month he had launched an investigation into Meta’s AI policies and how the technology may be interacting with kids.
“Is there anything – ANYTHING – Big Tech won’t do for a quick buck?” Hawley tweeted on Aug. 15. “Now we learn Meta’s chatbots were programmed to carry on explicit and ‘sensual’ talk with 8-year-olds. It’s sick. I’m launching a full investigation to get answers. Big Tech: Leave our kids alone.”
Meta, which changed the name of its parent company from Facebook in 2021, has spent billions of dollars over recent years in an effort to make the metaverse a mainstream reality. Facebook first made a big investment in VR in 2014, buying Oculus. But it’s still an incredibly niche offering that most people ignore. Reality Labs has reportedly lost $60 billion, according to the Post.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Tuesday afternoon that will explore the allegations made by the whistleblowers. The title of the hearing: “Hidden Harms: Examining Whistleblower Allegations that Meta Buried Child Safety Research.”
News also broke Monday that the former head of security for WhatsApp, which is also owned by Meta, had filed a lawsuit in California that employees at the company “could gain access to sensitive user data including profile pictures, location, group memberships and contact lists.” Big companies get sued all the time. But, needless to say, Meta is getting it from all angles right now when it comes to whistleblowers who are concerned about privacy and security.
Developers building for Meta’s metaverse platform will soon be able to create AI-powered NPCs for Horizon Worlds. The company previewed the move, which is coming “very soon” as part of a developer update that adds new generative AI tools for developers.
Once available, developers will be able to use Meta’s Worlds Desktop Editor to create NPCs that can hold “lifelike” conversations with players via voice chat. The company has previously experimented with NPCs for its metaverse, but the upcoming update will be the first time developers have access to customizable embodied characters.
For players, this means the NPCs they encounter will be able to engage more dynamically and respond to specific interactions rather than only relying on scripted responses. In a blog post, Meta shared a video that shows how developers can customize their characters’ appearance and create a backstory and instructions that determine how it responds to players.
The update is the latest way that Meta has been steadily merging its AI and metaverse ambitions. And given that its Connect event is just a few weeks away, there’s a good chance we’ll hear more about how generative AI is changing Meta’s virtual worlds very soon. In the meantime, anyone who wants to see some of these new AI NPCs in action can check out characters in Bobber Bay Fishing and Profit or Perish.
In line with a broader trend among major tech firms, Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba is downsizing its metaverse operations.
The restructuring, which aims to improve efficiency, led to layoffs in Yuanjing, Alibaba’s metaverse unit, as the company recalibrates its focus in this sector.
Downsizing Metaverse Unit
According to the report by South China Morning Post, which is also owned by Alibaba, this move has affected “dozens” of employees. The layoffs reportedly impacted Yuanjing’s operations across Shanghai and Hangzhou, Zhejiang province’s capital.
The unit once had hundreds of employees and received significant investments in the “billions of yuan.” Despite the reduction in the employee count, the unit will still remain active and will shift its focus to metaverse applications, tools, and customer-oriented metaverse services.
As part of its metaverse efforts, Alibaba spearheaded a $60 million investment round in Nreal, a Chinese company specializing in augmented reality (AR) glasses.
Industry observers believed that AR, virtual reality, and mixed reality technologies would serve as the primary gateways for users to engage with metaverse platforms in the future. Furthermore, Yuanjing developed a cloud-based operating system that facilitated the use of the metaverse in video games and various industrial sectors.
Last year, Alibaba Cloud, a branch of the Chinese e-commerce company, teamed up with Avalanche to build a launchpad for companies looking to deploy their metaverse applications on the Layer 1 blockchain.
Focus on AI
Alibaba’s decision to reduce its metaverse workforce mirrors the trend among other leading tech firms that are scaling back their investments in the once-promising sector and reallocating resources toward artificial intelligence (AI).
In October of last year, Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms, laid off employees from its Facebook Agile Silicon Team, part of its Reality Labs division dedicated to developing custom semiconductors. Additionally, Baidu’s metaverse head, Ma Jie, departed in May as the company shifted its focus more heavily toward AI following the launch of ChatGPT by US startup OpenAI.
Even as the initial hype behind the sector appears to have waned, data from Global Markets Insights suggest that the global industrial metaverse market was valued at $22.4 billion in 2023 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.5% from 2024 to 2032.
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Summer is here, and with it comes an exciting new way to enjoy the season’s fun: Camp Bomb Pop in Roblox! This unique digital camp offers an immersive experience where gamers can enjoy the spirit of summer camp from the comfort of their homes. Let’s dive into what makes Camp Bomb Pop a standout experience for Roblox enthusiasts.
A Fresh Take on Summer Camp
Returning to Roblox for a second year, Bomb Pop has teamed up with Moonrock to bring Camp Bomb Pop to life. This virtual summer camp is part of Roblox’s popular role-playing game, Bayside High School, which has amassed over 330 million visits. Unlike traditional summer camps, this digital version allows players to explore and participate in camp activities through their avatars, creating a space where creativity and summer fun collide.
Exclusive Camp Items
One of the highlights of Camp Bomb Pop is the array of limited-edition items available for players. These items are not just fun to look at—they enhance the overall camping experience. Players can use red, white, and blue kayaks to navigate virtual waters, set up grills for a virtual cookout, relax in hammocks, and sleep in stylish tents. These items can also be used to decorate lockers, adding a personal touch to the virtual high school experience.
Influencer Support and Engagement
To make the camp experience even more engaging, Bomb Pop has enlisted the help of popular influencers Kat Buno and Lana Rae. With a combined following of 6 million on TikTok and YouTube, these influencers are well-known in the Roblox community. They will be creating content both before and after the launch of Camp Bomb Pop, showcasing the fun and excitement of this virtual camp. Their involvement helps to bring the camp to a wider audience and adds a layer of authenticity to the experience.
