I read the news on LinkedIn for the first time this morning. MeetinVR, the social VR platform I last wrote about on my blog in 2022, announced that it will end its service as of April 30, 2026.
The technological environment is characterized by constant change. Looking ahead, we recognize that the following significant changes will occur in the corporate sector:
- Shifting industry focus:Major platform providers are strategically reorienting their enterprise VR initiatives.
- Market Maturity:The core VR market is evolving and new forms of spatial computing may emerge.
- The Rise of AI-Based Glasses:We are seeing accelerated development and focus on AI-enabled glasses and next-generation augmented and virtual reality, which signal the next wave of workplace collaboration.
In light of these industry dynamics and to ensure a strong finish, we have made the strategic decision to terminate our MeetinVR service.
The MeetinVR service will officially discontinue on Thursday, April 30, 2026.
Now there’s so much technical jargon in this press release that it makes you grit your teeth (and we’re still a ways off from that). far In my opinion, it’s a far cry from the “rise of AI-based glasses”). And the “industry shift in focus” in which “major platform providers are strategically reshaping their enterprise VR initiatives” can be brutally summarized as follows: Metaverse companies are folding because there is no market for business users yet..
Let’s face some brutal facts in the harsh and unforgiving light of the inevitable clash of artificially heightened expectations of the latest metaverse hype cycle. actually around It’s at the beginning, middle and end.) Are you still with me? good.
Facebook (which went to all the trouble and expense of rebranding itself as Meta during this absurd hype cycle) acquired Oculus and invested millions of dollars into building its business Metaverse platform. We couldn’t even get employees to use it. (As well as others). Linden Lab (creators of Second Life) has spent millions building a shiny new social VR platform called Sansar. The platform never took off and is now virtually moribund, supported only by passionate volunteers determined to keep it going. (Now, Sansar was designed for consumer use, not business use, but I’m sure the original development team would have been happy to see Sansar released for enterprise use as well. But outside of a few music festivals, that never happened.)
And frankly, given the politically and economically perilous times we live in, people care far more than whether they can meet as avatars to conduct business in a flat-screen virtual world or on a social VR/AR platform accessible through a headset. The current tsunami of generative AI tools like ChatGPT is threatening white-collar jobs in mid- and lower-level management. ~ no I think enough has been said:) If the Metaverse platform can’t sell itself. during the epidemicYou certainly won’t be able to sell yourself now, when everyone has been forced to sit at home, with businesses cutting costs and people worrying about putting food on the table and a roof over their heads.
I predict that we will see a “metaverse winter” much like the previous “AI winters,” where the initial promise and hype around the technology is met with what the Gartner group politely calls “the trough of disillusionment.” And I expect to see many more closure announcements like this throughout 2026.
All the PR spin in the world (“To finish strong”? really??!?) There is no hiding the fact that the Metaverse business is in a period of austerity. And generative AI is not going to be some kind of magic wand that can suddenly make everything better again. It’s really funny.
It’s time to go back to the drawing board to reconsider.thatI can agree with this press release). And I sincerely hope that the MeetinVR team succeeds in whatever they decide to do next.
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