Rather, I urge everyone in our industry to design digital spaces of flow, place, heart and soul the way we design cities. It’s a place that encourages people to linger, not just scroll. It’s not about what people see, it’s about where they are. I felt like I saw it.
—Andy Fidel, Status of Metaverse in 2026 Keynote presentation, IMMERSIVE X Conference, 11 November 2025 (ENGAGE).
Yesterday, November 11, 2025, I had the opportunity to attend three sessions of the IMMERSIVE
- IMMERSIVE
- Andy Fidel’s keynote speech, The State of the Metaverse in 2026 (held at ENGAGE)
- Julian Reyes’ presentation, Preserving Digital Cultural Heritage: A Virtual World Museum™ Living Archive (held at Spatial)
Warm-up: Curator’s remarks (Thomas Zorbach)
Set in a custom-built theater surrounded by lush rainforest. Thomas Zorbach set the tone and agenda for the conference sessions that would take place over the three days of the conference. My friend Carlos Austin was the videographer for the event (he will no doubt be participating in many of the conference sessions!) and he produced the following video of Thomas’ speech, which was posted on the IMMERSIVE
Updated November 13, 2025: I was finally able to add some photos I took from VRChat to this section of my blog post (See photo above).
Status of the Metaverse in 2026 (Andy Fidel)
Andy’s keynote began with a 30-minute red carpet ceremony where various people were introduced and several awards were presented. (I’m late to this part, but here’s a 35-minute video from the IMMERSIVE
What an entrance! Dress up your avatar and give your photos the most dazzling smile. Once again, the path to the opening keynote stretches across the legendary red carpet at the Polys Theatre, home of the annual Polys Awards. Thanks to Ben Erwin and his amazing Polys team, this festive event marks the official start of IMMERSIVE X 2025. Don’t miss this prestigious social event in the Metaverse.
After the red carpet, we all moved to the main stage where Andy Fidel, founder and creative leader of Spatial Networks, shared his insights on where the metaverse is now and where it is headed.
I attended the event wearing a Vive Pro 2 VR headset, so I didn’t take any notes of her talk, but it was amazing! Andy also asked me to tell him a story. ~ no Streaming to YouTube is a decision I can completely understand and respect. But Andy was happy to share his speech notes with me. So I didn’t have to rely on my notoriously flawed 61-year-old memory to share a few quotes that particularly resonated with me!
Andy sighed and began his presentation by saying:
I’m tired of the (metaverse) hype cycle. I don’t know what we are all waiting for. Because I’ve seen us create real, human digital experiences, moments of presence, every day for the past ten years. This is not a sci-fi episode. The metaverse is already here. It’s in your browser tab. It’s not just a concept, a game, or a location. This is how we choose how we appear online.
And my favorite (metaverse) misconception? We are not avoiding reality, we are expanding it.
There were more quotes from Andy that I really appreciated. Talking about the transition from large-scale metaverse platforms to micro-communities, she said:
When we talk about connections, we need to find new ways to measure success. All social metrics measure visibility, impressions, clicks, followers, etc. This is an inauthentic activity. And I don’t know about you, but I’m done chasing mass participation and empty distribution. Because connections are not content. that Yes.
And she said perhaps we are too narrowly focused on what the “metaverse” is.
To be honest, the metaverse didn’t start in VR. We have been building a shared digital world for decades. Second Life, World of Warcraft, Minecraft… Now what’s the only difference? New and emerging technologies are finally making it possible for us. feel Yes. VR, AR, and digital are just new layers deep within humanity. “Metaverse” is just a new name for what we’ve always done: collect. And if we want to gather, we need a space to do so. What’s different now? We have the technology to do this remotely and it feels like you are right there. Through embodiment, body language, touch and even phantom touch, we are leveraging all the little things that make digital spaces feel more real and real.
and:
Virtual presence has become a form of oneness in itself. We do not appear directly; within the world. Honestly, why do you show up? Because you can feel it.
The Metaverse is not here to replace the real world. We are here to give it new forms of meaning. It is neither just a playground nor a simple market. This is a new layer of human communication.
And look. Saying “The Metaverse is not for me” is like saying “The Internet is not for me” in the 1990s. You don’t have to love every part of it. Just find the part that resonates with you. Because this isn’t about technology for technology’s sake. It is a more intimate connection beyond space, time, and media.
Updated November 13, 2025: I was finally able to add some photos from ENGAGE to this section of my blog post (See above).
I’d like to thank Thomas Zorbach for inviting me to this avatar-filled session, even though the event is full and no longer accepting registrations. I didn’t want to miss Andy’s speech, ~ no disappointed!
Preserving Digital Cultural Heritage: The Virtual World Museum™ Living Archive (Julian Reyes)
I wasn’t sure if I would be able to attend this session. (I was having all kinds of trouble getting Spatial to work and eventually threw up my hands and gave up on attending virtual reality, visiting instead through the flat-panel monitor on my Windows home computer.) But I do. so thank god! A video stream of the 45-minute presentation is already posted on the IMMERSIVE
This blog post will be updated as I add photos and more impressions, so check back later today for updates! I enjoyed all three sessions, and I’m really looking forward to the ones I’ll be attending today and tomorrow!
Many thanks to Andy Fidel for sharing his speech notes with me. Thanks, Andy!
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