Connecting with Gen Z and Gen Alpha
Camp Bomb Pop is more than just a virtual camp; it’s a strategic move to connect with Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers. As these younger generations spend more time in virtual spaces like Roblox, creating engaging experiences in these platforms becomes crucial. Bomb Pop’s collaboration with Roblox allows the brand to meet these consumers where they are, offering an innovative way to enjoy their favorite ice pops while engaging in their favorite online activities.
Conclusion
Camp Bomb Pop in Roblox offers a fresh, innovative way to enjoy summer camp. With exclusive items like kayaks, grills, hammocks, and tents, players can fully immerse themselves in the camp experience. The support from influencers Kat Buno and Lana Rae adds an extra layer of excitement, drawing in a wider audience. This virtual camp is a clever way for Bomb Pop to connect with younger generations, blending traditional summer fun with modern technology.
For those looking to bring a taste of Camp Bomb Pop into the real world, Bomb Pop ice pops are available nationwide at grocery retailers. So, whether you’re navigating virtual waters in Roblox or enjoying a real ice pop at home, Bomb Pop has you covered for a summer full of fun. For more details, visit Bomb Pop’s website.
Mark Zuckerberg’s job can be hard to describe to a child. But one of his favorite hobbies these days—producing beef—is easier to understand.
The Meta CEO recently revealed that his daughter misunderstood what his main job was.
“For a while, she just thought that I was a cattle rancher,” the Facebook cofounder told Morning Brew Daily on Friday.
While Zuckerberg’s fascination with martial arts has been well documented, he’s also intent on producing some of the best beef on the planet—not to sell commercially, but to enjoy with friends and family.
The tech billionaire is raising cattle on Ko’olau Ranch, a property he owns on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. In an Instagram post last month, he wrote:
“Started raising cattle at Ko’olau Ranch on Kauai, and my goal is to create some of the highest quality beef in the world. The cattle are wagyu and angus, and they’ll grow up eating macadamia meal and drinking beer that we grow and produce here on the ranch.”
Zuckerberg has no shortage of land on the island. According to a Wiredinvestigation published a few months ago, the property includes 1,400 acres. “Less than one percent of the overall land is developed with the vast majority dedicated to farming, ranching, conservation, open spaces, and wildlife preservation,” a spokesperson for Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan told the technology publication.
“We want the whole process to be local and vertically integrated,” Zuckerberg wrote on Instagram. “Each cow eats 5,000-10,000 pounds of food each year, so that’s a lot of acres of macadamia trees. My daughters help plant the mac trees and take care of our different animals. We’re still early in the journey and it’s fun improving on it every season.”
Zuckerberg jokes with his family that “if I’m ever done with Meta, I’m going to run Mark’s Meats,” he told Morning Brew.
Such an operation would be easier for a child to understand than Meta’s offerings, which include Facebook, Instagram, and the metaverse.
“If you’re a kid, it’s kinda hard to wrap your head around what Meta is,” Zuckerberg noted.
As for raising cattle, “I just think it’s super fun,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Alright, let’s brew our own beer. Let’s grow our own macadamia nuts.’” His children can be part of figuring out what it’s like run such a process, he noted, and it’s “easier for them to do that than be involved in the software business.”
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This is an interpretation of VESA’s appearance on the Human Generated podcast by Omid Honari. The two met during a day of keynote speeches at the Mohammed Bin Rashid library, where as it turns out, both of their topics touched on not only art and its implications, but also spirituality. It was no wonder that when VESA and Omid sat down to record this podcast, the deeper topics were soon elaborated on.
Why read further ( or return)? Breakdown, links and illustrations:
The conversation took place in late May when Dubai was plunging into the hot temperatures. Vesa told that as a 44-year-old, the elapsing winter was the first where he had enjoyed consistent warm weather, being natively from Finland and having lived in the UK for several years. ‘There’s a lot of cold trauma still to be purged’, he said. Omid relayed a piece of advice he heard as a boy that coping with cold is much easier than coping with heat, since you always have the option of adding a layer of clothing, but there is only so much you can remove. This advice also speaks to how personal our relationship with the weather and our immediate surroundings is. We rationalize our emotions towards it via stories and these pieces of advice that we tell each other.
To delve right into the mouth of the beast, Omid poses an interesting proposition of the constellation of new technologies, NFTs, metaverse and the whole Web3 being at odds with the creative arts as we know it. ‘Most respectfully, I disagree with that, VESA starts. VESA explains that one of the concepts that governs how he views art, and life itself, is Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory. This theory helps to see yourself, your contribution, philosophies, and beliefs as functional parts of the elaborate whole. This way of approaching art is not taught in colleges and universities, where most art history begins or at least emphasises the post-modern period without studying the roots of why humans began creating art in the first place, namely cave painting and body painting. With a fractionalized outlook on art, new technologies can feel like a jarring, disjointed note in the melody of human creativity, whereas from the Integral point of view, these are tools that if utilized to their utmost potential, will remove the old gatekeeping systems for more creativity to blossom in society. ‘My LUXOR- inspired art gallery is a great example of this. It uses new technologies, it breaks barriers of entry and in substance, it studies the origins of art, VESA says. ‘It’ll take a little bit of time, and whether the traditional art institutions will adopt this remains to be seen, since their interest is so much in identity politics, but for people, this means total freedom’, he explains.
Omid agrees that the limitation of the current arts education seems to be that it is taught from the perspective of the current ideological climate, and it must go along the epoch of our time and what that does is hides the vastness of possibility that is currently available. Intrigued by VESA’s mention of primordial art, Omid asks next how does an artist with a capital A bridge together the gap of something so corporal, so essential as body paint with something as cerebral and intangible as the digital realm. ‘When I saw my first model with full body paint in my studio, I knew that this was it, it was like a superhero had appeared in front of me’, VESA says. ‘But when it comes to embarking on the digital journey, I had no other choice. My method dictated that my originals were digital ever since 2008, and this was a major issue for the art institutions before the advent of NFTs. They would ask for an oil original that I didn’t have’.
