The metaverse Why data center investment must continue, despite recession

Everywhere and nowhere: Metaverse leaders plan for data centers on a whole new scale

The metaverse was once pure science fiction, an idea of a sprawling online universe born 30 years ago in Neal Stephenson‘s Snow Crash novel. But now it’s gone through a rebirth as a realistic destination for many industries. And so I asked some people how the metaverse will change data centers in the future.

First, it helps to reach an understanding of what the metaverse will be. Some see the metaverse as the next version of the internet, or the spatial web, or the 3D web, with a 3D animated foundation that resembles sci-fi movies like Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.