Mark Zuckerberg led Facebook's Metaverse vision questioned by gaming veteran
Mark Zuckerberg led Facebook is among the most vocal proponents of the future of the metaverse, but one gaming industry veteran is particularly skeptical about its vision. Like the cloud five years ago and even the internet of 20 years past, every business is now trying to latch onto the metaverse, said former Nintendo of America Inc. President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. Instead of Facebook’s parent, the digital future will be driven by smaller companies that are really innovating, while companies like Epic Games Inc. are doing “really compelling” things, he said.
“Facebook itself is not an innovative company,” Fils-Aime told Emily Chang at the South by Southwest event in Austin, Texas, on Saturday. “They have either acquired interesting things like Oculus and Instagram, or they’ve been a fast follower of people’s ideas. I don’t think their current definition will be successful.”
A representative for Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The rise of innovative, smaller firms that are currently in seed or funding rounds also suggests that more consolidation is in store for the industry. Fils-Aime pointed to successful acquisitions like Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.’s purchase of Zynga Inc. and called Microsoft Corp.’s recent bid for Activision Blizzard Inc. “a fantastic purchase.”
Fils-Aime is a long-time gaming executive whose Haitian parents fled the Duvalier regime in Haiti and settled in New York. His new book “From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo” talks about his upbringing, path to Nintendo, and why he got the nickname, the “Regginator.”
As a Black executive who rose through the ranks of a storied Japanese company, he criticized the gaming industry for not moving fast enough to address its
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