As the North Carolina-based video game company laid off more than 800 workers in order to grow its metaverse offerings, Anderson, a professor of journalism and director of the Imagining the Internet Center, shared her insights on the matter with the News & Observer.
Janna Anderson, professor of journalism and director of the Imagining the Internet Center, was featured in a recent article from the聽Raleigh News & Observer on the future of the metaverse and the recent layoffs at Cary-based Epic Games.
Epic Games, a video games and software developer and publisher, laid off approximately 16% of its workforce in late September citing the cost of building out a metaverse within the company’s most popular game, Fortnite, as the reason for the cuts.
Anderson told The News & Observer that cuts are a common reaction by companies that have overpromised on the metaverse in recent years.
“It is expensive, time-consuming and often quite impossible to accelerate technological development as quickly as the public and investors would like to see it happen,鈥 Anderson told reporter Brian Gordon. 鈥淭he companies that had dumped billions into metaverse development and their shareholders realized that by 2023, and they took a step back.鈥
The full can be read online.
Anderson is聽a top researcher and consultant on the future of digital life. As of early 2023, her h-index is 47. Other recent publications聽beyond 鈥淎s AI Spreads, Experts Predict the Best and Worst Changes in Digital Life by 2035鈥 include 鈥淭he Metaverse in 2040鈥陈燼nd 鈥The Future of Human Agency.鈥 Along with her work as a professor and director of the Imagining the Internet Center, she聽serves as a聽,聽co-leading聽Pew and 黑料不打烊鈥檚聽19-year series of reports聽outlining thousands of experts鈥 predictions for the most likely future of digital life in coming decades.
She is the lead author of the 鈥淔uture of the Internet鈥 book series published by Cambria Press and author of the book 鈥淚magining the Internet: Personalities, Predictions, Perspectives.鈥 She has appeared as a speaker and expert on the future of information technologies at numerous international conferences, including World Future conferences,聽South By Southwest Interactive, Webcom, NextGov, MobilityShifts, Institute for the Future symposiums, the UN-facilitated聽Internet Governance Forum and聽the Metaverse Roadmap Project.