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Meta Is Working On A Digital Wallet For The Metaverse

From vrscout

The company will begin by changing ‘Facebook Pay’ to ‘Meta Pay.’

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week announced that the company is working on a digital wallet that will make it easier to spend and make money in the metaverse.

In a recent Facebook post, Zuckerberg talked about a future where all of the purchases you make in the virtual world, from clothing and music to event tickets and art, are stored in a single, easy-to-access location. In addition to managing your funds, this digital wallet would also be used to manage your identity in the metaverse.

Credit: Meta

“There’s a long way to get there, but this kind of interoperability will deliver much better experiences for people and larger opportunities for creators,” said Zuckerberg in his post. “That is, the more places you can easily use your digital goods, the more you’ll value them, which creates a bigger market for creators.”

The first step toward this fiscally responsible future will be changing the name of Facebook Pay to Meta Pay. Other than that, the payment method will remain more or less the same. You can still shop for items, transfer money to friends, and donate to charities via Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

“The more places you can easily use your digital goods, the more you’ll value them, which creates a bigger market for creators,” added Zuckerberg. “The more easily you can transact, the bigger the opportunity for creators should get as well. We’re looking forward to building this out.”

Credit: CNBC

Recently, Meta announced the Avatars Store, a new way for Facebook and Instagram users to purchase high-end designer clothing for their Meta Avatars. Not only that, but we’ll eventually have the ability to design and sell our own virtual clothing. While currently unavailable in VR, the company has confirmed that the store will eventually make its way to Meta Quest headsets.

As paid content continues to expand into the metaverse, the need for a secure digital wallet in which to manage our identities could become more important. For more information check out Zuckerberg’s Facebook post here.

Image Credit: Reuters

Apple Says Steep ‘Horizon Worlds’ Creator Fees Show Meta’s “Hypocrisy”

From roadtovr

Earlier this week Meta announced that it would begin testing tools to let creators sell things for real money in Horizon Worlds and would charge a fee of 47.5% of their earnings. The fee structure seemed at odds with prior comments from Meta which have criticized app store fees from the likes of Apple and Google. Now Apple is accusing the company of hypocrisy.

Following the news this week that Meta planned to take nearly half of a creator’s earnings in Horizon Worlds, Apple didn’t miss the chance to point out that this was coming from a company which has on multiple occasions criticized Apple’s app store fee of 30% (after 15% for the first $1 million in annual revenue).

Speaking to MarketWatch, Apple spokesman Fred Sainz had this to say:

Meta has repeatedly taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases in the App Store—and have used small businesses and creators as a scapegoat at every turn. Now, Meta seeks to charge those same creators significantly more than any other platform. [Meta’s] announcement lays bare Meta’s hypocrisy. It goes to show that while they seek to use Apple’s platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own.

And, well… he isn’t wrong. Just last year Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg not-so-subtly said in a very widely viewed keynote that being subject to the app store fees of Apple and Google had changed the way he viewed the industry, going on to say that he wants his company to take “a different approach” when it comes to its creator platforms.

The last few years have been humbling for me and our company in a lot of ways. One of the main lessons that I’ve learned is that building products isn’t enough. We also need to help build ecosystems so that millions of people can have a stake in the future, can be rewarded for their work, and benefit as the tide rises, not just as consumers but as creators and developers.

But this period has also been humbling because as big of a company as we are, we’ve also learned what it is like to build for other platforms. And living under their rules has profoundly shaped my views on the tech industry. Most of all, I’ve come to believe that the lack of choice and high fees are stifling innovation, stopping people from building new things, and holding back the entire internet economy.

We’ve tried to take a different approach. We want to serve as many people as possible, which means working to make our services cost less, not more. Our mobile apps are free. Our ads business model is an auction, which guarantees every business the most competitive price possible. We offer our creator and commerce tools either at cost or with modest fees to enable as much creation and commerce as possible.

