Despite Widespread Tech Layoffs, Metaverse Platforms Currently Have 800+ Job Openings

With news that Microsoft is shutting down its VR metaverse platform AltspaceVR, along with widespread layoffs across most of the major tech companies, you might assume the Metaverse as an industry is also feeling the string.

Not so much.

On a quick tally of leading metaverse platforms in terms of active users, along with promising metaverse startups I’ve written about recently, I’m seeing nearly 800 current job openings at minimum. (And by the way, Microsoft and Minecraft developer Mojang still currently have 6 Minecraft-related job openings.) 

Here’s links to these job openings available as of today, January 24, 2023:

Roblox, the market leader among metaverse platforms in terms of users, currently has 194 job openings.

Epic Games, developer of Fortnite/Fortnite Creative, currently has 368 job openings.

Rec Room, the most popular metaverse platform among Quest 2 users, currently has 45 job openings.

VRChat, the best next gen metaverse platform, currently has 19 job openings.

Naver Z, developer of mobile metaverse platform Zepeto, currently has 14 job openings.

Lockwood Publishing, the game studio behind Avakin Life, currently has 7 job openings.

Garena, the creator of Freefire, a Fortnite-like metaverse platform that’s huge in Asia/South America, currently has 54 job openings.

There’s also at least 150 job openings in promising startups featured by New World Notes, including:

Manticore Games, the startup behind Core, the Epic-funded Unreal-meets-Roblox platform, currently has 16 job openings.

Novaquark, “the Metaverse Company” and developer of metaverse dark horse Dual Universe, currently has 3 job openings.

Control Zee, the startup from Linden Lab alumnus developing Big Dot Bang, currently has 8 job openings.

Improbable, “the metaverse technology company” with impressive tech, currently has 53 job openings.

Build a Rocket Boy, the studio behind the much-rumored “Roblox but not for kids” in development, currently has 55 job openings.

Hometown favorite Linden Lab, by the way, currently has two job openings.

The only exception? IMVU, the metaverse platform with 7 million monthly active users (when last I checked in 2020) is the sole company in either criteria that’s not hiring anyone at the moment. Then again, a PR rep for them just contacted me, so they are still breathing.

This is very much not a complete list which doesn’t include, for instance, job openings by third party studios creating content in Roblox, Fortnite, etc., metaverse-related job openings at Unity or the leading 3D graphics chip makers, middleware companies providing tech for metaverse platforms, and so on (and on, and on). 

None of this should be a surprise to New World Notes readers, who know that there’s conservatively 520 million+ active users in metaverse platforms.  Whatever “the Metaverse” becomes as a buzzword that most people in tech still don’t actually understand, a consumer market with half a billion people is a thriving one.

Even Meta is still actively hiring to make the Metaverse! Its XR division, Reality Labs, currently has 28 job openings with “metaverse” in the description. But then again, I’m definitely not sure Meta qualifies as a leading metaverse platform. (And Meta doesn’t seem so sure either.)