Legacy companies are firms that rely on stable business models, established internal processes, and familiar technologies. Existing research acknowledges that legacy companies need to explore new technologies, but scholars largely neglect to analyze how this process unfolds. This knowledge gap is particularly relevant when disruptive technological paradigms are about to modify the business arena, as in the case of the metaverse. This article presents an inductive qualitative approach to understanding why and how legacy companies explore the metaverse. The metaverse exploration process is purpose-driven and largely incremental. Capabilities co-specialization facilitates the use of complementary resources for new purposes, subsequently determining the path toward different strategic fit configurations.
