Jan 21, 2022

Metaverse is pointless and VR headsets annoying, says the man who invented PlayStation Metaverse is pointless and VR headsets annoying, says the man who invented PlayStation Ken Kutaragi invented the PlayStation and created the video game business for Sony Group back in 1993, but he is now leading an artificial intelligence startup in Japan. Ken Kutaragi thinks metaverse is a waste of time. (Source: Reuters) Shubham Verma Story highlights Ken Kutaragi has shrugged off metaverse and said headsets are annoying. He said the VR headsets are a sticking point and there is in no point in pursuing them. Kutaragi is currently occupied in a project that wants to create skilled robots. Metaverse may hold a fascination for many, especially with new technologies around it emerging every day, but it has apparently failed to impress the man who is known as the "Father of PlayStation." Ken Kutaragi, who invented the PlayStation and created the video game business for Sony Group back in 1993, has dismissed metaverse as the next big thing in the world of technology. "Being in the real world is very important, but the metaverse is about making quasi-real in the virtual world, and I can't see the point of doing it," the 71-year-old entrepreneur who is now the boss of Japan's Ascent Robotics said. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Kutaragi downplayed the projects that are either underway or are in the pipeline by big companies to shape up the metaverse the way they have envisioned it. "You would rather be a polished avatar instead of your real self? That's essentially no different from anonymous messageboard sites," he said. Metaverse will have to rely on AR and VR headsets and they will also be a part of advancements that this field of technology may witness in the future. But Kutaragi believes headsets associated with metaverse technology are a sticking point. "Headsets would isolate you from the real world, and I can't agree with that," he said. "Headsets are simply annoying." Metaverse is a term coined for a virtual realm that makes in-person activities, such as attending a meeting, playing sports, shopping, etc., an experience that you can easily have with a headset through a combination of different immersive technologies such as mixed reality, along with the internet. Metaverse is also the reason Facebook changed its name to Meta as CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants the company to be the frontrunner in the race to adopt this new technology in its prime. Several other companies, such as Apple, Sony, Nvidia, Microsoft, Roblox, Amazon, are also investing heavily in headsets and metaverse technology. But Kutaragi is not a fan. His company, Ascent Robotics, which is based in Tokyo, is directing its efforts into a different category to create a technology that Kutaragi thinks will help transform real-world objects into computer-readable data. He wants to create robots that can perform a variety of tasks, but all simple so that human labour can move on to complex ones. "Current robots do not have software and sensors that can match humans in understanding the real world and reacting to things they see for the first time, and our short-term goal is to offer a solution to that," Kutaragi told Bloomberg News. "Because you want robots to be able to create a variety of things, not just countless units of the same thing."