Silicon Valley · 18 February 2022

Neal Stephenson & Marc Petit: the origins and future of the metaverse

Science fiction author Neal Stephenson and Epic Games manager Marc Petit on the origins and potential of the metaverse.

Silicon Valley correspondent Stephan Scheuer speaks with two pioneers of the metaverse about its origins and potential. Neal Stephenson coined the term in his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash – for him, virtual reality is “more than a dystopian vision of the future”. Marc Petit of Epic Games has been building metaverse-like worlds through Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft for nearly 20 years. He wants to build a counterweight to the tech giants – and has taken them to court to prove it.

Published in Handelsblatt

February 18, 2022 ·Handelsblatt Disrupt

How much potential does the metaverse have? Cult author Neal Stephenson and Epic Games manager Marc Petit in conversation

By Stephan Scheuer and Hannah Krolle

Machine translation. The verbatim German original is on handelsblatt.com (link below).

Neal Stephenson first mentioned the metaverse in his 1992 science fiction novel "Snow Crash". For him, virtual reality is "more than a dystopian vision of the future".

"Some people use this world for sophisticated technological purposes," he says. Others create "extraordinarily beautiful architectural works". These cultural achievements have the same value as those in the physical world, he argues.

Marc Petit, a manager at video game developer Epic Games, has been building metaverse-like worlds through games such as Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite for nearly 20 years. He wants to build a counterweight to tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, Apple and Google – and recently took them to court. "It is like the fight between David and Goliath," tech reporter Scheuer observes.

"Adoption is growing," he says. Given the supply-chain disruptions, the world has little choice but to turn to virtual alternatives.