[imagesource: Meta/Zuckerberg]

The Metaverse is a really interesting concept that has the potential to lead the digital revolution to a new frontier.

Yet, it seems like Meta, the company behind the venture is struggling to deliver on performance and subscription promises.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the tech company set a high bar for how many monthly visitors were needed to populate the Metaverse – specifically Horizon Worlds.

The estimation was around 500 000 active users. Lately, the figures are close to the 200 000 mark. This must feel like a weak performance for investors and users alike.

Moreover, it seems as if the user experience is rather disappointing.

Numerous visitors have said the experience has many pain points, particularly the poor design of avatars.

“People do not look real,” a user stated, while another said that the avatars don’t have legs.

Even more concerning is the fact that keen visitors struggle to find social spaces within Meta, and then when they do, most places are empty.

To add insult to injury, a group of Meta researchers wrote this in their performance review:

“Users couldn’t find metaverse worlds they liked and couldn’t find other people to hang out with.”

“An empty world is a sad world,” said one document summarizing the company’s efforts to herd users toward venues where they would encounter others.

Findings from Meta’s latest performance report state that a large number of visitors don’t return to the app after the first month. Due to this lack of excitement in the Metaverse, the user base continues to nose-dive.

It isn’t a good feeling when someone sells you a dream, let alone on this scale, only to have it be completely barren.

The massive project seems to be having a huge impact on the tech company. Stats show that Meta’s shares have gone down by more than 60% in the past year and the company has lost more than 700 billion dollars in market value since September.

I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg is quaking in his digital boots.

He should know how that feels whenever he thinks about that Meta chatbot that hates him.

[source:wallstreetjournal]