We're still rounding up all the comments that Xbox boss Phil Spencer had to share at WSJ Tech Live 2022 earlier this week, and one of them was centered around the metaverse, which Spencer has talked about a few times before.
In a very honest statement, Spencer admitted that he feels the metaverse is currently like a "poorly built video game", but then went on to explain that he believes the "metaverse world" is still in its early stages (thanks, Tom Warren):
"Today it's a poorly built video game. Building a metaverse that's like a living room is not how I want to spend my time. What I see in the metaverse world is that we're at the early stage and this will evolve."
It's hard to pin down exactly what the metaverse is right now, especially considering that the likes of Microsoft and Meta seem to have different visions for it, but at least in Microsoft's view, it's described as "new vision of the internet, one where people gather to communicate, collaborate, and share with a personal virtual presence on any device."
If you're a Meta Quest 2 owner, the new Horizon Worlds app (which takes the form of an "ever-expanding social universe") is what you might associate with the metaverse in 2022.
As we mentioned before, Phil Spencer has talked about the metaverse on multiple occasions in the past, and has admitted that he understands why gamers might not "get" the concept as things stand right now.