Apologies all. I am resending this email (plus adding a new-mini essay) as last week’s URLs all broke after the 19th (perhaps due to CrowdStrike that day).

In this newsletter: [1] My interviews with Tim Sweeney and Neal Stephenson (together!); [2] another with Andrew Bosworth (Meta’s CTO/Head of Reality Labs); [3] my new book is now out (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop); [4] a short excerpt from the book and that covers one of my favorite additions, The Founding of Epic Games and How It’s First (and Accidental) Game Became “Unreal Engine 0” and Now Defines Fortnite; [5] plus my June moviegoing essay.

SHORT BOOK EXCERPT: The Founding of Epic Games and How It’s First (and Somewhat Accidental) Game Became “Unreal Engine 0” and Now Defines Fortnite. Like many of the world’s greatest companies and products, Epic Games, the Unreal Engine, and now Fortnite, arose through a mix of unexpected inspiration and an entrepreneur’s ability to see decades into the future. This is a story not of the pioneering 3D shooter Unreal from 1998, but of the little-known but immensely important 2D puzzler ZZT from 1991.

NEW INTERVIEW: A Conversation Between Epic Games Founder/CEO Tim Sweeney and Author/Entrepreneur Neal Stephenson. In the first-ever public conversation between these two Metaverse pioneers, I ask how they currently define the “Metaverse,” their thoughts on its technological and economic growth, the future of Fortnite, Apple’s Vision Pro, blockchains, and the ethics of Generative AI, plus a Snow Crash 2, and much more (including Neal’s reaction on the day Facebook changed its name to Meta!)

NEW INTERVIEW: Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth on the Metaverse, VR/AR, AI, Billion-Dollar Expenditures, and Investment Timelines. In this superbly detailed interview, I ask Boz what it will take for headset sales to cross 100 million annually, the specs of Boz’s dream headset, Meta’s spending on Reality Labs, whether and when developers might get access to the Quest’s raw camera feed, the many inventions required to ship optical AR glasses, the role of AI, and more.

MY BOOK — NOW OUT! I’m deeply proud of The Metaverse: Building the Spatial Internet. Though it’s based on my 2022 bestseller, it’s 70% new to reflect (i) The enormous advances in AI, blockchains, and head-mounted displays since I finished writing the original book at the end of 2021; (ii) the abundance of progress building the “3D Internet”, much of which has been overlooked due to the deflating of the “Metaverse bubble”; (iii) the feedback I received from readers; and (iv) my own personal growth, new learnings, and reflection on what worked and didn’t in the original.

Anyone who read the first “edition” should find a ton of new information (the preface is also a detailed guide for returning readers), including the inspiring origin stories of Epic Games, Oculus VR, and Apple’s VR/AR group. You’ll also come away an expert in not just how today’s cutting edge AI and XR technologies were developed and operate, but also the prototypes that are likely to come to market in the next few years.

I never planned on fully revising and updating the book — and this revision is unprecedented in its degree (Norton wasn’t sure how/whether new ISBN might be needed; it was!). I’m so glad I did and hope you enjoy it. (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Walmart).

ICMYI — My June Essay: What A Century (Plus a Pandemic) Does to Moviegoing and Why It Matters. “The box office is in trouble” — again. And it has little to do with which desert epic thrived, why Fall Guy fell short, or Inside Out 2 beating The Incredibles 2; it’s about time and behavioral change. There are close to 20 charts in this piece (and which should help disabuse the common misconceptions that SVOD, Hollywood’s blockbuster-focus, high ticket prices, and even HD TVs/sound systems are behind falling attendance). Would you believe $1.30 of every $100 in U.S. consumer expenditures (including rent, food, cars) were once spent going to the movies? It’s now 6¢.