Palmer Luckey isn't a fan of what Mark Zuckerberg has created for metaversions so far, though he thinks it could eventually succeed.
The Oculus founder said of Horizon Worlds, Facebook's key metaverse product, during The Wall Street Journal's Tech Live conference on Monday: "I don't think it's a good product."
Luckey sold virtual reality startup Oculus to Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion. That's part of an investment of more than $15 billion in what Zuckerberg now calls the metaverse, an immersive digital world accessible through AR and VR devices.
The tech giant has little to show for this massive spending spree, other than a new Meta company name, a few VR headsets and an early Horizon Worlds digital platform
"It's not good, it's not fun," Lucky said of Horizon. "Most people on the team would agree that it's not a good product."
Luckey was fired from Facebook in 2016, which he said was due to his political donations to an "unpopular" cause. He now heads Anduril Industries, a startup focused on security and defense products. Despite his divisive exit, Luckey is a long-time builder and fan of AR and VR, and he wants Facebook to succeed in building it.
"Mark Zuckerberg is the world's number one virtual reality fan," said Luckey. "He put more money and time into it than anyone in history."
He said the amount of money Zuckerberg is pouring into the project means there's a chance Horizon Worlds will improve and the meta version will be successful. "It's terrible today, but it could be wonderful in the future," he said. "Zuckerberg will put money into it. They are in the best position to win in the long run."
It will take time and involve mistakes, he added, likening it to a "project car," a luxury automobile that the owner spends a lot of money on as a hobby.
"You hack into it and maybe no one else sees the value," Luckey said. "Will they trip? Yeah sure. Will they waste money? Will they add things to their project car that they'll chop up later? Yes."
So far, Facebook's move to build a meta version has been costly. The company lost $10 billion last year on Reality Labs, a division that now covers all metaverse projects including Oculus, renamed Meta Quest. Wall Street analysts expect it to lose more than $10 billion again this year.
So far, Wall Street has not reacted well to the project, especially as Facebook is now struggling with slowing user and revenue growth. Facebook shares fell to their lowest price since 2018 earlier this month after Zuckerberg showed off avatars with legs that aren't actually there, along with other meta-version tweaks that aren't ready for prime time.
0 Comments