Facebook announced Thursday that it is opening Horizon World, its virtual reality world avatar, to anyone 18 years of age or older in the United States and Canada.
Courtesy of Meter
Facebook-Guardian Meta plans to reduce digital asset sales by 47.5% on its virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds, an integral part of the company’s plans to create a so-called “metaverse”.
The social media giant announced in a blogpost on Monday that it is allowing Horizon World makers to sell a handful of virtual assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), to the world they created. However, the company failed to specify in the post how much Meta would charge manufacturers for selling their products.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday that Meta would take an overall cut of up to 47.5% on each transaction. It includes a 30% “hardware platform fee” for sales through the Meta Quest store, where it sells apps and games for its virtual reality headsets. On top of that, Horizon Worlds will charge 17.5%.
The size of the cut has angered some in the NFT community. One Twitter user wrote: “I hate you Facebook.” Another Says: “If Meta wants 47.5% of NFT sales, they have to talk to the IRS because I don’t have it after tax.”
Elsewhere, NFT Marketplace OpenSea charges 2.5% off each transaction, while rival LooksRare charges only 2%.
Over the past few months, companies and individuals have been pushing everything from industry to real estate in the virtual world on platforms like Decentland and The Sandbox. Hip-hop star Snoop Dogg has bought virtual land and a fan paid $ 450,000 in December to buy a plot next to it in The Sandbox.
Vivek Sharma, Meta VP of Horizon, told The Verge: “We think this is a fairly competitive rate in the market. We believe other platforms will be able to take their share.”
Horizon Worlds (formerly Facebook Horizon) is a free virtual reality, online video game that allows people to create and explore virtual worlds. Meta released the game on December 9 on its Oculus VR headsets in the United States and Canada, but it has not yet been launched worldwide.
Meta vs. Apple
Meter fees for selling virtual assets at Horizon Worlds are significantly higher Apple charges developers in its App Store.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other meta executives have previously criticized Apple for charging developers a 30% fee for Apple purchases through the App Store.
In November, Zuckerberg said his company was going to try to help Metavers builders avoid Apple’s App Store fees.
“As we build for Metaverse, we’re focused on unlocking opportunities for manufacturers to make money from their work,” he said. “Apple’s 30% fee on transactions makes this difficult, so we’re updating our subscription products so that manufacturers can now earn more.”