The Crystal Ball: VCs, private equity investors, and tech founders predict what will happen to the metaverse in 2023

For this year’s issue, we dug through more than 100 predictions, ranging from quick takes on whether venture capitalists would run for office to thoughtful analysis on whether philosophy majors will be at the top of the hire list in an artificial intelligence-powered world. And of course, speculation as to how many unicorns may lose their status, and intel as to which sectors are most poised for M&A deals. What about the metaverse? Here is what readers said 2023 would have in store for virtual reality, in your words:

(Note: Some answers have been shortened for clarity and/or brevity)

“In 2023, we’ll likely see Meta shut down all of its current efforts and investments into completing its Metaverse due to continuous drop in revenue and investor pressure.” —Benoit Vatere, CEO and co-founder, Mammoth Media

“With the launch of the Meta Quest (Oculus) Pro, and the Apple Glasses rumors, 2023 would be the year where mixed reality finally starts delivering real value. This will mostly be displayed on the business side–in areas like training, field services, and collaboration–but also for consumers in human interactions. This year will only see the beginning of the shift, as the devices are expensive and not yet mass market. But we will see the trend starting.” —Gigi Levy-Weiss, general partner, NFX

“Mark Zuckerberg will separate the social media assets (Facebook / WhatsApp / Instagram) from Meta and spin out Meta as a separate business (Oculus / Metaverse assets).  Zuckerberg will lead Meta and while Meta may look like a failure at first, it could be successful long term by powering new use cases in 6G particularly around gaming, home decorating, home improvement and the future real estate brokerage.” —Mark Sherman, managing director, Telstra Ventures

You can read all of this year’s Crystal Ball predictions in Term Sheet here.