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PlayStation's creator not impressed with the metaverse

Headsets are "annoying," Ken Kutaragi tells Bloomberg.

Corinne Reichert Senior Editor
Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.
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The original PlayStation arrived in the 1990s.

 Sony

Sony's PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi has said he "can't see the point" of the metaverse, saying headsets "isolate you from the real world."

"Headsets are simply annoying," he said in an interview with Bloomberg News published Wednesday.

The metaverse can be loosely described as the next step of the internet, where people will work, play games and socialize as avatars. But Kutaragi said being part of the real world is important, and that "the metaverse is about making quasi-real in the virtual world, and I can't see the point of doing it."

Read more: The metaverse is just getting started: Here's what you need to know

"You would rather be a polished avatar instead of your real self? That's essentially no different from anonymous messageboard sites," he added.

Metaverse supporters like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella see the metaverse as relying on AR glasses and VR headsets with a 3D virtual world.

Kutaragi is now CEO of Ascent Robotics, an artificial intelligence company based in Tokyo, having left Sony in 2007. He started Sony's video game business in the early '90s.