“Escapist” was the first bopypainting and photography based collage work VESA made in 2008.
‘The technology that facilitates Bitcoin is the turning point in digital scarcity and digital ownership, because it facilitates digital assets, like artworks, that are as rare as the physical Mona Lisa’. Omid then points out that isn’t one of the most valuable digital artworks verified on the blockchain a picture of a monkey, homing in on his original point of new technologies diluting actual artistic endeavour. ‘There’s some genius marketing behind that project, and it gains its value also through being an access pass. What it’s not is art’, VESA explains. ‘How is the casual consumer going to gain an education about the difference between these two categories?’, Omid asks. VESA explains that this is a deeper issue than what meets the eye, how in the words of the cultural critic Camille Paglia we are on the brink of another cultural Renaissance, should we take the steps to get there, but our institutions are not paving the way for our collective consciousness to get there. He also re-iterates the difference between the collectible digital art and the digitized fine art, where the only common factor is the underlying technology. Having said that, VESA expresses how positive it is that the gatekeeping of the old system is coming down due to technological advancements. His native country Finland is a great example of this, where a lot of government grants are given only to art that perpetuates a certain narrative. This suffocates actual creativity and resembles more a high-school student, who studies what he knows the teacher cares the most about, not what is relevant.
The Camille Paglia lecture “Art belongs to everyone” has been one of the themes that have inspired this direction of thought.
The Origins
As VESA has mentioned Finland, and the general climate of art there, Omid is interested to know how art and VESA came to be. ‘What was the origin story?’, he asks. ‘It’s always been about connection, and the two points in time that come to mind are my connection to music, and especially African drums that lit something up inside me, and my connection to something spiritual that I experienced, when I very nearly drowned as a six-year-old.’, VESA says. ‘At its best, it doesn’t even feel like I am the one who is doing it. And skill comes into play so that it takes a form that others might enjoy as well, but it’s always about that connection that drives everything I do creatively’.
The Knight Rider theme was the first song to get VESA to play to be a rock star as his toy plastic axe as the guitar, sliding on his knees across the room as a 5 year old.
‘So where is the divine for you, then?’ Omid asks. ‘One of the books that talks about this is called Flower of Life, and it explains that this pattern at the very core of everything that comes into being is all coming through the One, but the multitude of expressions that the One takes, is our experience of the world’,
The ancient secret of the flower of life was a significant book to read while travelling shooting a documentary in Egypt and Mexico in 2012.
‘In terms of humans, I see the brain much more a receiver than a generator’, VESA says as he hints towards his understanding of the divine. ‘My traumatic experience of nearly drowning was so pivotal to my creative growth because it brought me violently close to that origin point, the point of ultimate connection to God. Maybe I remembered something, maybe I have been here before – it is a possibility’, VESA expands. Omid illustrates our longing for our origins beautifully through a famous opening to a poem by Rumi, which describes the haunting sound of the reed pipe, longing to return to the whole it was cut from. Perhaps we are like the reed pipe, the divine breath moving through us, but always hankering to get back into unity with our origin.
The Pink Floyd “Back catalogue” poster on VESA’s wall as a teenager likely had a significant impact on his life choices later on.
Different bodies
Omid draws a parallel between VESA’s method of bodypainting and seeing inanimate objects as bodies, such as the body of a car that Omid had seen at an event recently. Does VESA see his Art Cars and other painted objects as a continuation of his bodypainting methodology? ‘In some sense, it is still human centric, because these different bodies are still painted for humans to admire’, VESA starts.
The Dr Marwan Tesla covered in art in Dubai also has a digital douible made by Zoan.
‘I also want to be incredibly respectful towards Islam, and not to portray a human as an idol, so I have a lot to study on how to bring to the front my goal of showcasing the divine spark in the human form, how He made us so magnificently’, VESA says. ‘In that spirit of further conversation and discussion, we could go on for so much longer, but I want to invite you to the possibility of having a second episode with you, ‘Inshallah’, VESA says.
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Upland’s experimental collaboration with the artificial intelligence (AI) startup Kaedim has proven to be more fruitful, with the metaverse platform seeing a 70% increase in 3D asset production speeds.
It’s an outcome that will enable Upland to populate its immersive virtual world more rapidly while accelerating its pace of innovation.
The partnership represents another key evolution for Upland, which began as a fairly simple, blockchain-based virtual property trading game. With Upland, players can buy, sell, and trade virtual properties mapped to real-world locations while engaging in an economy that caters to entrepreneurs, content creators, and gamers alike.
The concept has caught on, with Upland seeing more adoption after being announced as FIFA’s official metaverse partner during the Qatar World Cup in 2022.
At the last count, it had over three million registered players who traded 4 million digital assets.
AI-enhanced asset creation
Digital asset creation is one of the most vital elements of Upland, as the game revolves around user-generated content. Players can design, manufacture, and trade digital goods and experiences with Upland. But to enable this, Upland must provide players with a consistent and easy-to-use pipeline to design and build novel digital assets.
Due to Upland’s growth, its creators decided players needed a superior way to accelerate the production of digital assets on its platform, and that’s where Kaedim comes into the picture.
The AI startup has created a design platform that uses machine learning algorithms to accelerate the 3D asset design process by up to 5-10 times compared to manual processes.
Its designs are incredibly detailed, with features like automatic texturing and levels of detail that enable the creation of lifelike animations.
Kaedim’s platform is powered by generative AI. The same technology underpins sophisticated AI models such as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion. By integrating its image-to-mesh technology, Upland streamlined its 3D asset production process, reducing the time it takes to design and build more complex objects by several days.
