Facebook is betting the future on virtual reality and the Metaverse, spending billions of dollars annually to rebrand to Meta and build hardware and software that goes beyond traditional social media. However, the company has little, at least so far, shared with the general public how well early bets are working.
Meta’s current hottest bet is a social VR platform for Quest headsets called Horizontal Worlds.Was recent Posted in Meta’s Super Bowl ad, And Zuckerberg called it “the core of our Metaverse vision” in the company’s recent earnings announcement. With the full power of virtual meta earlier this week — Yes, one metamate — The company’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, provided employees with previously unreported updates on the growth of Horizon users.
He has a Horizon World Deployed to all Quest users in the US and Canada According to employees who heard the statement, the number of monthly users in early December increased tenfold to 300,000. Meta spokesman Joe Osborne includes users of Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues, another app for checking statistics and attending live VR events using the same avatar and basic mechanics. I said there is. This number does not include Horizontal Workspaces. VR conference experience It depends on the invitation system.
Prior to its release in December, Horizontal Worlds was a private beta for creators to test world building tools.Similar to the game platform Roblox or Microsoft method Mine Craft With Horizon Worlds, you can build a custom environment and hang out as a footless avatar to play the game. This week, Meta announced that 10,000 individual worlds have been built in Horizontal Worlds so far, with more than 20,000 members of a private Facebook group for creators.
Given that Horizontal Worlds has only been widely available for a few months, it’s too early to determine if the platform will continue to grow rapidly or retain users over the long term. Monthly users of social products are always higher than daily users that Cox did not disclose to employees. and, Increased sales during the holiday season The Quest headset has certainly helped raise the interest of those who try Horizon.
Meta hasn’t yet disclosed the number of Quest headsets it has sold so far, so it evaluates Horizon’s success compared to the underlying hardware platform on which it is running. That is difficult. However, some third parties estimate Quest peg sales to be over 10 million. Zuckerberg recently said Meta has released a version of Horizon for mobile phones that “brings an early Metaverse experience to more surfaces beyond VR.”
“Therefore, while the deepest and most immersive experience is in virtual reality, Facebook and Instagram apps will probably be able to access the world over time,” CEO said in Meta’s. Last revenue call. Moving Horizon to mobile will further position it as a competitor to Rec Room. A well-funded social game app There are 37 million monthly users for game consoles, mobile phones, and VR as a whole.
Horizon Worlds hasn’t made any money for Meta yet, but how the company’s stock is tanked, especially because investors are questioning its expensive Metaverse push. Given that, there is pressure to make Meta successful.
Beyond solving Content moderation issues When Underage users of VR, Meta needs to make Horizon sufficiently reliable for use by millions of users.Many people couldn’t participate Recently Foo Fighters Concert held at the venue After the Super Bowl, Horizon hasn’t yet shown how creators can make money. However, if that early user growth is some indicator, Horizon aims to grow.
