Forget Meta's Sleek Virtual Reality. Maybe The Metaverse Is Fun, Friendly, 8-Bit -- And Already Here.

Welcome to Gather Town, the $700 million low-res online universe spreading like wildfire across Silicon Valley, college campuses and, soon, a workplace near you.

When Phillip Wang was pitching Gather, his six-month-old startup, to VCs in late 2020, he would invite them up to the rooftop above his office. The space is a sweet spot to discuss a deal, illuminated by the neon green lights of a sprawling city framed by clouds in pink and orange hues. Best of all, he could brag to potential investors about the price. For a company Gather’s size—25 employees at the time—it ran just $175 a month to rent the entire building. That’s because the office is virtual, existing entirely inside the app the company created. These days, with new coronavirus variants delaying many employees’ return to physical spaces, 100,000 people make their daily commute by logging onto Gather’s website. More than 15 million people have used it at least once—many for virtual conferences but also for birthday parties, rock concerts and weddings.

“A lot of people think about the metaverse as sci-fi, like it’s five to seven years away,” says Wang, whose words come tumbling out at triple speed. “They imagine these dystopian worlds owned by large tech companies.”

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