Nexon boss wants to move past the vague promises of the ‘metaverse’

Nexon chief executive officer Owen Mahoney wants to put a sanity check on all the buzz around the metaverse. In particular, he wants to cut through the hype to get answers about the practicalities of the technology. And Mahoney argues that if the metaverse concept is going to turn into something real, it needs to avoid the vague promises of other recent trendy investments like virtual reality.

“The problem is that, as with many previous waves, so much of the hype around the metaverse lacks even the most rudimentary description of the intended user experience in any detail that can help the creative designer,” writes Mahoney. “This is a big problem: For masses of consumers to spend time in an entertainment experience, it actually needs to be entertaining. Without clear answers, we certainly can’t hope to convince anyone to come to our Virtual World. No visitors, no business — we don’t get the luxury of being vague or glib.”