Insights · XR & Emerging Tech· 5 min read
I’ve been asked this question at conferences from Brisbane to Barcelona, from New York to Istanbul. And every time, I notice the same thing in the room: half the audience is hoping I’ll say “bullshit” so they can stop worrying about it. The other half is hoping I’ll say “reality” so they can justify the budget they’ve already spent.
The honest answer is: both. And neither.
Let me explain.
Around 2021–2022, something strange happened. Companies that had 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 “paradigm shift.”
And then, almost as suddenly, it went quiet.
Meta spent billions and built something most people found uncomfortable 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 VR and 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 XR consulting and implementation was real, the projects were meaningful, and the momentum felt unstoppable.
In 2024, we nearly didn’t survive.
The post-hype collapse hit hard. Budgets that had been allocated to XR initiatives evaporated. Clients who had been enthusiastic went quiet. The word “metaverse” had become almost toxic in boardrooms — and everything associated with it suffered collateral damage, including genuinely useful technology and the companies building with it.
I’m telling you this not to complain, but because it’s relevant to everything I’ve written above. I’ve seen this space from the highest point and from a very difficult low. And what I know now — more clearly than ever — is that the organisations that came through this period were the ones who had deployed XR to solve specific, measurable problems. Not the ones who had a metaverse strategy. The ones who had a training problem, or a collaboration 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 so loosely it’s become almost meaningless.
VR (Virtual Reality) puts you entirely inside adigital environment. You are somewhere else. This is powerful for training, for simulation, for experiences that are impossible or dangerous in the physicalworld.
AR (Augmented Reality) overlays digital information on 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 underlying technologies 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, most measurable use case. Complex, dangerous or expensive procedures — surgicalt raining, industrial maintenance, emergency response, military simulation — can be practised in VR at a fraction of the cost and risk. The data on retention and performance improvement is compelling. This isn’t a future possibility; it’s happening today.
Onboarding and organisational development.
New employees can experience their workplace, understand processes and meet colleagues virtually before their first day. For global organisations with teams across multiple countries, this is significant. I’ve designed and facilitated exactly these programmes — they work.
Customer experience and retail.
Configuring a car, designing a kitchen, walking through a property you’re considering buying — all before a physical product exists. BMW was doing this years ago. The question was never whether it was possible. It was whether customers were ready. They increasingly are.
Remote collaboration. Not the cartoon avatar version that made everyone cringe. Serious spatial computing tools where engineers in different countries examine the same 3D model simultaneously, where architects walk clients through a building that hasn’t been built yet. This is genuinely useful.
Here’s what I’ve learned after years in this space: the failure of most VR and XR initiatives has almost nothing to do with the technology.
It has to do with the question they asked before deploying it.
Most organisations ask: “How can we use VR?” This is the wrong question. It starts with the tool, not the problem.
The right question is: “What do we need people to experience, understand or practise — and what’s the best way to make that happen?”
Sometimes the answer is VR. Often it isn’t. A great facilitator in a room, a well-designed workshop, a clear video — these can outperform 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, for now, 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 most organisations.
The companies that will win aren’t the ones that bet everything on a metaverse strategy in 2021. And they’re not the ones that dismissed the whole space when the hype collapsed.
They’re the ones quietly figuring out where these tools solve a real problem — and building the competence to use them well.
The future doesn’t care about your opinion of the hype cycle. It’s moving regardless.
Michele C. Fuhs is a senior advisor and global keynote speaker specialising in digital transformation, XR and the future of work. He has spoken on these topics at conferences across 4 continents and works with organisations implementing emerging technologies in real-world contexts.
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