Indeed, those words seemed to fly in the face of Meta’s announcement that it would change creators a fee of 47.5% of their earnings for anything sold through Horizon Worlds. Not to mention that the company has also levied a 30% fee (the same that Apple and others charge) against developers since the very beginning of its VR app store.

Meta’s strongest defense, perhaps, is that Horizon World creator fees aren’t entirely out of line with similar platforms available today, but one must ask why the company wouldn’t want to set a better precedent given its public statements criticizing others for similar behavior.

Meta Plans to Take Nearly 50% of Creator’s Earnings in ‘Horizon Worlds’

From roadtovr

This week Meta announced that it was beginning to test selling tools so that creators can sell things inside of Horizon Worlds and earn real money. Now the company has offered up more detail about how that will work, including the fees creators will pay on earnings made through the platform.

Meta says the goal of its various metaverse initiatives is to one day allow people to “earn a living” from creating virtual goods through its platforms. But for creators to make that happen, they’ll need to contend with hefty fees from the company.

Speaking to Road to VR about the new selling tools being made available to select creators in Horizon Worlds, Meta explained that anything sold in Horizon Worlds would be subject to the same 30% fee the company charges developers selling apps through its VR platform and then an additional 25% fee on top of the remaining amount. The company provided the following example:

“…if a creator sells an item for $1.00, then the Meta Quest Store fee would be $0.30 and the Horizon Platform fee would be $0.17, leaving $0.53 for the Creator before any applicable taxes.”

That’s an effective rate of 47.5% of anything sold on Horizon Worlds to Meta, leaving 52.5% to the creator.

Image courtesy Meta

That’s a pretty hefty take, but not entirely out of line with contemporaries. Roblox, for instance, takes between 30% and 70% of the revenue generated by creators depending upon whether the creator sold the item directly to customers or if the item was sold on the Roblox marketplace or by another party.

These are big fees, no doubt, but creators are getting something in return. Horizon Worlds, for instance, offers up its self-contained collaborative building tools, access to an audience, and handles all hosting and networking costs associated with the things creators build. Whether that’s worth 47.5% of what someone manages to sell on the platform is going to be up to the creator.

The Horizon Worlds fee structure strikes a sharp contrast to the thoughts Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared about a theoretical metaverse back at Connect 2021:

The last few years have been humbling for me and our company in a lot of ways. One of the main lessons that I’ve learned is that building products isn’t enough. We also need to help build ecosystems so that millions of people can have a stake in the future, can be rewarded for their work, and benefit as the tide rises, not just as consumers but as creators and developers.

But this period has also been humbling because as big of a company as we are, we’ve also learned what it is like to build for other platforms. And living under their rules has profoundly shaped my views on the tech industry. Most of all, I’ve come to believe that the lack of choice and high fees are stifling innovation, stopping people from building new things, and holding back the entire internet economy.

We’ve tried to take a different approach. We want to serve as many people as possible, which means working to make our services cost less, not more. Our mobile apps are free. Our ads business model is an auction, which guarantees every business the most competitive price possible. We offer our creator and commerce tools either at cost or with modest fees to enable as much creation and commerce as possible.

Meta also clarified some other things about how the selling tools in Horizon Worlds will work. Speaking to Road to VR, the company said that, from the buyer’s standpoint, purchases in Horizon Worlds are handled like anything else on the Quest platform (ie: they use the headset’s account and payment credentials on file to handle the transaction). That means that items will be advertised and transacted with local currency, rather than a proprietary app-currency.

As for the transportability of items bought in Horizon Worlds, Meta says that anything buy can currently only be used in the world in which it was purchased. So if you buy a hat in one world, you only have access to it when you’re inside that specific world.

A photo provided by Meta also gives us some hints about the mutability of the things you purchase in Horizon Worlds, with the fine-print of the transaction pop-up warning that items are “subject to changes by creator even after purchase.” The pop-up also mentions a set of ‘User in-World Purchase Terms’, of which we’ve asked the company for a full copy.

Meta says it plans to gather feedback on the Horizon Worlds selling tools and the structure of item ownership, and evolve the offering over time. At present, only select creators have access to the selling tools, but the company expects to expand access over time.

