Founder Philip Rosedale on His Return to Second Life, the Metaverse and Meta’s Missteps

Philip Rosedale has spent a long time thinking about the metaverse. Nearly 20 years ago he founded Linden Lab, the makers of Second Life, and led the creation of one of the first 3D social platforms to gain any kind of mainstream attention. He left Linden to launch VR startup High Fidelity in 2013, which later pivoted to spatial audio (its tech was integrated into Clubhouse last year). 

But now Rosedale is now returning to Second Life—High Fidelity is investing in Linden and he’ll return as a strategic adviser. As he told Reality Check in an interview, he believes that it’s not too late for a Second Life renaissance, one driven by existing tech and policies that other metaverse players are years behind on.