Opinion & Criticism of “Metaworse”: The Metaverse is rubbish – and risky, pointless & dangerous for companies | Mechanical Engineering & Industry

When something new and exciting is announced, two behavioral patterns clash within me: childlike curiosity and a critical eye with the “Cui bono tag” (who benefits marker).

Metaverse sounds as incredibly exciting as the word itself. It holds the promise of something still unknown, and the announcements from Meta (formerly Facebook) already give us a glimpse of what it might all be. On the other hand, I wonder where this seemingly sudden hype surrounding the metaverse comes from? Suddenly, "experts" appear as if they've known nothing but the metaverse since their inception and can draw on years of experience.

In fact, Meta Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced just last July that Facebook is to become a metaverse company within the next five years. A virtual reality world that will “feel like a blend of today’s social online experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world.”.

It's worth noting here that in 2014, Meta acquired the XR headset manufacturer Oculus, which, according to the latest analysis, held a market-dominating position with a 75% market share in the XR headset sector in Q1 2021. This is therefore in Meta's own best interest.

Extended Reality in mechanical engineering: VR simulator for construction machinery & excavators with virtual reality - Image: Xpert.Digital

More information here:

• Extended Reality in Mechanical Engineering: Komatsu Simulator for Construction Machines & Excavators with Virtual Reality XR Technology in the Metaverse

Share of Extended Reality ➡️ Virtual Reality Headsets by Brand Worldwide – Image: Xpert.Digital

Market share of Extended Reality (XR) headsets by brand worldwide

Oculus was the largest brand for extended reality (XR) headsets in 2021, holding 75 percent of the market. Sony came in second among providers with just under 12 percent of shipments.

Oculus

• Q1 2020 – 34%
• Q2 2020 – 32 in %
• Q3 2020 – 29 in %
• Q4 2020 – 74%
• Q1 2021 – 75%

Sony

• Q1 2020 – 18 in %
• Q2 2020 – 20 in %
• Q3 2020 – 16 in %
• Q4 2020 – 6 in %
• Q1 2021 – 5 in %

HTC

• Q1 2020 – 6 in %
• Q2 2020 – 5 in %
• Q3 2020 – 7 in %
• Q4 2020 – 0 in %
• Q1 2021 – 0 in %

DPVR

• Q1 2020 – 7 in %
• Q2 2020 – 8 in %
• Q3 2020 – 8 in %
• Q4 2020 – 4 in %
• Q1 2021 – 6 in %

Pico

• Q1 2020 – 6 in %
• Q2 2020 – 10 in %
• Q3 2020 – 11 in %
• Q4 2020 – 3 in %
• Q1 2021 – 4 in %

Other

• Q1 2020 – 21 in %
• Q2 2020 – 18 in %
• Q3 2020 – 23 in %
• Q4 2020 – 8 in %
• Q1 2021 – 6 in %

However, there are other aspects that should give us pause. Facebook had been growing steadily until the fourth quarter of 2021, when it experienced its first decline of around one million users compared to the previous quarter. Following the release of these figures, Facebook immediately lost approximately 40% of its share price (from the end of December 2021 to the beginning of March 2022). Facebook founder Zuckerberg pointed to the rapidly growing competition from TikTok. Another, and long-standing, problem is Facebook's aging user base. Fewer and fewer young people are using the social media platform. This demographic mostly uses Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, or TikTok and sees no need for Facebook.

The main reason for the decline in revenue, however, was the privacy change Apple implemented in its iOS operating system last year. This concerns the impact of Apple's app tracking transparency feature on the advertising industry, which reduces targeting options by restricting advertisers' access to an iPhone user ID.

“We believe that the overall impact of iOS is a headwind for our business in 2022,” said Dave Wehner, CFO of Meta, during a call with analysts following the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. “It’s in the range of $10 billion, so it’s a pretty significant headwind for our business.”