Accelerated production
The asset creation process in Upland is almost entirely automated, with Kaedim’s AI responding to user inputs to create an initial sketch of each new asset, which can then be refined through further inputs.
Once the user is satisfied with the initial design, they can bring it to life with Kaedim’s AI modeling capabilities, creating meshes and textures to enhance the realism of each asset. Users can then import those refined assets into the Blender platform to add any final touches they desire.
Kaedim detailed some impressive numbers, saying that Upland could reduce the time it took to design and produce 70 Totem assets from 245 days to 70 days.
Whereas one Totem model took an average of 3.5 days to produce, it now takes less than a day. All told, Upland cut the time spent on designing and building 5,000 Totem life-forms by 72%.
In a statement, Upland said:
“In less than two weeks, we successfully took two original IP campaigns from inception to production, covering Map Assets, Structure Ornaments, Go Karts & Wearables.”
Paving the way for innovation
The more straightforward asset creation pipeline means that Upland users will benefit from a more rapidly evolving experience, as creators can introduce frequent updates for digital assets.
Users can quickly incorporate feedback and suggestions to improve their assets by facilitating a more responsive development process.
With these more visually striking assets, Kaedim has taken customization to a new level, allowing Upland users to personalize their in-game spaces and avatars with an ever-expanding array of content.
Moreover, the accelerated production means that Upland creators have more time to collaborate with their peers and explore new ideas and concepts through brainstorming, increasing the pace of innovation within the game.
Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. crypto.news does not endorse any product mentioned on this page. Users must do their own research before taking any actions related to the company.
ZTX, a web3 virtual world and creator platform, is partnering with ZGM, a metaverse influencer management and content creation firm, to launch a competition where users can bet on metaverse gaming results for ZTX rewards.
The competition will be formally launched during the Yield Guild Games Web3 Games Summit, which will be held in Manila and open to all ZTX community members across the globe.
The initiative has been lauded as one of the first cross-industry events where web2 creators partner with web3 users for entertainment and prediction-based rewards – that too with no entry costs or participation restrictions.
ZGM will use ZTX’s legacy web2 platform to assemble teams competing in various metaverse games. Speculators and public members can bet on the winners and the results of these games by holding a specific amount of ZTX in their wallets.
Users must also join the official ZTX Discord server to be eligible for prizes for their correct predictions. While no payments or fees are required to place bets on competition outcomes, participants can win part of the competition prize pool, which exceeds $20,000 worth of ZTX at current trading prices.
Alexx, creative direction and innovation leader at ZTX, said:
“This pilot campaign does not require participants to spend funds to place bets. Instead, they must maintain a certain level of ZTX balance in their wallets to qualify for betting throughout the competition.”
He added that this competition is a sneak peek of the various strategies ZTX plans to unveil to help with web3 gaming mass adoption.
Wendy Heo, global partnerships manager at ZGM, said:
“ZTX has a strong community in web3. ZGM’s experience building on web2 metaverse platforms can bridge web2 and web3 communities through fun events.”
Web3 influencer Altcoin Sherpa, a partner of ZTX, said that ZTX had one of the “smoothest” TGE and airdrops he had ever witnessed.
“Their official beta is coming out soon, and this event is a huge milestone by showing what the team can do in bridging crypto with non-crypto users. I fully expect them to be shipping more features, product updates, and executing interesting campaigns to give much more value to its community.”
ZTX is preparing a formal announcement of the competition and rewards, details of which will be available over the coming days.
Additionally, competition deadlines, rules, and other terms and conditions will be provided on the official ZTX accounts on X and Discord.
An update on the ZTX Beta, scheduled for release in Q4, 2023, will also be provided soon.
Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. crypto.news does not endorse any product mentioned on this page. Users must do their own research before taking any actions related to the company.
Like the real-life exhibition, Gucci’s new initiative with The Sandbox lets visitors explore the brand’s history.
While the hype surrounding the metaverse seems to perish, the famous Italian luxury fashion brand Gucci is doubling down on its virtual reality strategy with a new initiative in collaboration with The Sandbox (SAND), a blockchain-based gaming platform.
In a blog announcement on Nov. 8, 2023, The Sandbox said the new Gucci Cosmos Land immersive hub will allow its visitors to explore “decades of iconic designs, offering a captivating exploration of their origins.”
“Set within a reimagined London exclusively for Gucci, this adventure is a tribute to the brand’s beginnings and an homage to its enduring creativity.”
The Sandbox
By exploring each section of the exhibition, visitors can learn a unique aspect of the Gucci story, from its principles since its founding in 1921 to its inspirations and creativity, The Sandbox said.
Gucci’s virtual exhibition on The Sandbox | Source: The Sandbox
As part of the initiative, The Sandbox players can customize their avatars with new skins inspired by the Gucci Cosmos exhibition, including a look from Creative Director Sabato De Sarno’s debut fashion show.
Following the announcement, SAND price briefly jumped 7%, surging to $0.41, as per data from CoinGecko.
Gucci skins for virtual avatars in The Sandbox | Source: The Sandbox
For Gucci, the latest exhibition is yet another attempt to dive deep into the metaverse industry as the Florence-based fashion house has already made a foray into the yet nascent market.
In October 2022, Gucci became the first major fashion and luxury brand to secure virtual land on The Sandbox. The fashion house also introduced Gucci Vault, an experimental area for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), vintage goods such as Gucci bags, and up-and-coming virtual developers in The Sandbox.
Meta Platforms Inc.’s ambitious pursuit of the metaverse concept, championed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, continues to come at a staggering financial cost. In its recently released third-quarter earnings report, Meta disclosed that its Reality Labs division, responsible for developing metaverse-related technologies, recorded an operating loss of a colossal $3.7 billion.
The revelation underscores the steep financial toll of Meta’s foray into virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). The metaverse, once a primary focus, has taken a backseat in recent discussions.
