After the release of "Ready Player One" in 2018, which illuminated the possibilities of VR, the idea that virtual reality would become a breakthrough in progress soon really caught on.

Companies jumped on the bandwagon, investing tons of money in developing this futuristic technology. Unfortunately for their stakeholders, however, not much profit has been seen.

For example, Apple expects to sell only about 450,000 Vision Pro mixed-reality headsets this year, far below its initial target of 800,000. Microsoft's much-heralded HoloLens stopped selling in 2023.

Overall, what looked like a significant disruption is not performing as well as anticipated. The same goes for augmented reality. Maybe it's not the right time, or is there something else?

It is difficult to pinpoint a single reason: it is a mix of factors. First, developing and manufacturing VR/AR hardware and software is neither easy nor cheap for companies.

When consumer adoption turns out to be slower than expected, companies, which are naturally supposed to make money, naturally shift their focus to avoid accumulating losses in that area.

In addition to high costs, the lack of demand is mainly due to a lack of compelling content. It's as if there were only programming and cooking tutorials on YouTube: somewhat limited.

However, the failure of VR/AR is nothing compared to the one of the Metaverse.

A few years ago, Mark Zuckerberg invested billions in what he hoped would be an innovation that would rival the Internet's impact. But as time has passed, there have been no notable breakthroughs.

Yet every time the company showed off the product, it was met with derision. What's worse, Reality Labs' revenue in the last 12 months was $2.1 billion, but it posted an operating loss of $16.7 billion.

No wonder Meta has cut funding for its Metaverse hardware and software division by 20%. However, this does not mean they will completely abandon VR/AR development.

Meta is still planning to launch new virtual reality headsets like the Quest and augmented reality glasses like Ray-Ban in the next three years. Let's hope these innovations perform better than before, potentially boosting the Meta stock chart.

At the same time, interest in the Metaverse is fading among cryptocurrency enthusiasts, which isn’t great news for tokens tied to this sector. As some say, “No hype, no gain…”

The takeaway is that not every technology billed as revolutionary will make an impact. Who knows, AI might even be a letdown for some companies.