Meta’s flagship metaverse said to fall short of performance expectations

Meta Platforms Inc.’s internal documents show the company’s metaverse platform Horizon Worlds is underperforming in terms of attracting and maintaining users, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Saturday.

Fast facts

• Meta’s initial goal was to gather 500,000 monthly active users (MAU) on Horizon Worlds by the end of 2022, but it has recently cut down that aim to 280,000. Its current MAU lingers below 200,000, the WSJ says.

• The internal documents also reportedly say visitors to Horizon Worlds do not return to the platform after the first month, with over 90% of all creator-built worlds having less than 50 visitors in total.

• Horizon Worlds is a network of virtual spaces that allows users to meet friends, play games and attend events, currently available in the U.S., Canada, France and Spain.

• A company spokesperson said Meta’s metaverse projects are a multi-year work in progress, expressing a strong belief in the metaverse playing an integral role in the future of computing, according to the WSJ.

• Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, formerly Facebook, rebranded itself last year to focus on its metaverse project which is coupled with Quest, its virtual reality (VR) headsets.

• Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of Apple Inc., recently said in an interview that there are limits to the metaverse and virtual reality, and that he believes augmented reality (AR) will become the biggest technology of the future.

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