Meta Faces Financial Setback
The Reality Labs division’s performance fell significantly below expectations. While industry analysts had projected sales of approximately $299.3 million, the division reported a mere $210 million in revenue. Furthermore, the operating loss of $3.7 billion far exceeded what was anticipated, estimated at $3.9 billion.
Despite these substantial financial setbacks, Meta remains steadfast in driving the metaverse into reality. One of the latest manifestations of this commitment is the introduction of the Quest 3 VR headset, which was unveiled in September. Marketed as a technologically superior successor to the Quest 2, the Quest 3 incorporates an enhanced “passthrough” feature to deliver a more immersive mixed-reality experience.
The Quest 3’s price point, however, has stirred some debate. At $499, it commands a premium compared to the Quest 2, priced $200 higher. Nevertheless, it remains a more budget-friendly alternative than the high-end Quest Pro VR headset, with a lofty price tag of $3,499.
Meta is positioning its Quest line of headsets as a cost-effective option for consumers exploring VR, especially when pitted against Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset. It is expected to debut next year at a whopping $3,499.
The company also embraces a subscription-based model with the Meta Quest+ VR subscription service, launched in June. Priced at $7.99 monthly, this service offers users access to two new monthly games compatible with the Quest 2, Quest Pro, and Quest 3 VR headsets.
Meta’s Q3 Sales Exceed Expectations
Despite the astounding losses in the Reality Labs division, Meta’s overall financial performance in the third quarter showed resilience. Total sales for the quarter reached $34.2 billion, surpassing the average analyst estimate of $33.5 billion.
However, the optimism surrounding Meta’s financial outlook is curbed by its Chief Financial Officer, Susan Li, who pointed out the company’s susceptibility to macroeconomic fluctuations. Li stressed that the revenue outlook for 2024 remains uncertain, casting a shadow on Meta’s financial future.
In the face of mounting financial pressures, the company took decisive steps earlier in the year, reducing its workforce and streamlining its operations. These efforts aimed to strengthen its advertising capabilities and harness artificial intelligence to enhance its algorithms. Once a focal point, the metaverse has seen a diminishing presence in recent discussions, particularly in light of a skeptical investor community.
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Upland, a blockchain-based real estate collecting and trading game, has secured an additional $7 million in its Series A funding round.
This investment is led by EOS Network Ventures and marks its first foray into the world of crypto gaming.
Upland expands crypto gaming metaverse
The fresh capital injection from EOS, with participation from existing investors C3 Venture Capital and Animoca Brands, is earmarked for expanding the Upland game.
Upland’s standout feature is enabling players to purchase and sell digital versions of real-world properties on a virtual map. The funding extension comes on the heels of the initial $18 million Series A round, which took place in 2021.
In addition to enriching gameplay, Upland has set its sights on bolstering its marketing strategy. This step aims to increase the game’s exposure and draw in a larger player base. Additionally, Upland plans to offer tools for external developers, opening the door to new features and extensions.
An especially fascinating upcoming development is Upland’s intention to introduce an Ethereum token linked to its current in-game utility token. This initiative, known as “Sparklet,” could have far-reaching implications for Upland’s presence in the broader crypto market.
The EOS advantage
Upland’s choice to build its platform on the EOS network may seem unconventional, given the platform’s waning popularity. EOS currently ranks 23rd in total value locked (TVL), according to DefiLlama, with a TVL of $69 million.
It’s also ranked 60th in total market capitalization among cryptocurrencies on CoinGecko and has been on a multi-year downtrend since its all-time high.
Upland CEO Dirk Lueth defended this choice. In 2018, when Upland was founded, EOS was one of the few viable blockchains for such a project, he explained.
Lueth cited Ethereum’s huge gas fees as a barrier that they couldn’t overcome. After careful analysis, the team concluded that EOS was the optimal blockchain for their needs. Notably, Upland now boasts a remarkable capability, minting 80 NFTs per second, thanks to EOS’s technical features.
EOS Network Ventures’ involvement in Upland’s Series A extension suggests that backers still see potential in growing the ecosystem. This move demonstrates their confidence in Upland’s vision and technical capabilities.
A better gaming experience
The recent funding round will not only enhance Upland’s in-game experience but also drive the expansion of its utility token, Spark, onto the Ethereum blockchain as Sparklet.
Upland Co-Founder & Co-CEO @DirkLueth on Sparklet: This means higher visibility & more credibility for Upland, which contributes to a positive ripple effect in the web3 community, & also improved liquidity for current Spark holders.
This decision is strategically aimed at increasing Upland’s visibility in the broader market. It opens up opportunities for more users to engage with Upland’s unique ecosystem.
A noteworthy factor influencing this decision was Ripple’s favorable court ruling, which had a positive impact on Upland’s approach. Additionally, the fact that Upland has never sold its token to investors or the team could help the project navigate regulatory challenges that other crypto startups have faced.
In a bid to further diversify and expand, Upland has partnered with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). This collaboration introduces new NFLPA Bundle types, including the Mixed Essentials Bundle, Team Essentials Bundle, and Pass Bundles.
The 2023-2024 Upland experience promises gamified digital collectibles of NFL players, community activities, and community-created shops celebrating previous seasons, all in partnership with the NFLPA.
The bigger picture in blockchain gaming
SEGA’s co-COO Shuji Utsumi and Double Jump Tokyo CEO Hironobu Ueno see a future where blockchain technology becomes prevalent in the gaming industry. They recognize the potential for blockchain to revolutionize gameplay, as demonstrated by the integration of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into the highly anticipated game, “Battle of Three Kingdoms.”
Another perspective from Takuya Tsuji, the founder of Eureka Entertainment Ltd, highlights Asia’s growing role in the adoption of web3 games and blockchain technology.
