The Metaverse is a bit like federated services: it springs from some idealism rather than giving users anything they actually want or need.
The Apple lawsuit, in hindsight, I think was a serious miscalculation. I think Apple's (and Google's) monopolies will end but they won't let them go willingly and it'll be worse for both companies because it'll be Congress and the EU who will decide how that works.
A court action is a way to force the issue earlier under existing legislation but only if you win. And Epic most clearly did not. So Apple is emboldened. There should be no reason that Netflix or Amazon or Epic should have to pay the Apple 30% tax (it's probably less by some agreement they have) on digital purchases purely through their existing payment platforms. That seemed like the most natural way to attack the monopoly (which is both a monopoly on distribution and payments).
Anyway, I put the Metaverse in the same category as the Star Trek transporter except a transporter would have utility.