Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg Says an Open & Interoperable Metaverse is Better for Everyone

In October 2021, Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, launched a grand plan to help create the future immersive internet of the metaverse. However, the company has received backlash since then, leading to a drop in its stock prices by 60%.

Regardless of the setback, Meta is still focusing on building its vision. During the annual Meta Connect Conference Keynote held yesterday, the company shared its progress on the metaverse. One outstanding advancement by Meta is the powerful new Virtual reality headset which serves as a driver toward a more exciting online world and interactions.

Meta Could Embrace Open-Source Technology in its Metaverse

A section of Web3 developers has expressed concerns regarding Meta’s role in building the metaverse. Many expect the Social media giant firm to build another closed ecosystem. But Meta seems to send a different message concerning its approach as Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO, confirmed the possibility of an open metaverse.

Zuckerberg spoke about the history of closed ecosystems across various computing eras, noting that these ecosystems focus on tight control and integration and that such platforms claim most of the created value. On the other hand, Zuckerberg believes that an open metaverse built by many different developers is better for everyone.

In addition, Zuckerberg talked about interoperability for avatar customizations. Likely, this would mean that users can only carry the accessories and apparel over to platforms that support meta’s avatar technology rather than be used freely with different types of NFT-based avatars.

In the past few months, Meta has embraced NFT collectibles from top platforms Polygon, Flow, and Ethereum. The company launched integrations with Instagram and Facebook, allowing users to showcase their owned NFT assets to followers and friends. It’s unclear whether Meta will embrace the current NFT ecosystem when it builds its metaverse platform.

Meta’s Latest Moves Indicate Progress in Its Metaverse Plans

Elsewhere, Meta announced significant progress towards achieving its metaverse objectives on both the software and hardware fronts. On the Hardware front, Meta unveiled Quest Pro, a powerful virtual reality headset targeting business users and professionals.

The Quest Pro will retail at $1,500, and unlike Meta Quest 2, it has more graphical power to deliver robust virtual reality experiences. Apart from hardware advancements, Meta is also developing software to facilitate its plans to launch a unified online 3D platform designed for socializing, Shopping, working, and more.