So when did this chatter about the open metaverse begin? I started writing about it in 2015, 2016, and 2017, when the only person really pushing it was Tim Sweeney of Epic Games. venturebeat.com/2016/12/09/the-deanbeat-epic-boss-tim-sweeney-makes-the-case-for-the-open-metaverse/

Here's another piece where he spoke about it seriously, as if it were around the corner. venturebeat.com/2016/12/16/epics-tim-sweeney-be-patient-the-metaverse-will-come-and-it-will-be-open/

He brought it up at our GamesBeat events in that time frame. venturebeat.com/2015/09/10/epic-games-graphics-guru-tim-sweeney-to-speak-at-gamesbeat-2015/

And he looked forward, unlike many of the gaming gurus at the time, to what technology would deliver for us. venturebeat.com/2015/10/15/epics-graphics-guru-tim-sweeney-on-arvr-game-engine-wars-and-simulating-hu...

He wasn't always right. Sweeney predicted it would happen earlier than it has, for sure. But he put the metaverse on our radar he saw that technology was heading in a direction that would make sci-fi into reality. venturebeat.com/2017/05/01/epics-tim-sweeney-the-tech-for-the-metaverse-is-about-3-years-away/

It's not quite here yet. But people like Sweeney have been taking the metaverse seriously for a long time, before all the hype, and that's how you make it happen.