Meta’s metaverse has no legs

Mark Zuckerberg desperately needs Horizon Worlds, Meta’s metaverse, to succeed. First, he’ll need to figure out how to make money from the world.

Horizon World’s progress summarized: little traction, no legs and many angry developers.

• In February, Meta reported 300K monthly active users on Horizon Worlds — just over .01% of the number of Facebook users.
• The metaverse is still in its early days, but Horizon Worlds will need to grow much faster to be considered a success.

Now, barely six months after launching, Meta is already trying to monetize its metaverse.

Investors demand results: On Monday, Meta announced features being tested for creators to sell virtual assets and experiences.

• Yesterday, Meta revealed that they would take a 47.5% cut on transactions.
• That sounds like a big number (and it is), considering the competing metaverse project Sandbox ($SAND) — takes a 5% cut.

There have been broad criticisms of AAPL’s 30% app store fee, and Google lowered its app store fees last year.

Meta is also reportedly planning to introduce a virtual currency to power its world. Codenamed Zuck Bucks, Meta will likely control this currency, and it will not be a cryptocurrency on the blockchain.

Meta’s moves are the opposite of cryptos’ benefits: Decentralization (not controlled by one entity) and low fees. So when Meta announced its 47.5% fee, crypto Twitter went off.

At least its core business is doing well… right? The outlook for Meta’s core business (ads) — is also worrying investors. This week, RBC analyst Brad Erickson cut his estimate for Meta noting:

• Things are getting worse at the company — with small and medium-sized businesses considering new ad channels beyond FB.
• “No perceived improvement to FB’s targeting algo or performance” — since a substantial iOS change impacted Meta’s ability to send targeted ads (Technology Letter).

Meta (NASDAQ:FB) is down 36% in 2022 — and its latest moves aren’t doing it any favors.