News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees by martin_a on Thursday October 06, 2022 @03:39AM (#33105558)
> Metaverse could be the next big thing and the long shot facebook needs.

I'm skeptical. With all their money and knowledge and whatnot, they've only managed to create something that looks like a dated console party game but not more. I don't see how that's the future.

Furthermore, do they expect everyone to buy a... say... $400 headset to use the Metaverse? The low entry barrier was probably one of the biggest reasons for the success of Facebook. If you need specialized equipment nobody will use it.

Re:Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees by kaptainscarlet on Thursday October 06, 2022 @03:50AM (#33105635)
Couldn't agree more. The headset at $400 will be a high barrier to entry. If the metaverse was built on top of the smartphone then it would get most probably pernetrate the market faster.
Re:Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees by username_my1 on Thursday October 06, 2022 @04:17AM (#33105831)
have you ever heard of the concept of iterations? do you remember how the first mobile phone looked like? do you remember how the first computer looked like? first laptop ? first electric car ?

that's the point of R&D and long shot, if it was possible already it's not a long shot :/

Re:Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees by martin_a on Thursday October 06, 2022 @04:38AM (#33105971)
It's 2022 and we have powerful 3D engines for computer games since years. No need for FB to reinvent the Wii look if ask me.
Re:Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees by mFixman on Thursday October 06, 2022 @05:18AM (#33106218)
The headset is the reason why they are doing this in the first place. Nobody expected people to buy a $300 iPhone in 2007 or a $500 iPad in 2011, but when they did they gave Apple money-printing machine that can also bankrupt competitors.

Meta just needs a killer feature for the Metaverse. During the pandemic they bet hard on office-by-VR, but they moved too slowly missed the pandemic and many other deadlines before making a good product.

Re:Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees by martin_a on Thursday October 06, 2022 @07:46AM (#33106998)
You're mixing things up.

Nobody bought an iPhone or iPad because of Facebook. You could also install the Facebook app on that, but you could also use your notebook or your desktop pc or your cheap Android phone or whatnot to use Facebook. Most people already had some "Facebook ready" device at home.

Nobody will buy an Oculus headset if its main/sole use is the Metaverse.

Re:Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees by mFixman on Thursday October 06, 2022 @07:51AM (#33107041)
Sure, but almost nobody uses Facebook on their PCs anymore. Most Meta's users and revenues come from smartphones, which have an ecosystem controlled by Apple or Google.

Zuck is betting that more people will use VR in the future, and if you believe that hypothesis then it makes sense to invest infinite money in making sure your company becomes the Apple of VR instead of the Nokia.

How wisely that infinite VR money is being spent is another matter.

Re:Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees by rvz on Thursday October 06, 2022 @05:58AM (#33106412)
Oculus is the one to watch for Meta and it why they are betting on the AR glasses, not just only VR which everyone is missing. But it's not just Meta though, it is Google (thanks to North), Apple, Microsoft, etc all going for that.

We'll come back in a few years or decades time to see who will transform the glasses into another platform, just like the watch and the phone did.