Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, was mocked by netizens for a selfie he posted a few days ago to promote his metaverse game, and he responded on Friday, admitting that the photo did look monotonous, but an update is coming soon.
▲ Photo credit: Zuckerberg Facebook post
To celebrate the launch of the metaverse game Horizon Worlds in Spain and France, Zuckerberg posted a selfie of his digital avatar standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. However, the screenshot was immediately mocked by netizens, with one Twitter user calling it similar to the Teletubbies game for PlayStation One.
Zuckerberg has apparently seen the comments and clarified that Meta is working on better graphics. On Friday, Zuckerberg posted more new screenshots on Facebook and Instagram, showing more realistic selfies and an ancient-looking square. He wrote: “Major updates about the horizon world and digital avatars are coming soon, and I’ll be sharing more details at the upcoming Connect conference.”
▲ Photo credit: Zuckerberg Facebook post
As for the initial screenshot, Zuckerberg admitted its not very flattering. He wrote, “I know the one posted earlier this week was very monotonous, and it was taken in a hurry to celebrate the launch of the game. In fact, the graphics in World of Horizons are much more powerful, even on a VR headset. Personally, though, if my company was investing billions of dollars in a digital world that many people don’t like very much, I’d probably avoid rushing to release not-so-great screenshots, especially since we just announced a $100 price increase for Quest 2, making the cost of VR experiences go up significantly. Of course, that’s just me.”
Meta isn’t the only company promising better graphics to draw people into virtual worlds. Last month, Roblox announced that it would also update its traditional block and low-resolution graphics, and its head of product, Josh Anon, said in an interview that its ultimate goal is to “replicate the real world.
Ultimately, though, graphics remain secondary to what people are trying to do with the metaverse. Even if Meta’s latest update to World of Horizons upgrades the visuals to the level of a game masterpiece, it won’t matter unless there’s something more interesting to see in its virtual world.
