Ball adds that the speed at which brands wanted to act, without a real plan or understanding of the space, created problems for their longevity: “There were definitely a lot of comments of ‘We need to do this because everyone is doing it’ and ‘We need to do this.’ because the shareholders expect us to do it. There were many who overestimated the relevance of their brand in these 3D spaces.”
A turn towards AI
Now, many of the bosses of the metaverse, who had established themselves so quickly, were quick to reinvent themselves, or were left completely out of work. Coca-Cola’s Pratik Thakar quickly moved from heading up the brand’s metaverse content to becoming the company’s global generative AI leader in August 2023.
Around the same time, Michael White, who was tasked with leading Disney’s metaverse efforts in 2022, left after the brand dedicated itself The metaverse split was closed. below; The company announced it would launch a new AI “working group” a few days later. Then, after Triefus’ departure from Gucci, the brand promoted a collaboration with Christie’s in your first generative AI project.
In case any further proof was needed that the metaverse’s shift to AI was complete, in the final quarter of 2022, Bloomberg transcription data recorded just two mentions of the metaverse in earnings calls from companies in the market. S&P 500. In the first quarter of 2023, The AI had accumulated 1,073.
According to Cathy Hackl, former director of metaverse at a consulting company called Journey, the large-scale marketing shift from virtual brand experiences to AI was a smart business decision. and Just another example of jumping on the technology bandwagon.
Today, Hackl reflects on the metaverse’s land grab as a phenomenon that quickly spiraled out of control. “There was this rush among PR teams to get something out of the ‘metaverse,'” he says. “I think we’ll look back on it as a really interesting time, but maybe we all got a little ahead of our skis.”
Don’t mention the “M” word
Even Hackl, who was given the nickname “Godmother of the Metaverse,” has distanced herself from the concept and founded “an artificial intelligence and spatial computing solutions company” earlier this year, and any mention of the metaverse is highlighted by his absence.
The metaverse-focused initiatives that once seemed to be part of every release are also suspiciously quiet. Bulgari, which launched a NFT Jewelry Collection on the Polygon blockchain in 2022, confirmed to WIRED that it has no plans for more collections in the future.
UNXDA “curated NFT marketplace,” with partners including Dolce & Gabbana, Jacob & Co. and Valentino, is still announcing a competition for Metaverse Fashion Week 2023, along with a number of “to be announced” collections that had been confirmed for release in 2022.
Rumors about the initially successful collections have also virtually disappeared: Tiffany’s NFTiffs are now selling for around $2,300 on NFT marketplace OpenSea, a drop of more than 95 percent from peak selling prices. while activity in Gucci collections. “Superplastic” NFT series on OpenSea shows a staggering drop in sales interest from around September 2022, and now, virtually nothing.
