Jokes aside, the metaverse was pitched as a workspace in an online virtual workplace, and that's essentially the exact same purpose the matrix serves, but expanded to include off-time as well. It's even set in the 90s before 9/11 and the dotcom bubble, prime workforce-grindset era. I remember it being said that the original idea was that humans were being treated as processors rather than batteries in the original lore which would fit the virtual workspace idea even more.