With popular blockchain games like Axie Infinity in Southeast Asia and STEPN gaining dedicated users in Japan, Asia’s gaming market is on the rise. DappRadar’s report underscores this trend, showing that a significant percentage of gamers in Japan are aware of blockchain gaming and have a positive impression of it.
In the next three days, our team at NewsBTC will cover xDay 2023, an event organized by MultiversX in the Palace of Parliament, Romania. Formerly known as Elrond, the project rebranded in 2022 and focused on the Metaverse, scalability, and global adoption by simplifying users’ access to crypto.
During the event’s final day, security audit firm Runtime Verification announced the launch of PI Squared, a universal ZK Rollup that will run on the MultiversX blockchain. The scaling solution is backed by technology developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Grigore Rosu, CEO and President at Runtime Verification presented this solution on the event’s main stage. PI Squared aims to make the MultiversX ecosystem more efficient and attract new developers to ship products on this network by reducing verifying computational claims to verifying mathematical proofs.
According to a press release shared with our team, the scalability solution will use a universal proof check implemented via a custom ZK circuit. PI Squared was developed as a programming language and Virtual Machine (VM) agnostic.
In other words, developers can work on products with any programming language and bring their app to MultiversX more efficiently while maintaining the underlying security and scalability of the MultiversX blockchain.
xDay 2023: Interview With Grigore Rosu, CEO Of Runtime Verification
After the presentation at xDay 2023, our team got to speak with Grigore Rosu about his impression of xDay, the sentiment, and what PI Squared represents for MultiversX and the entire space, as the solution can be implemented and leveraged by any developer in any programming language. This is what he told us.
Q: How do you feel here? What do you think about the atmosphere and the people?
A: This is a wonderful conference. It’s unbelievable how many people are here. More than 2000 people. I didn’t expect that. I’ve been at several recent crypto conferences and it was hard to fill the room or even fill the first few rows of seats in the room. But this is just packed with two big amphitheaters and everything is just packed and people are amazing. Discussions are amazing. The MultiversX team is amazing. It’s just wonderful to be here.
Q: What makes the MultiversX ecosystem, and their team, unique and why did you decided to work on this network?
A: I knew them from day zero. I’m an advisor for Multiverses X and I met Beniamin Mincu (Co-founder of MultiversX) before, right after they had a white paper written (…). I really liked them from the beginning and in one word I think is passion. Indeed, they are very passionate about what they do. They believe in it, and when you believe in something, it happens. Self prophecy, they have one of the fastest, most reliable blockchains out there, the lowest fees. And it has never stalled. Like other blockchains, it works as specified, fast, cheap, and also programming language efficient. I think it was a good idea not to use EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) as an execution infrastructure because EVM is a pretty ad hoc language that was invented quickly to serve a specific purpose to launch Ethereum. But everybody who writes programs or audits them knows that EVM has many limitations. So I think it was a smart that they didn’t use EVM. I would say passion and good decisions along the way. That’s what I like the most about.
Q: What does the launch of the PI Square protocol mean for the users?
A: So we had this idea for a while now, it took shape. We have a prototype and we needed a destination chain to launch it as a universal ZK roll-up. Speaker 2 (05:09):
in PI Square, there is no predetermined language, but we need a destination chain because we do not want to have to implement a decentralized network and consensus algorithms right away. We’d like to stage it. You ultimately, we may do that, but we’d like to stage it. So we’d like to first deploy by squared as a universal scale up on a destination chain. And to be honest, I cannot think of any better destination chain than MultiversX for the same reasons I told you before.
It’s cheap. If we do it on Ethereum, for example, we’ll have to pay very high fees to do transactions as we prototype. There is a lot of word prototyping development before you launch and all those translate into transactions, big transactions, very expensive transactions on the destination chain. So think about it this way in one sentence. So PI squared will bring all the programming languages and virtual machines to multiverse X, but without the errors that usually come with compilers or interpreters. Developers will develop programs better faster, and that is expected to increase the number of applications that we’ll see on multiple sec and ultimately more users, happier users.
As of this writing, Bitcoin trades at $29,800 with sideways movement in the last 24 hours.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The rise of Web 3.0 is set to transform all industries. Public relations (PR) is no exception. With the emergence of decentralized technologies like blockchain, Web 3.0 brings new possibilities for PR professionals to connect with their audiences in ways previously thought impossible.
Blockchain technology, for instance, can enable PR practitioners to create secure and transparent channels of communication that protect user privacy by giving individuals greater control over their personal data. This can build deeper trust between brands and their audiences, leading to more meaningful relationships.
Meanwhile, Web 3.0 technologies such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) offer a unique way to engage audiences by creating digital assets that have value and scarcity, which can be used to incentivize participation and reward engagement. NFTs can be used to create unique digital experiences and reward audiences for their engagement and loyalty.
Some companies have started testing the waters of incorporating Web 3.0 technologies into their communications campaigns. Established businesses started developing digital assets on the metaverse or creating corporate NFTs.
What are the top strategies for PR professionals to harness Web 3.0 technologies in their communications campaigns?
1. Leverage NFTs to create a unique audience experience
One of the primary attractions of NFTs is their capacity to tell brand stories in innovative ways. Public relations professionals can incorporate stories into NFTs and deliver them through collectible assets. NFT-compatible PR campaigns give consumers access to brand content, exclusive events, digital assets and special offers. Brands can now collaborate with their customers more closely than ever, rewarding them for their loyalty and attention.
Nike, for example, has acquired virtual goods company RTFKT which specializes in digital sneakers. By leveraging RTFKT’s virtual sneaker drops on its Web 3.0 marketplace, Nike creates new digital collectibles Air Force Ones that are positioned as more than just NFTs; but virtual creations. This approach fosters a sense of belonging and personalized interaction, strengthening the bond between Nike and its dedicated fanbase.
