‘Corporate Regulation’ Poses a Growing Threat to Freedom, Says Crucible CEO

What is the metaverse, and who still believes in it? Those two questions have become harder to answer in the last year. But for Ryan Gill, founder and CEO of Crucible, a seedbed for the “open metaverse,” the most viable future is a truly open, interconnected virtual world.

The metaverse has faced skepticism since interest peaked in January 2022. Since those halcyon days when Facebook rebranded as Meta, attention has strayed from the term “metaverse” and toward more voguish technologies, most notably artificial intelligence (AI). Meanwhile, Facebook and other tech companies have instituted user policies that threaten privacy even more than some forms of government repression, Gill believes.

Interest in the Metaverse Is Near Its All-Time Low

According to Google Trends, the world’s most important interest aggregator, worldwide interest in the “metaverse” is nearly as low as before the Meta rebrand, back when the term was siloed in the crypto sphere.

Gill, however, is nonplussed by the steady fall of the term. “Media hype cycles come and go,” he said.

“The Metaverse has had more than one. But today, there are 300 million players in user-generated worlds like Roblox or Minecraft – and these experiences are the emerging Metaverse. So to say it’s dead is nothing more than the media needing a narrative.”

And he’s not wrong about their popularity. As of July 2023, Minecraft, the game where players build and create using 3D blocks, has over 140 million users. Numbers comparable to the populations of Japan, Russia, and Mexico.

Roblox, which allows players to create games to play and share with others, has more than 67.3 million daily active users, not far off the numbers of Brits, French, and Thais.