Related to this:

• Extended Reality with Facebook Metaverse
• Name change on Facebook: Meta

Decline in daily active users by approximately 1 million users in Q4 2021 – Image: Xpert.Digital

Facebook thrives on personalized advertising. In exchange for a "free" communication platform, it uses the collected data to generate revenue through personalized ads. Around 97 percent of Facebook's revenue in 2021 came from advertising. The growing global awareness of personal data and privacy threatens Facebook's future business model. In addition to the current data privacy concerns in Europe, Apple's tracking protection, introduced in spring 2021, demonstrates just how vulnerable the business models of Facebook and similar companies have become.

This also explains why Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook's transformation into a metaverse as early as July 2021. In a dedicated, personalized metaverse, all the obstacles to tracking and the resulting personalized advertising simply vanish.

The Meta Metaverse is therefore primarily geared towards VR/AR entertainment, with a focus on our own personal data, interests and habits.

A market share of 53% in the consumer sector was projected for 2020. Compared to the production, distribution, and other sectors, this is a considerable share, which is primarily and exclusively of interest to internet companies whose business models are mainly global and digital.

Projected share of global spending on Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR)

Projected share of global spending on Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) – Image: Xpert.Digital

Share of global AR/VR spending by segment in 2020

• Consumers – 53%
• Sales and services – 15.8%
• Production and resources – 13.8%
• Public sector – 12.7%
• Infrastructure – 3.2 in %
• Other – 1.6 in %

Since the end of 2020, Facebook's revenue growth has not been running as smoothly. It has stagnated.

Facebook's revenue by segment worldwide through Q3 2021

Facebook's revenue by segment worldwide through Q3 2021 – Image: Xpert.Digital

Facebook's advertising revenue in the third quarter of 2021 exceeded $28.2 billion. The largest share of this revenue, approximately $13 billion, came from the US and Canada. In Europe, advertising revenue reached approximately $6.82 billion during the same period, while around $5.4 billion was generated in the Asia-Pacific region.

More key figures on Facebook

Facebook's total revenue in 2020 was approximately $85.97 billion. During the same period, the California-based company's profit amounted to approximately $29.15 billion.

Facebook users

In the US and Canada, the number of daily active Facebook users was 196 million in the third quarter of 2021. This represents only a slight increase compared to the previous quarter. In Europe, Facebook is used by approximately 308 million people daily, an increase of one million users compared to the previous quarter. Globally, Facebook is the most popular social network based on the number of monthly active users.

From this perspective, it's no surprise that the metaverse is now seen as the next generation of the internet. As is typical in such processes, countless opportunists and opportunists are never far away, outdoing each other in this hype with meaningless opportunities and announcements or vague promises that are dangerous to your wallet.

According to a media report, singer Justin Bieber allegedly paid $1.3 million to be able to hop around the Metaverse as a monkey. The veracity of this claim cannot be verified, but it is telling that such headlines circulate about the Metaverse.

Anything that isn't yet part of the Metaverse is being turned into one to capitalize on the lucrative, ad-supported media hype. For example, games once described as open-world, such as "The Sandbox," which is somewhat reminiscent of Minecraft, are being rebranded as Metaverse. Another headline reported that a virtual plot of land in "The Sandbox" sold for $4.3 million. Seriously? According to Wikipedia, partners include Adidas, Warner Music Group, Snoop Dogg, Pororo, Shaun the Sheep, The Walking Dead, Atari, and PwC Hong Kong. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, as well as the band Avenged Sevenfold, are also among the investors in the virtual world of "The Sandbox.".

The Winklevoss twin brothers have been running the venture capital firm Winklevoss Capital since 2012. According to media reports, they have invested $11 million in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. They also announced plans to launch a Bitcoin fund to make investing in Bitcoin easier for investors who are not tech-savvy. In September 2021, The Sandbox invested $2.9 million in a "Bored-Ape" NFT. These non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are used for virtual goods. They serve as proof of ownership of digital assets and can be collected and traded.

What added value or benefit this is supposed to represent for the physical and real world is more than questionable. It is reminiscent of the well-known Danish fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes".