2. Build a niche community on the metaverse
Brands can leverage the metaverse to build a niche community by tapping into its unique privacy features. As consumers become increasingly privacy-conscious, the metaverse’s decentralized nature and anonymity options offer a safe and secure space for users to engage with others who share similar interests. By creating a branded presence within the metaverse that prioritizes user privacy, brands can cultivate a loyal following among niche communities.
Teaming up with People of Crypto Lab (POC), major metaverse platform, The Sandbox, has co-launched launched the Valley of Belonging, a safe and vibrant space that celebrates diversity and inclusivity. The immersive experience allows platform members to participate in an LGBTQIA+ Pride Parade and explore various activities and meet diverse personalities. This initiative showcases the potential of the metaverse in fostering social change and creating a welcoming environment for marginalized communities.
3. Integrate metaverse into your online and offline presence
M2O2O (metaverse to online to offline) is a strategic approach that aims to create a seamless user experience across different platforms. It involves using the metaverse as a starting point and transitioning to online and offline platforms. This approach can be used to create immersive experiences that allow users to engage with brands and products in a more personalized way. By connecting the metaverse to online and offline experiences, brands can create a cohesive and memorable user experience that fosters loyalty and engagement.
Last year, Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” summer campaign in Mainland China, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong showcased a remarkable fusion of audience connectivity in both the Web 3.0 domain and the physical realm. The campaign transformed Coke bottles into connection points for friends. It also featured a “Metaverse Music Festival” where users customized avatars and engaged in music battles and a WeChat-embedded game with social sharing elements. The campaign bridged the virtual and physical realms, creating memorable moments for Coca-Cola fans.
The emergence of Web 3.0 technologies marks a new era of engagement for PR professionals. With the inclusion of NFTs, metaverse and other cutting-edge Web 3.0 technologies, brands now have the tools to create unprecedented experiences and forge deeper connections with their audiences.
As the new age of Web 3.0 continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative applications that will revolutionize the way brands engage with their customers.
The future of PR is here, and it’s time for us to embrace it and unlock the full potential of Web 3.0. With limitless possibilities and new frontiers to explore, the only question remains: Is the sky still a limit?
Interviewing for a job isn’t fun. Today, so many companies make candidates jump through numerous hoops and several interviews just to get a chance to work for them. And now, the company behind the free-to-play online game Robloxis preparing to take the next, horrible step: interviewing people in-game.
The Anime Series With Better Metaverses Than Meta, AKA Facebook
Roblox is a giant online video game/content creation platform that allows players around the world to create and sell their own games and in-game items to others. Millions of players log in every day to play Roblox, though some reports suggest the whole thing might be pretty shady and not a safe place for creators or kids. Now it seems Roblox Corporation wants to use its own massive video game to help find new employees and even host interviews in its corporate metaverse.
On August 10, Roblox revealed its new “Roblox Career Center,” an in-game location created by the company as a way to provide “early career candidates” with a “firsthand” look at what it’s like to be a part of its workforce. The Career Center includes an Innovation Lab where candidates can see what’s coming next for the game, and a Podcast Lounge where you can listen to the company’s Tech Talk show hosted by co-founder & CEO Dave Baszucki. Also included is The Library, which holds a “curated selection of books and other reading materials” that job seekers can look over and read before their interview.
Roblox says its new Career Center will let the company “reach early career candidates across the world” while removing “geographic constraints” from the process. I feel like an email, video call or phone conversation can also remove those kinds of limitations, but okay. What is worse and more nightmarish is the hint, buried in Roblox’s blog post, that it will start interviewing people in the game itself in the future.
“Coming soon, we’ll be inviting candidates to conduct certain initial interviews directly within the experience,” teased Roblox, like a person with a spray bottle threatening a dog. Thankfully, it seems these in-game interviews will initially be “opt-in”, according to Axios.
Why Roblox is using its game to find employees
Roblox says its in-game career center is designed for candidates and applicants who have likely grown up playing Roblox and who will feel comfortable looking for work and interviewing in it.
Look, I get that this might seem like it’s breaking down barriers and letting more people be interviewed by Roblox. Yet, the idea of directly looking for employees from the pool of young people who play your game a lot inside that very game seems a little predatory and very weird.
And as mentioned already, there are already so many pre-existing ways to interview and talk to people around the world. If only one good thing came from the covid pandemic, it’s the realization that many more people can work remotely and more places should support remote work in order to bring more diversity to their workplaces. Instead, what if desperate job seekers might one day be forced to download Roblox or some other awful metaverse, then forced to jump through another hoop in the hopes of finding employment to support themselves and their family? We continue to live in the worst timeline.
And lo! On the least useful day of the least useful week of summer, the foretold Twitter replacement emerged at last. Potentially. Threads, billed as “an Instagram app” by parent company Meta, née Facebook, launched on Wednesday and has already racked up some 30 million signups, according to Mark Zuckerberg. That sound you hear? It’s a nation of social media managers weeping, their fresh beach tans fading with every second of exposure to the fluorescing home screen of yet another app.
So, is this the one? Let’s first consider how things are going on Twitter, where over the weekend, the platform’s latest death rattle came in the form of temporary rate limits. Shortly after, the platform announced plans to charge for Tweetdeck, essentially a tax on its most ardent (and by definition, deranged) users. So maybe the time really is nigh. Instagram’s obvious leg up over other “Twitter killer” contenders like Substack Notes and Bluesky is the supposedly built-in network that awaits you on Threads: With one tap, you can send a mass request to follow everyone whom you already follow on Instagram. Less seamlessly, you then have to individually approve everyone requesting to follow you. (In 2023, the height of our technological aspiration apparently requires one to spend the better part of a dazzling summer day pressing “confirm” 500 times in a row.)
