Metaverse dropped 86%

the not-too-distant future, a new technology will take the world by storm. The metaverse, a virtual space that combined the wonders of technology with the limitless potential of imagination, promised to revolutionize the way we live, work, and play. People from all walks of life flocked to the metaverse, seeking immersive experiences, new connections, and endless possibilities.
But like all great empires, the metaverse’s rise was followed by a fall. A series of problems, from data breaches to privacy concerns, led to the unraveling of this once-great technologyaftermath.
The Beginning
The term “metaverse” was first coined by science fiction author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel “Snow Crash.” The book described a virtual reality space where people could interact with each other and digital objects. While the concept was purely fictional at the time, it sparked the imagination of technology enthusiasts and sci-fi fans alike.
In 1995, Lucasfilm Games created the first graphical virtual world called Habitat. It allowed users to explore a 2D digital space with primitive graphics and interact with other users in real time. While the technology was still in its infancy, it laid the groundwork for future virtual worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft.
“Virtual reality has always been a dream of mankind,” says John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, the company behind the wildly popular augmented reality game Pokémon Go. “The metaverse was the first time we really saw a vision of that dream come to life. It was a truly magical experience.”
In 2003, Linden Lab released Second Life, a massively multiplayer online game that allowed users to create their own avatars and interact with each other in a virtual world. Second Life quickly gained a massive following, and by 2006 it had over one million registered users.
Google entered the metaverse space in 2007 with the launch of Lively, a 3D virtual world that allowed users to create avatars and chat with each other. However, Lively failed to gain traction and was shut down by Google a few months later.
In 2012, Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR with Brendan Iribe, Nate Mitchell, and Michael Antonov. The company went on to develop the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset that revolutionized the way people interact with virtual worlds. The Oculus Rift quickly gained a following among technology enthusiasts and gaming enthusiasts, and it helped to popularize the concept of the metaverse.
“It was an amazing time,” says Tammy Camp, a startup founder who worked in the metaverse space. “We were all building something truly new and exciting. We knew we were onto something big.”
In 2014, Facebook acquired Oculus VR for $2 billion, signaling the mainstreaming of virtual reality and the metaverse. Facebook continued to invest heavily in technology, and it launched its own virtual world platform called Horizon Workrooms in 2021.
“We always knew that virtual reality was the future,” says Palmer Luckey, the inventor of the Oculus Rift. “But it wasn’t until we saw the first reactions from people using our headset that we realized just how transformative this technology could be.”
Other companies also entered the metaverse space in the following years. High Fidelity, a new virtual world platform founded by Second Life creator Philip Rosedale, launched in beta in 2017. Fortnite and Roblox, both popular video games, also developed their own metaverse-like features, allowing users to create their own avatars and interact with each other in virtual worlds.