Insights · XR & Emerging Tech· 5 min read
I’ve been asked this question at conferences from Brisbaneto Barcelona, from New York to Istanbul. And every time, I notice the samething in the room: half the audience is hoping I’ll say “bullshit” so they canstop worrying about it. The other half is hoping I’ll say “reality” so they canjustify the budget they’ve already spent.
The honest answer is: both. And neither.
Let me explain.
Around 2021–2022, something strange happened. Companies thathad never thought about virtual reality suddenly had a “metaverse strategy.”Consulting firms published white papers. CEOs mentioned it in earnings calls.The word appeared in slides next to words like “Web3,” “NFT” and “paradigmshift.”
And then, almost as suddenly, it went quiet.
Meta spent billions and built something most people founduncomfortable to use. Microsoft shut down its industrial metaverse division.The hype collapsed, and with it, a lot of serious, legitimate technology gotburied under the rubble of bad marketing.
Here’s what I saw from the inside — having worked with VRand XR since before the hype cycle hit: the technology was never the problem.The narrative was.
In 2023, Circle4XR had its best year ever. The demand for XRconsulting and implementation was real, the projects were meaningful, and themomentum felt unstoppable.
In 2024, we nearly didn’t survive.
The post-hype collapse hit hard. Budgets that had beenallocated to XR initiatives evaporated. Clients who had been enthusiastic wentquiet. The word “metaverse” had become almost toxic in boardrooms — andeverything associated with it suffered collateral damage, including genuinelyuseful technology and the companies building with it.
I’m telling you this not to complain, but because it’srelevant to everything I’ve written above. I’ve seen this space from thehighest point and from a very difficult low. And what I know now — more clearlythan ever — is that the organisations that came through this period were theones who had deployed XR to solve specific, measurable problems. Not the oneswho had a metaverse strategy. The ones who had a training problem, or acollaboration challenge, or a customer experience gap — and found that XR wasthe right tool for it.
That distinction is everything.
Let me be specific, because the terminology has been used soloosely it’s become almost meaningless.
VR (Virtual Reality) puts you entirely inside adigital environment. You are somewhere else. This is powerful for training, forsimulation, for experiences that are impossible or dangerous in the physicalworld.
AR (Augmented Reality) overlays digital informationon your physical environment. Your world, enhanced. Think navigation,maintenance instructions, real-time data visible through a headset or phone.
XR (Extended Reality) is the umbrella term for all ofit — plus everything in between.
The Metaverse — as it was sold — was a persistent,interconnected virtual world where people would live, work, shop and socialise.This specific vision, in this specific form, was oversold. It’s not here yet,and may never arrive exactly as described.
But that’s not the same as saying the underlyingtechnologies don’t work. They do. I’ve seen them work.
This is where I get impatient with the “metaverse is dead”narrative, because it ignores what’s actually happening in the real world.
Training and learning. This is the clearest, mostmeasurable use case. Complex, dangerous or expensive procedures — surgicaltraining, industrial maintenance, emergency response, military simulation — canbe practised in VR at a fraction of the cost and risk. The data on retentionand performance improvement is compelling. This isn’t a future possibility;it’s happening today.
Onboarding and organisational development. Newemployees can experience their workplace, understand processes and meetcolleagues virtually before their first day. For global organisations withteams across multiple countries, this is significant. I’ve designed andfacilitated exactly these programmes — they work.
Customer experience and retail. Configuring a car,designing a kitchen, walking through a property you’re considering buying — allbefore a physical product exists. BMW was doing this years ago. The questionwas never whether it was possible. It was whether customers were ready. They increasinglyare.
Remote collaboration. Not the cartoon avatar versionthat made everyone cringe. Serious spatial computing tools where engineers indifferent countries examine the same 3D model simultaneously, where architectswalk clients through a building that hasn’t been built yet. This is genuinelyuseful.
Here’s what I’ve learned after years in this space: thefailure of most VR and XR initiatives has almost nothing to do with thetechnology.
It has to do with the question they asked before deployingit.
Most organisations ask: “How can we use VR?” This isthe wrong question. It starts with the tool, not the problem.
The right question is: “What do we need people toexperience, understand or practise — and what’s the best way to make thathappen?”
Sometimes the answer is VR. Often it isn’t. A greatfacilitator in a room, a well-designed workshop, a clear video — these canoutperform a mediocre VR experience every time.
The technology is only as good as the thinking behind it.
The metaverse as a replacement for physical reality is, fornow, largely overhyped. Not impossible. Not even necessarily wrong as along-term vision. But not here yet.
VR, AR and XR as tools for specific, well-defined problems —training, simulation, spatial collaboration, immersive customer experience —are very real, increasingly affordable, and significantly underused by mostorganisations.
The companies that will win aren’t the ones that beteverything on a metaverse strategy in 2021. And they’re not the ones thatdismissed the whole space when the hype collapsed.
They’re the ones quietly figuring out where these toolssolve a real problem — and building the competence to use them well.
The future doesn’t care about your opinion of the hypecycle. It’s moving regardless.
Michele C. Fuhs is a senior advisor and global keynote speakerspecialising in digital transformation, XR and the future of work. He hasspoken on these topics at conferences across 4 continents and works withorganisations implementing emerging technologies in real-world contexts.
