A new report from the research and consulting firm Gartner digitally fuels the situation in the Metaverse, the virtual world of the company of the same name.

Research and consulting firm Gartner conducted a survey of 52 Metaverse vendors and published its findings in a new report. Presumably the results of this research will lead to Mark Zuckerberg slapping himself and not Elon Musk.

main reasons

There are many factors preventing companies and individuals from flocking to the Meta digital playground.

However, two things stand out: the VR experience isn’t worth it if you’re not a gamer, and the virtual encounters – through avatars – aren’t immediately spectacular. A meeting with good coffee and sandwiches is ultimately more pleasant.

target audience

Gen Z is the largest group of participants in the Metaverse, and even among this demographic, enthusiasm isn’t immediately overwhelming.

A whopping 85 percent are dissatisfied with the many brands that populate the virtual world, and 43 percent say they’re walking away from it because the purpose of it all is unclear.

More criticism

Other factors why users avoid the Metaverse include:

• Concerns about privacy (it’s still meta) and security
• The cost of the VR gear required for a journey into the Metaverse
• Physical discomfort during the VR experience

The scalability for the VR environments is limited by the slow progress of the necessary hardware and software, which also differs from platform to platform. Meta himself does his best, for example with the recently released Quest 3 VR glasses.

As for the avatar meetings, they appear to be more of a fun gimmick rather than a “realistic” alternative to the video calls we’ve become accustomed to over the last few years. Furthermore, the avatars are not immediate graphic masterpieces and do not adequately match the real person. In addition, the material cost of upgrading can be quite high.

So for now, it still seems like the Metaverse isn’t currently a full replacement for the real world, which is something we had in mind at MWC a few months ago.