PlayStation creator Kutaragi snubs metaverse and VR headsets

A 2006 file picture shows Kutaragi with a PlayStation3 console at a Tokyo shop. Kutaragi is no fan of the metaverse and VR headsets, calling the latter annoying. — AFP

PlayStation inventor Ken Kutaragi shrugged off the metaverse as the tech industry’s next big undertaking and head-mounted displays as the portal to that destination, describing them as dividing rather than unifying the real and virtual realms.

“Being in the real world is very important, but the metaverse is about making quasi-real in the virtual world, and I can’t see the point of doing it,” the 71-year-old entrepreneur told Bloomberg News in an interview. “You would rather be a polished avatar instead of your real self? That’s essentially no different from anonymous messageboard sites.”