Years before the term metaverse was popularized by Mark Zuckerberg’s rebranding of Facebook to Meta in late 2021, Matthew Ball published a series of essays on what the metaverse is all about—and what would be needed to turn the vision into reality. The result was a nine-part “metaverse primer,” released in early 2021 (later evolved into a book, The Metaverse and How It Will Revolutionize Everything, in 2022), which rapidly became required reading for everyone seeking to understand the opportunities and challenges of this complex concept. After a recent talk at a PwC Emerging Tech Exchange event, the former tech executive, Economist contributor, and angel investor sat down with strategy+business to discuss what business leaders need to know about the state of the metaverse in 2023, and where it could go from here.
