SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 — Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is giving creators the ability to sell virtual items to users of Horizon Worlds, its metaverse platform, the company announced Monday.
“For example, someone could make and sell removable accessories to the fashion world or offer paid access to a new part of the world,” the California-based tech group said in a press release.
The Metaverse, described by Meta and other companies as the future of the Internet, consists of a set of parallel “universes” accessed primarily through augmented and virtual reality platforms.
It already exists in a fundamental way in the form of video games such as Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox, and social platforms such as Horizon Worlds and VRChat, where people come together not only to play, but also to interact and participate in events.
Meta, whose revenue is largely dependent on large-scale targeted advertising, has made its mission to make a significant contribution to the emergence of the metaverse, asserting itself in the next battle for audience attention.
To that end, the social media giant is looking to attract content creators who can in turn attract more new users.
It already set up a $10 million Creators Fund on Horizon in October, where there are already more than 10,000 different “worlds,” according to the company.
“While we start this day as a quiz with a handful of creators for feedback, these types of tools are steps toward our long-term vision of metaverse where creators can earn a living and people can buy digital goods, services, and experiences,” Meta said.
The company also plans to test rewards for creators who achieve certain goals, such as “building worlds that attract most of the time.”
Meta said these rewards will not be “fee-based and will be paid in full to the creators,” as opposed to earnings from virtual items, which are commission-based.
Horizon Worlds has more than 300,000 users in the United States and Canada, according to an article published in February by specialist site The Verge. – ETX studio
