Corporate Attempts To Build Metaverse Will “Misfire” Says Vitalik Buterin

Co-Founder of Ethereum (ETH) Vitalik Buterin tweeted on July 31st that the metaverse will be built, but noted his skepticism about corporate attempts to build the metaverse, adding that Meta’s efforts will “misfire.”

“It Is Far Too Early to Know What People Want”

Buterin claimed that the nature of the use cases for the metaverse are still unclear, and that Meta’s attempt to build a metaverse will prove to be ineffective:

“We don’t really know the definition of ‘the metaverse’ yet, it’s far too early to know what people actually want. So anything Facebook creates now will misfire.”

The “metaverse” is going to happen but I don’t think any of the existing corporate attempts to intentionally create the metaverse are going anywhere. https://t.co/tVUfq4CWmP

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 30, 2022

Buterin made the assertion in claim in response to a statement made by Co-Founder of Dialectic Dean Eigenmann, who wrote that, as an ex-gamer, he is struggling to formulate a definition for metaverse:

“All the ideas on concepts make sense, communities are moving to virtual worlds, etc. but I still do not believe it will happen in the ways VCs are currently funding.”

My critique is deeper than “Metaverse Wikipedia will beat Metaverse Encyclopedia Britannica”. It’s that we don’t really know the definition of “the metaverse” yet, it’s far too early to know what people actually want. So anything Facebook creates now will misfire.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 31, 2022

The claims have sparked discussion throughout the community, with the prevailing opinion seemingly being that, since the community-driven gaming industry is the template upon which the metaverse is being built, attempts by big tech companies to centralize the emerging metaverse will likely fail.

the metaverse is definitely going to happen roblox/minecraft style and not facebook/apple style. i already can live all day in video games you will not catch me in a facebook metaverse.

— christina trexler (@xtinacomputes)