The beginning of the emergence of metaverse projects was indeed very hype and at that time it was still the metaverse season,
metaverse crypto projects such as Decentraland (MANA), Sandbox, Axie Infinity, Roblox etc which had many enthusiasts at that time,
but now it has faded and even, as the OP said, the price of the coin has dropped very drastically and there is no interest.
In metaverses people live, relax and have fun, but don't work. Price doesn't matter. If you need quick profit, then turn to other coins.
The metaverse is abandoned by its users because it is not perfect and still needs a lot of development in AR and VR technology, which then all trends shift to AI until now.
I don't see how everyone is giving up Second Life. This means that metaverses will live for a long time.
And maybe yes 8 years or even less the metaverse could be alive again with technology that is more ready with the help of AI today, moreover there are many devices that support the metaverse today,
If it arrives, then metaverse-based crypto projects will come back to life as well.
You can enter Decentraland right now with just a PC. Without any expensive devices