Facebook didn’t invent the metaverse or even coin the term, though it has managed to trademark it. The company now known as Meta Platforms hardly has a lock on the idea either.

To be sure, Microsoft’s $69bn deal to buy gaming giant Activision Blizzard that was announced 18 January would have happened even without the hype around tech’s favorite buzzword. Activision’s internal scandals and stumbles in game quality had torched more than a quarter of its market value over the preceding six months, creating an opening for the Microsoft to seriously level up its videogame business.