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Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney remains steadfast in his belief in the metaverse, despite a recent article suggesting that the concept of online virtual worlds is "dead." The founder of the successful video game company behind Unreal Engine and Fortnite took to Twitter on May 9 to ridicule a Business Insider article titled "Farewell Metaverse, We Barely Knew You."
The piece from PR firm CEO Ed Zitron argued that the business world had cast aside the once-promising technology. Zitron specifically mentioned Meta's Horizon Worlds, a virtual reality platform that, in his opinion, failed to deliver on its ambitious vision to revolutionize the internet. He also cited Decentraland and Yuga Labs' Otherside as examples of metaverse projects that did not live up to expectations, suggesting that investors have shifted their focus toward generative AI, the next big trend in technology.
However, Sweeney's outlook is entirely different. He believes that virtual world platforms like Roblox, Minecraft, PUBG Mobile, VRChat, Fortnite, and The Sandbox collectively boast a user base of 600 million. In April 2022, Epic Games raised $2 billion in funding to expedite its metaverse plans. This investment round included a $1 billion contribution from Sony Group and KIRKBI, the holding company responsible for the LEGO Group. This announcement followed the revelation that the LEGO Group and Epic Games were joining forces to create a "family-friendly" metaverse.
After Tim Sweeney tweeted, “The metaverse is dead,” The Sandbox CEO Sebastien Borget called in “600,000,000 monthly active users” to meet up in a digital “wake” from some of the most populated games with social interactions.
While specifics regarding this partnership remain under wraps, LEGO Group CEO Niels Christiansen hinted at an upcoming announcement with more details about the collaboration in an interview with the Financial Times earlier this year.
