IN NOVEMBER, FACEBOOK announced that it was rebranding itself as Meta, sparking a lot of credulous media coverage of “the metaverse,” a somewhat nebulous concept comprising virtual reality, 3D gaming, and a number of other trends. Interest in the metaverse deepened earlier this week, after Microsoft announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, a leading game developer, for almost $70 billion. Microsoft stated near the top of a press release that the acquisition, which still needs the approval of the Federal Trade Commission, will “provide building blocks for the metaverse”—a claim repeated in more than one news story about the deal, though not universally taken at face value.
Origen: What’s the metaverse? Whatever companies want it to be. – Columbia Journalism Review