Comment by xg15

I wasn't following the project very closely and so might have missed something - but could someone explain what happened there and where all those billions went?

The idea of an immersive, persistent, multi-user virtual reality is not exactly a new one and we've had several mature implementations over the years - VRChat, Second Life, in some sense most MMOs, etc.

Compared to that, all the impressions of the "Metaverse" that made some larger rounds in the press looked more like the prototype of a WiiFit knockoff. And that for 85B? Did they do some significant research/development in other problem areas that are less visible than the graphics? Or what was going on there?