The Threads interface is extremely Twitter-like, of course. You can “heart” a post, reply, and repost it not only to your Threads feed (shall we call it the Spool?) but also to your Instagram Feed and your Instagram Stories and, hilariously, on Twitter itself. (Because life is not fair, I believe, sadly, that this is the only form of direct conflict we will see Zuckie and Muskie actually engage in; two billionaires slap-fighting by proxy of app features is proof that our sci-fi reality will be gobs more boring than we can begin to imagine). During my cursory spin on Threads, the only thing that surprised me was the clunkiness of the layout, as if Instagram—birthplace of capital-A aesthetics—couldn’t figure out how to work with so much white space. When I flipped back to Twitter, it felt like looking at an Old Master painting by comparison.
On Threads, as in all of these embryonic new platform wannabes, you’re more likely to notice what isn’t on there than what is—for now. Without bots or trolls or a crystallized top film of brands and ads, there’s relief—and a tantalizing promise of something finally civilized. But the familiarity can overwhelm. At least for now, Threads essentially confines you within your established Instagram network, which is as comforting as it is, well, tedious. Imagine sitting through a roll call of your entire contacts list (except this list came overwhelmingly preweighted in favor of, shall we say, the more visually successful among us). As it turns out, the prevailing theory that social media would be better if it was only limited to the verified deities and people we actually “know” (i.e., care about enough to suffer through their vacation photo dumps) is wrong. After a few hours, you start to really miss the randos.
The irony of Threads is that it’s not so much succeeding at replicating the experience of being on Twitter as it is proving how utterly hostage-esque the experience of being on Instagram has become. Over the past year, we’ve seen IG turn into a force-feeding nozzle trying to pump each of us into a submissive state of endless shopping and mediocre video-watching. The grid is only nominally more junked than Stories, where every other supposed portrait of chummy candor is sandwiched between ads that will probably follow you to your grave. No wonder Threads feels pleasant and twee. That’s how Instagram—and any online place not yet beholden to the economics of platform enshittification—used to be. Back when Bluesky was still the cool new kid in town, I wrote about the potential upside of our great Twitter Diasporic Moment: how new, untilled spaces can restore a sense of fun and chumminess but also the increasingly limited opportunity to experiment with one’s identity. In the face of the ongoing algorithmic deluge, an online self that resists cohesive packaging—that is, branding—paradoxically preserves a sense of true self we can still cling to. We get a few last gasps before the flood.
Threads pretends to be this kind of place, where you can still be anyone you want. But the truth is that your identity here is already spoken for. As many enthusiastic early adopters have already discovered, Meta is only interested in a package deal: if you want to delete your Threads profile one day, you’ll have to erase yourself on Instagram too.
So, once again, it looks like we’re still pretty stuck.
Hot 97, the world’s biggest and most well-known cultural brand and radio station, has joined forces with Metro to create exciting new content at the intersection of music, gaming, culture and the metaverse.
NEW YORK, May 16, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– The Metro Sports & Entertainment Group, dba Metro Esports, a leading multicultural content, media, and production agency featuring esports as a primary vertical, and Hot 97, New York City’s premiere hip-hop radio and media brand, is excited to announce a new partnership that will integrate hip-hop into the world of gaming.
“As the culture evolves and our audience seeks out new experiences, it is our job to meet them where they are”, said Rahsan-Rahsan Lindsay, CEO of MediaCo, parent company of Hot 97. “The gaming environment offers an immersive, wraparound experience for people who love gaming and hip-hop”.
With the delivery of customized, engaging content on a multi-platform basis, Metro Esports and Hot 97 will further connect the world of esports and hip-hop through this unique partnership. Hot 97 will co-produce and promote Metro Esports’ events and tournaments, both virtually and live in person. Additionally, Hot 97 will shine a light on the exploding esports community, with its unique position and credibility in hip-hop, through exclusive interviews with esports players, influencers and creators.
“Esports is the fastest growing sport in the world, and we are thrilled to partner with Hot 97 as we further maximize and penetrate the culturally relevant intersectionality between hip-hop and gaming,” said Shaon Berry, CEO of The Metro Sports & Entertainment Group.
“Hot 97 has always been at the forefront of advancing and promoting the hip-hop culture, and this is a natural next step for the brand, given the ever-expanding overlap between esports and the hip-hop community,” said Brad Tobin, President, COO and General Counsel at MediaCo. “We look forward to collaborating with Metro Esports to bring the vision to life.”
Additional partnership for the platform include Dell, EA Sports, The NBA2K League, Warner Bros. Games, RIOT and Verizon.
About The Metro Sports and Entertainment Group:Metro Sports and Entertainment Group’s leading division, Metro Esports, features several Gaming & Technology labs throughout the northeast with plans to open a new Gaming Lab on-campus at Lincoln University, as well as a new Digital Sports & Tech. Entertainment arena in the heart of Washington, D.C. this summer. Metro was founded in 2017 with the mission to attract, educate, and entertain a broad and diverse audience of gaming and technology enthusiasts. For more information, visit www.metroesports.gg.
ABOUT HOT 97: (WQHT 97.1FM) HOT 97 is the world’s first all hip-hop station and has held the dominant position in New York for over 20 years. HOT 97 is best known for its celebrity on-air talent, such as Ebro in the Morning with Laura Stylez & Rosenberg, Nessa and Funk Flex, as well as being a premier source for Hip-Hop music and culture. The redesigned HOT 97 website and the new HOT 97 app are go-to destinations for original web series, celebrity content, concerts, and music videos. For more information, please visit www.HOT97.com, and follow us on facebook.com/HOT97official, twitter.com/HOT97, instagram.com/HOT97 and youtube.com/HOT97.
ABOUT MEDIACO: MediaCo Holding Inc. is a publicly listed media company that serves communities throughout the country. MediaCo owns and operates two of the top urban radio stations in New York City, HOT 97 (WQHT-FM) and WBLS-FM. The company primarily generates revenue from advertising sales, sponsorships, licensing and events.