Such stories are spun into more. Already, the "best of the best" are proclaiming to experts: "Megatrend Megaverse. Invest in the new internet. The internet of the future lies in the metaverse. The metaverse is a multi-trillion-dollar megamarket."

Now all the other buzzwords of the new and "everything about the positively changing future" come into play: cryptocurrencies, blockchain, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity ("The world is in a global digital war!") and whatever else.

Cui bono? Is this art or can it be thrown away? This "Metaworse" can safely be thrown in the trash.

The Facebook Metaverse, as a further development of a social (tracking-commercialized) technology, is purely aimed at the consumer target group, whose supposed added value to the real world needs to be questioned more closely.

Other virtual worlds are working on selling "secure" virtual properties using crypto and token technology, on which virtual owners can then operate shops, casinos, and the like. These virtual properties aren't intended for virtual vacations (which would be obviously absurd), but rather serve as marketplaces for conducting business. Essentially, a digital eBay 3D, Amazon 3D, or something similar. However, these aren't for products that are delivered in the real world, but purely digital products that, as unique digital items, can only be owned by a single person.

The most well-known names behind them are the Metaverse projects Cryptovoxels, Sandbox, Decentraland, Substrata, Somnium Space, NFT Worlds, TCG World, Genesis World, Matrix, Utherverse and Realm.

A metaverse is intended to represent a legally secure space using Extended Reality (XR) technology, where property owners can own and operate a property in a "crypto-secure" manner and conduct business with virtual and physical goods and services. This could include a shop (selling digital and physical products) or services (digital games, tools, or services of any kind).

Consumers can also purchase virtual items here in a "token-safe" manner, which they cannot lose, but items for real life are also available.

From a consumer perspective, owning virtual properties only makes sense if they can be meaningfully linked to "computer games" or similar activities, perhaps in the form of a library or "storage space." The focus, therefore, remains on the digital items that can be acquired – and here, the rarity of the real world is to be replicated in the digital realm. This is made possible by a blockchain like Ethereum, which, incidentally, generates the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of a medium-sized European industrialized nation.

That's neither sustainable nor valuable.

Essentially, a metaverse is a place where the physical and digital worlds converge. It represents a further development of XR technology, which aims to enable interactions between digital 3D models (see digital twins) and digital 3D avatars, including interactions between them.

In fact, some metaverses are currently not 3D worlds, but poorly implemented 2D projections that simulate a 3D world.

The metaverse provides a space for endless, interconnected virtual communities that use VR headsets, AR glasses, smartphone apps, or other devices.

All in all, the purpose and added value of the metaverse in question should be clear. All currently known metaverses utilize human curiosity and playfulness to lure people into their virtual world, be it VR films, VR/AR games, or pure VR/AR entertainment (Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality).

Global investments in AR/VR technology in 2024, by use case – Image: Xpert.Digital

The commercial use cases for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) that are expected to see the largest investments in 2024 are education and industrial maintenance, with $4.1 billion projected to be invested in both areas. VR gaming, VR video/feature viewing, and AR gaming are the three largest application areas for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), with an expected $17.6 billion in spending in 2024.

Global investments in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technology in 2024, by use case

• Education/Training/Instruction – 4.1 billion US dollars
• Industrial maintenance/servicing/support – 4.1 billion US dollars
• Product presentations – 2.7 billion US dollars
• VR games, watching VR videos/movies, and AR games; VR/AR entertainment – ​​US$17.6 billion

Metaverse

The metaverse is considered the next generation of the internet and is the place where the physical and digital worlds converge. As an evolution of social technologies, the metaverse aims to enable interaction between digital representations of people, the avatars, in a wide variety of situations. Whether at work, in the office, attending concerts or sporting events, or even trying on clothes – the metaverse is intended to offer a space for endless, interconnected virtual communities using VR headsets, AR glasses, smartphone apps, or other devices.

