Meta’s first attempt at virtual reality ads was a huge flop. Now, within its metaverse, the company is shifting to a different money-making strategy: buying and selling virtual “items and effects,” as described in a press release Monday.
Commerce comes specially for Horizon Worlds, Meta’s open-world VR app where you can be the rudimentary, floating, cartoon torso you’ve always wanted to be. (See: the video accompanying the company’s blog post.)
YouTube: Vidyuu Nights
Creators in Horizon can sell the in-world stuff they make, such as virtual clothing and accessories or character mods, to other users. But Meta will skim a whopping 25% off the top. The privilege of having the company formerly known as Facebook take a quarter of your earnings is currently limited to a small number of creators, handpicked by the company itself.
However, after the testing period, Meta hopes to expand the sales feature to everyone. “These types of tools are steps toward our long-term vision for the Metaverse, where developers can make a living and people can buy digital goods, services, and experiences,” the company wrote in its statement.
Purchase within the Metaverse is restricted to users over the age of 18 in the US and Canada, and payments are processed through the Meta App Store. At the moment, the simulated goods that users buy in one of the Horizon Worlds “worlds” are not transferrable to others, which means that the counterfeit goods you pay for are only available in the designated area where you buy them, are real. However, in an interview with CNET, Vivek Sharma, Vice President of Meta at Horizon, told the outlet, “We want to do this in a way that will eventually cross worlds, scale into shared spaces, and beyond.”
And all other parameters and characteristics of the burgeoning metaverse economy may also change as problems and potential solutions arise. For example, according to CNET, there is currently no way for users to ensure that the things they pay for are as advertised. But Meta is putting this issue back on hold to resolve at a later date. The future is here, but apparently it is not yet one with consumer protection.