Corporate metaverse bet failed as users rejected VR headsets

Evidence

Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta in October 2021, betting the future of his company on this vision. However, the early results were underwhelming. Investors balked at the money Zuckerberg was pouring into his Oculus virtual reality division, while regular users avoided the metaverse’s nausea-inducing headsets and primitive avatar designs that initially lacked legs. (“But seriously,” Zuckerberg asserted, “legs are hard.”) Apple launched its Apple Vision Pro VR headset in 2024; a few months later, market analysts labeled its momentum “dead.” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 722

Categorization

• CANDY: Zuckerberg’s ‘legs are hard’ and the dead-on-arrival Vision Pro are easy conversational nuggets.