TRASHFUTURE *PREVIEW* Lord Item feat. Gareth Dennis
Mar 21, 2026
They dig into recent promising UK transit developments outside London. They roast the metaverse collapse, mocking huge bank and consultancy forecasts. They explain why gaming and kid-driven platforms like Roblox actually work while corporate metaverse bets flopped. They close by questioning pundits' past hype and misplaced tech optimism.
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Horizon Worlds Closure Shows No Dominant Metaverse
- The promise of a single dominant metaverse platform failed as Meta's Horizon Worlds, aimed to be 'the Facebook of the metaverse', is being shut down publicly in April.
- Riley notes the concept still exists across platforms like Roblox, but Horizon's closure shows no single anchor emerged.
Trillion Dollar Predictions Met Reality Of Tiny Adoption
- Financial forecasts wildly overestimated the metaverse's near-term economic impact, with predictions from Goldman Sachs, Citibank, JP Morgan and McKinsey ranging into trillions and billions of users.
- Riley and Milo contrast those figures with tiny real adoption like JP Morgan's 38-person metaverse team and stalled public use.
Big Consulting Numbers Often Hide False Precision
- McKinsey and others produced precise-sounding category breakdowns (e-commerce, virtual learning, advertising) yet those estimates displayed false precision and missed timelines.
- Riley highlights gaming as the only area showing meaningful virtual-world activity, mainly via child-focused platforms like Roblox.