The Metaverse Should Be an Evolution, Not an Idea

For years, the metaverse was treated as a single grand vision. One company, one device, one sweeping prediction about how we would live our digital lives. It was an attractive idea, but it was also a shortcut. An attempt to define the future in one go rather than letting it emerge naturally.

The result was a bubble. Expectations inflated far faster than the technology, the networks, or the behaviour of real people. Heavy VR headsets were promoted as the universal gateway to the future, even though most people do not want to strap a large piece of plastic to their face for hours a day. What began as excitement soon turned into scepticism.

The word “metaverse” inherited the consequences.

But technologies that genuinely transform society rarely succeed because one person declares them so. They grow through evolution. The internet itself is the perfect example. It was not designed as the global, seamless, immersive network we enjoy today. It became that through decades of iteration, failure, innovation and, crucially, collaboration.

The metaverse is, and must, follow the same pattern.

Currently, hundreds of smaller studios, platforms and creators are doing the real work: testing what is possible, learning from users, pushing technical limits and gradually building the foundations that will support the next generation of online communication. It is messy, diverse and decentralised, and that is exactly why it is working.

These teams are collectively shaping the future far more effectively than any single blueprint ever could. They are discovering what people actually enjoy, where immersion enhances communication, and where it simply gets in the way. They are building worlds that run in browsers, on phones, on desktop devices, in mixed reality and, when appropriate, in VR. They are removing the false assumption that “metaverse” means “virtual reality only”.

In truth, the metaverse is the convergence of many modes of experience:

immersive 3D on any device, mixed reality overlays that enhance the real world, and even real-world spaces that interact with their digital counterparts.

It is not a replacement for reality, but a digital layer that complements it.

And importantly, the metaverse will not be one product. There will be no single world that everyone joins. Instead, we are moving towards a network of interoperable micro-verses. Specialised, purpose-built spaces that connect through shared standards, identity systems and communication protocols. It is the only realistic vision given the scale of the internet and the wide variety of use cases. It also preserves the decentralised, democratic nature that made the internet successful in the first place.

This approach is infinitely more scalable. It allows thousands of developers to contribute, millions of users to participate, and new ideas to emerge without needing permission from a central authority. It encourages experimentation rather than conformity. And it creates a fertile environment where the best ideas rise because they work, not because they were announced from a stage.

There are still significant technical challenges to solve. The current internet was not built for persistent presence, real-time 3D, spatial networking or high-volume synchronous communication. Metaverse developers often find themselves at the bleeding edge of what today’s infrastructure can support.

Over time, the protocols and architecture of the internet will need to evolve to accommodate shared, interactive spaces as naturally as it handles webpages today.

Yet this is how progress happens: one step at a time, by a community rather than a committee.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it is that the metaverse is not a static idea waiting to be fulfilled. It is a living, evolving ecosystem that is being shaped by thousands of hands.

The hype bubble may have burst, but the real work has quietly begun.

The future will not be defined by a single vision. It will be instead be defined by evolution in the collective thinking of many.

And that is exactly why it will succeed.