Ben Thompson pans Apple's Metallica Vision Pro concert: wrong format, wrong editing approach
Mar 20, 2025
Key Points
- Apple's Metallica Vision Pro concert is edited like traditional film with cuts every six seconds, destroying immersion by forcing users to reorient spatially between camera angles.
- Ben Thompson argues Apple should release uncut, single-angle feeds from premium vantage points like courtside seats, where static spatial experience commands higher prices than hypercut highlights.
- Apple TV Plus bleeds $1B annually while commanding less than 1% of US streaming TV viewership, constrained by refusal to offer cheap ad-supported tiers it deems brand-degrading.
Summary
Ben Thompson argues that Apple's Metallica concert for Vision Pro fails because it is edited like a traditional documentary rather than presented as an immersive experience. The production cuts constantly between camera angles, which destroys the sense of presence that spatial video is supposed to create. His view is that Apple should lean into simpler live-event formats instead: place the immersive rig courtside at a Lakers game, UFC event, or concert and let viewers feel like they are actually there.
The critique sits inside a broader debate about Apple's media strategy. Apple can afford to lose money on streaming, but the Metallica release shows that budget is not the core issue. The bigger problem is format understanding. Apple is still treating immersive media like flat video, which leads to over-produced cuts and the wrong editorial instincts for Vision Pro.
Thompson's deeper point is that Vision Pro's strongest use cases are sports, concerts, and other live events where immersion itself is the product. If Apple wants the format to matter, it needs to stop packaging these experiences like conventional prestige TV and start building for presence first.