Let’s be honest here. Facebook changed its name to Meta (NASDAQ:FB) and is betting everything on metaverse development because it has no other choice.

Meta’s social media platforms are dying, especially the core Facebook app (which, for the first time ever, lost users last quarter). Its digital advertising business is disappearing, thanks to privacy law changes and to competitors stealing ad dollars. Its employee morale is disintegrating. The chief revenue and technology officers, the heads of Messenger and Marketplace — and others still — all left the company last year. And its crypto dreams are already dead, as Facebook/Meta sold those assets to Silvergate Capital last month.

Why else do you think its stock recently lost more than $200 billion in value in a single day? It was the single biggest stock market drop ever because, well, the company’s disastrous earnings report confirmed that the business on top of which it built a trillion-dollar empire is crumbling.

So let’s be clear. Facebook is betting everything on the metaverse because the metaverse is the only viable path forward for the company.

Unfortunately, the company won’t “win” the metaverse. Indeed, other companies are already beating it — and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Next-Gen Escapism

To be clear, we’re foaming-at-the-mouth bullish on the metaverse. Humans are natural escapists. We like reality, sure; but we also like to escape it sometimes.

A few decades ago, we escaped via analog platforms like books, magazines, and movies. Today we escape via 2D-internet platforms like video games, social media, and streaming content. And tomorrow, we will escape via 3D-internet platforms like virtual reality (VR) gaming, simulated bars and clubs and immersive shows and movies.

It’s the natural progression of things. These 3D-internet platforms encompass the next evolution of human escapism. And our jump to them isn’t a matter of “if.” It’s a matter of “when.”

“When” is now.

The augmented and virtual reality hardware underlying our access to these platforms — like Oculus Rift — has advanced enough to be made for mass consumer use. Over the next 12 to 24 months, these headsets are going to go from niche adoption to household ubiquity, and the world will make the leap from 2D- to 3D-internet platforms.

Then the metaverse will be born.

The economic opportunities here are huge. A new generation of metaverse gaming will reshape the $175 billion gaming market. Its next iteration of advertising will reshape the $455 billion digital ad market. And its evolution of entertainment will reshape the multi-trillion-dollar leisure and travel markets.

And the companies at the epicenter of the metaverse — the ones that create the best metaverse games, advertisements and experiences — will generate huge economic value.

But Facebook won’t be the giant in the metaverse that it is in social media.

Maximize the Metaverse Megatrend

Sure, the company has a war chest of capital and resources to invest in metaverse technologies. But they’ll need every penny in that cache because, despite the name change and “all-in” talk from Zuckerberg, Meta is way behind the eight ball here.

Many companies have been developing metaverse technology for years now.

In particular, one of Meta’s closest competitors has been working on metaverse tech since the mid-2010s. And in terms of creating a virtual world where people can hang out and interact, they’re miles ahead.

Another has developed next-gen augmented reality (AR) tech that is way better than anything Meta has created.

And yet another has created next-gen hardware that allows businesses and consumers to virtualize any physical space — something Meta is a long way from developing.

These companies are our picks to win the multi-trillion-dollar metaverse race — not Meta.

And that’s why these stocks are the best stocks to buy to play this megatrend.

So we put all of them into their own Metaverse portfolio in our flagship investment research advisory, Innovation Investor.

We think that portfolio has tremendous upside potential over the next few years. Our modeling suggests gains of 300% or more across the whole portfolio are likely.

Gain access to that portfolio — and find out the best stocks to buy to play the metaverse megatrend.

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