Several outlets have published articles lately claiming that the rise of artificial intelligence has killed the metaverse but Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney thinks otherwise.
Sweeney took to Twitter to defend the metaverse after Business Insider published an article written by PR firm CEO Ed Zitron claiming the metaverse was “dead.”
According to the article, the business world has abandoned virtual worlds, as exemplified by the failures of metaverses such as Meta’s Horizon Worlds, Decentraland, and Yuga Labs’ Otherside, which did not meet expectations.
The metaverse is dead! Let's organize an online wake so that we 600,000,000 monthly active users in Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, PUBG Mobile, Sandbox, and VRChat can mourn its passing together in real-time 3D.https://t.co/tRpFHsdZLw
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) May 9, 2023
Sweeney then highlighted that virtual world platforms like Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, The Sandbox, and VR Chat currently have a collective 600 million users. The Epic boss was sarcastic with his tweet as he suggested that an online wake should be organised to mourn the “death” of the metaverse, with 600 million monthly active users.
The Epic CEO has previously shown his support for the metaverse in April 2022 when Epic Games announced a $2 billion funding round to expedite their plans for the metaverse. The investment included a $1 billion contribution from Sony Group and KIRKBI, the holding company of LEGO Group.
The metaverse vision is still alive
Following the funding round, Epic Games and LEGO Group announced a partnership to develop a “family-friendly” metaverse. While specifics about the partnership have not been disclosed, LEGO Group CEO Niels Christiansen stated earlier this year that the company intends to release more information soon.
It’s understandable why Sweeney is advocating for the metaverse space seeing the Fortnite company has a significant stake in the nascent space. With Unreal Engine and Fortnite under its belt, Epic is in a fine position to benefit from the global adoption of the metaverse.
In addition, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has denied abandoning the metaverse for AI, “A narrative has developed that we’re somehow moving away from focusing on the metaverse vision. So I just want to say upfront that, that’s not accurate. We’ve been focusing on both AI and the Metaverse for years now, and we will continue to focus on both.”
While it’s uncertain if the metaverse will meet expectations, the fact that behemoth companies such as Epic Games, Meta and LEGO Group have invested billions in the technology indicates that the vision to create an interconnected virtual world is still alive.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
