Meta Horizon World’s metaverse loses users, doesn’t reach goal: Report
Horizon Worlds, Metaflagship consumer metaverse, is failing to meet internal performance expectations, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed internal company documents.
Meta originally aimed to reach 500,000 monthly active users in Horizon Worlds by the end of the year, but the current number is less than 200,000, according to the report. In addition, the documents showed that most users did not return to Horizon after the first month on the platform, and the number of users has been steadily declining since the spring, the Journal said.
Only 9% of worlds are visited by at least 50 people, and most are never visited at all, according to the report.
The report comes as the company̵[ads1]7;s shares fall, the number of users falls and advertisers cut spending. The Meta share is down 62% so far this year.
Meta rebranded from Facebook last year to reflect the company’s ambitions beyond social media. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been specifically interested in building out the metaverse, which is a virtual world that allows users to work and play together.
As a result, Meta created Horizon Worlds, which is a network of virtual spaces where users can engage with each other as avatars. Individuals can access Horizon through the Meta’s Quest virtual reality headset.
In an effort to drum up some excitement around the metaverse, Zuckerberg unveiled the company’s latest virtual reality headset, called the Meta Quest Pro, at the Meta’s Connect conference on Tuesday. The device costs 1,500 dollars and contains new technologies, such as an advanced mobile Snapdragon chip.
A Meta spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the company continues to make improvements to the metaverse, which was always intended to be a multi-year project. Representatives for Meta did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Meta has said it will release an online version of Horizon for mobile devices and computers this year, but the spokesperson had no launch dates to disclose.
Read the full Journal report here.