AR/VR in business

The use of VR in companies is often seen in training exercises. Examples include scenarios where new employees are trained on critical technical machinery and equipment – ​​taking this equipment out of service for training purposes would be an expensive and disruptive process for a company, where VR steps in to alleviate this problem. AR can also help improve efficiency within a company, particularly with the "I see what I see" feature for remote support and the overlay of data onto the image of the physical world. On-site assembly, safety, and industrial maintenance are all use cases for AR that are expected to experience strong growth in the coming years.

This is far from being practical for use in a company. Quite apart from that, Meta (formerly Facebook), due to its history regarding data protection, will likely make the use of Meta-based products and solutions completely impossible in some companies.

In the early days of XR technology, the high costs of the 3D models and the constant adjustments required to accommodate recurring operating system updates and new devices coming onto the market (mainly smartphones and tablets) prevented XR from achieving a market breakthrough.

For a long time, XR was only able to establish itself to some extent in the gaming sector (entertainment). Instead of utilizing the technology's potential, the buzzword "metaverse" is exclusively associated with "entertainment," even though the underlying 3D technology has the potential to make our everyday lives, especially at work, easier and better – saving us all time, money, and stress.

The first 3D frameworks for businesses and no-code 3D platforms made it possible to permanently reduce costs and keep them monetaryally stable, enabling increased and sustained use with demonstrable added value in the areas of

• Training and education
• Industrial maintenance and support
• Product presentations

enabled.

The use of VR in companies is often seen in training exercises. Examples include scenarios where new employees are trained on important technical machines and equipment – ​​taking these out of service for training purposes would be an expensive and disruptive process for a company, where VR steps in to alleviate this problem.

AR can also help improve efficiency within a company, particularly with the "see what I see" feature for remote support and the overlay of data onto the physical world. On-site assembly, security, and industrial maintenance are all use cases for AR that will experience further strong growth in the coming years.

Vuframe's 3D experience for B2B sales & marketing – Image: Vuframe

The use of VR in companies is often seen in training exercises. Examples include scenarios where new employees are trained on important technical machines and equipment – ​​taking these out of service for training purposes would be an expensive and disruptive process for a company, where VR steps in to alleviate this problem.

AR can also help improve efficiency within a company, particularly with the "see what I see" feature for remote support and the overlay of data onto the physical world. On-site assembly, security, and industrial maintenance are all use cases for AR that will experience further strong growth in the coming years.

It is logical that the use of extended reality serves a larger market in the consumer sector. However, this market only functions with 3D representations (digital twins) of products and machines.

These costs and expenses are not listed in the incentives offered by the Metaverse. This means that the Metaverse operators provide the platform and everything surrounding it, incurring lucrative costs for third parties. They leave the actual operation and "entertainment" to others.

This brings with it the next risks and problems for companies and manufacturers.

In none of the cases is the data security of the CAD / 3D models of the products and machines guaranteed; they are easily extractable and lie unprotected at the feet of the competition.

In a 3D platform like Vuframe®, this data security of the CAD/3D models is guaranteed.

Non-reverse engineering / data security

Reverse engineering, also known as back-engineering, is primarily the process of extracting information from a specific 3D model and reproducing it based on that information. This is not possible with Vuframe's 3D platform, also called SmartVu (pronounced Smartview). Your data remains secure! Incidentally, this is a unique feature of Vuframe!

Whether it's smart 3D meetings, virtual showrooms, creating CAD/3D models with a configurator, or an intelligent and flexible trade fair appearance from your pocket – all with data security in mind.

No-code platform for all CAD/3D models with Vuframe

As an editor without prior programming knowledge, manage and maintain CAD / 3D models as in a CMS backend, e.g., like in WordPress, Joomla, TYPO3, Drupal, Wix.com or Shopify.

SmartVu, the no-code platform for all CAD/3D models with Vuframe – Image: Vuframe

Simply upload your data; adjustments and compression are done automatically. Data security is guaranteed in every case. Copying from third parties is not possible!

Related to this:

• Smartview: Product photo 4.0 / Product image 4.0
• Framework: Viewframework – the programming framework for 2022 – including for Product Photo 4.0 and WebAR