People
Tim Roberts
Partner & Managing Director, UK Country Co-Leader
London
Microsoft has made some bold statements about its ambitions regarding the immersive future of the internet - aka the metaverse - but actions speak louder than words.
The deal announced today indicates that it intends to build on its existing cloud and software platform with a massive step up into the world of gaming and VR, giving it the skills to create an entertaining and creative experience for users, presumably to do much more than work on spreadsheets and documents.
As the NY Times mentions below, this may face challenges with antitrust regulators. However, this deal also further raises the need to look at how consumers will be protected in this new environment - in terms of data privacy, security, protection from inappropriate content and online bullying, to name just a few of the risks in this brave new world.