IT HAS BEEN seven years since Palmer Luckey appeared on the cover of WIRED magazine. The June 2014 issue declared, “This kid is about to change gaming, movies, TV, music, design, medicine, sex, sports, art, travel, social networking, education—and reality.” This was just after Facebook acquired his virtual reality company, Oculus, reportedly for more than $2 billion. These days, Facebook Reality Labs, the augmented reality/virtual reality division, accounts for as much as 20 percent of the company’s entire workforce, with no sign of slowing down. But despite the many years, billions of dollars, and a global pandemic requiring at-home entertainment, the results thus far have been pretty lackluster. The headsets are spiffier and the games are more entertaining, but our minds nevertheless remain collectively unblown.
It’s not just Facebook and…