Launched to great fanfare in February 2022, the Luxembourg metaverse project My Duchy has announced that it is going into hibernation, for now. Co-founder Guillaume Chatelain shares the story with us.
As much as entrepreneurs dislike to admit, betting on a new technology and a burgeoning market requires at least as much luck as it does skill. Unfortunately, for Luxembourg’s flagship metaverse project My Duchy, luck wasn’t in its favour.
“It’s frustrating that we didn’t manage to achieve our vision but I’m not sad about it because we are not suspending the project because our cash burn was too high – we actually managed our funds smartly – but rather because of a lack of B2B market adoption. I feel like we were preaching in the desert.”
Guillaume Chatelain, co-founder of My Duchy
This as good a reminder as any that 90% of startups don’t make it past the 5 year mark, a fact the Luxembourg ecosystem seems reluctant to address in the media.
“This is not the first time I have had to wind down activities on a creative project, so that helps to talk about it. The first time is always tougher than the others, but I felt it important to write about it this time because the metaverse remains something completely disruptive as a means of communication,” explains Guillaume.
Early beginnings
For those who don’t remember, in February 2022 the metaverse was being hyped by everyone, especially Facebook who was so certain of its success that it renamed itself Meta. My Duchy saw an opportunity and went for it, creating Luxembourg’s first metaverse. Brands such as Bofferding, RTL, Eldoradio, and Luxair quickly followed them.
Ambitious projections supported by reports from the world’s leading consulting firms indicated that the metaverse was going to be the next big thing. And for a while it was. Metaverse-themed conferences were taking place all across Luxembourg in Q2 and Accenture’s reports indicated that a majority of experts were convinced that it would positively impact businesses.
A catch-all term
Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last and the metaverse hype slowed down almost as quickly as it had taken off.
“The problem with the word ‘metaverse’ is that it’s a catch-all term that fails to distinguish between all the players in this ecosystem, which may include the creators of virtual universes, the vendors of hardware (headsets, etc.), and the creators of NFTs.”
Guillaume Chatelain, co-founder of My Duchy
AI comes knocking
After the summer break, it was clear that the metaverse was not yet ready and that generative AI was going to take its place in the spotlight.
While this might have prompted many to close shop, My Duchy took the time to pivot its focus to city centres, where businesses would be integrated like 3D Google Maps. However, despite releasing an online version in May 2023 and receiving interest from multiple cities, a lack of public support kept them from making any serious commitments.
While these developments have led to My Duchy’s suspension, the co-founders aren’t fully yet to end their metaverse adventure.
“We remain convinced that this type of communication is the future, rather than static web pages. Until now, it was presumptuous to say that these universes were profitable because of their operating costs. However, the emergence of new developments, particularly in graphics rendering, will certainly remove some of the obstacles and potentially rekindle the metaverse flame in the near future,” said co-founder Guillaume Chatelain.
