A team of experts from the online platform Facebook will in future be working on creating a virtual world called “Metaverse”.
As the US company announced on Monday (local time), users should be able to meet in this artificial online world, spend money, consume media and possibly even work.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg regards the project as central to the future of Facebook.
"Today we're setting up a Metaverse product group to bring together the teams focused on responsibly building this ambitious project," said Facebook manager Andrew Bosworth.
The “Metaverse”, a term coined by the science fiction author Neal Stephenson, is characterized by the fact that it gives the user the feeling of real presence, “the feeling of really being with the people”.
Bosworth cited products such as virtual reality headphones or smart screens, which give users the feeling of being close together even though they are spatially far apart, as examples.
“To achieve our full vision of the Metaverse, we also need to create the links between these spaces,” he explained.
Facebook isn't the only company working on creating a “metaverse”; video game developer Epic Games also announced investments in similar projects earlier this year. During the corona pandemic in particular, numerous people had played popular video games such as "Fortnite", which is why the manufacturer sees potential for expansion, for example with the option of virtual parties or player meetings.