Epic Games CEO Laughs Off ‘Death’ Of Metaverse, Says 600 Million To Attend Its ‘Wake’

Video gaming industry giant Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, doesn’t hold back in mocking the claim that the metaverse has become extinct.

The billionaire behind Unreal Engine and Fortnite, Sweeney came to Twitter on May 9 to mock PR agency CEO Ed Zitron’s article titled, “RIP Metaverse, we hardly knew ye,” which saw print on Insider earlier this week.

According to the article, the “once-buzzy technology… died after being abandoned by the business world.” Zitron believes that Horizon Worlds, Meta’s virtual reality platform, hasn’t lived up to its “grand promise” of becoming the internet of the future.

Contrary to Zitron’s claims, Sweeney said that 600 million people use virtual worlds like Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, The Sandbox, and VR Chat.

Is The Metaverse Dead? Epic Games CEO Doesn’t Believe So

The gaming mogul called on supporters to organize an “online wake” so that 600,000,000 monthly active users in Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, PUBG Mobile, Sandbox, and VRChat “can mourn” the the metaverse’s passing together in real-time 3D.

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

It’s not surprising that the Epic Games big boss would disagree with the story’s central premise, given that most people’s understanding of the metaverse is based on the framework established by Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is upbeat about the metaverse. Image: Epic Games

It’s not strange that people and businesses could have various ideas about what the metaverse should be and how it should operate.

A major declaration about the future of Zuckerberg’s company and the digital landscape was made by the Meta CEO in late 2021. He declared that the name Facebook would be changed to Meta.

With this change, Zuckerberg also shifted his focus to the metaverse, which he saw as the future of online interaction.

The term “metaverse” is used to describe a virtual reality realm where people can take part in a wide range of activities and interact with one another.

The ultimate goal is to make it easier for people to live, work, and travel in virtual realms that feel as real as the real world.

Epic Games: $2 Billion Funding For The Metaverse  

Epic Games recently announced a $2 billion investment round, with the intention of fast-tracking the company’s ambitions for the metaverse. The LEGO Group’s parent firm, KIRKBI, and the Sony Group each contributed $1 billion.

This followed an earlier announcement of a multi-year collaboration between LEGO Group and Epic Games to create a “family-friendly” virtual world.

Lego Group CEO Niels Christiansen has teased that additional information about the partnership will be made public soon.

Despite spending billions, Meta’s attempts to entice consumers to their version of the metaverse have mainly been unsuccessful. The Sandbox and other blockchain-based virtual worlds have likewise failed to gain widespread user adoption.

Zitron’s article also claims that investors have moved on to the next big tech trend, generative AI, by referencing unsuccessful metaverses like Decentraland and Yuga Labs’ Otherside.

Epic Games, together with other corporations including Microsoft and Meta, founded the Metaverse Standards Forum in 2022.

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Metaverse Industry: Nowhere But Up

According to projections, the value of the worldwide metaverse market in 2022 was $66 billion. This is projected to rise to $82 billion by 2023, then $937 billion by 2030.

Over the forecast period, the market is likely to increase as a result of technological advancements and continuing hardware and software innovation aimed at improving real-time rendering of visuals.

-Featured image from WallpaperAccess