Meta Begins Testing Selling Tools in ‘Horizon Worlds’ With the Long Term Goal of Enabling People to “earn a living”

From roadtovr

Meta announced today it is enabling new in-world monetization tools for a “handful” of creators in Horizon Worlds. The tools will allow them to sell access to items and experiences inside of the app. Eventually, Meta says, it hopes people can “earn a living” in the metaverse.

Horizon Worlds is Meta’s social VR platform built around user-generated content that anyone can build within the app itself. Though the platform remains available only to VR users older than 18 in the US and Canada, the company is moving ahead with testing the first in-world monetization tools which will allow creators to charge real money for things inside of Horizon Worlds.

The company says the tools will allow creators to “sell virtual items and effects,” and gives the example of someone selling an attachable accessory (like a hat) or an item that would grant access to an exclusive part of a world (like a special key).

Meta said the ability to sell items in Horizon Worlds is just a test for now, and while all users are able to make purchases, only a “handful of creators” are getting access to monetization tools for the time being. The company says it plans to iterate on the tools prior to expanding them to more creators, also saying that this is a first step toward its long-term vision of a “metaverse where creators can earn a living and people can purchase digital goods, services, and experiences.”

Meta didn’t offer many specifics on the functionality of the Horizon Worlds monetization tools. For instance, it isn’t clear how ownership will work (ie: once you buy an item can you take it anywhere on the platform, or does it only exist within a single world?), nor the mutability of purchased items (ie: if I buy access to a premium portion of a world, what happens if the creator chooses to alter or delete the world?).

The company also didn’t say if it will take a cut of the revenue generated by in-world purchases (like it does for apps sold on the Quest store).

We reached out to Meta for more details on these questions and more.

Image courtesy Meta

Beyond the Horizon Worlds monetization tools, Meta today also said it’s testing a Horizon Worlds Creator Bonus program for creators in the US. In addition to the $10 million fund the company formed to incentivize creators to start building in Horizon Worlds, the Creator Bonus program is focused around “goal-oriented monthly programs where the creators are paid out at the end of the month for their progress toward the goal.”

Ostensibly, goals will relate to metrics Meta deems useful to Horizon Worlds, like the number of visits to specific worlds, time spent in a specific world, return visitors, etc.

The company did not specify if the Creator Bonus program would be open to all creators or a select group.

Meta also says it recently launched an “entirely new analytics dashboard” for Horizon Worlds creators to give them more information about how people are engaging with their worlds.

– – — – –

Meta is far from the first to introduce monetization tools geared toward encouraging user-generated creation in VR.

Among others, social VR platform Rec Room introduced its first in-world monetization tools back at the end of 2020. The app allows creators to charge for items in the world to earn tokens which can be cashed out for real money. Similar to the Creator Bonus program, Rec Room has been offering incentives to draw creators to its platform, like a $15,000 matching bonus available to creators through 2023.

Meta’s AI Tech Lets You Craft VR Worlds With Your Voice

From vrscout

Builder Bot is an AI-powered system capable of generating custom 3D worlds and objects.

Yesterday, Meta (formerly Facebook) hosted a special “Inside the Lab” event centered around its recent advancements in artificial technology during which the company revealed an AI-powered universal translater that allows users “the ability to communicate with anyone in any language.”

Not only that, but Zuckerberg himself made an appearance to unveil a ground-breaking artifical intelligence system that allows users to build complex virtual worlds for Meta’s Horizon Worlds metaverse by simply describing they want.



The proof-of-concept technology, referred to by the company as ‘Builder Bot,’ was demonstrated yesterday during the live event by Zuckerberg and a team member, who used the technology to automatically generate a handful of 3D landscapes they could explore using their VR avatars.

By simply saying the words, “let’s go to the park,” Zuckerberg was able to instantly generate a custom environment complete with trees, rocks, and other shrubbery you might find at your local park.

He then generated a colorful beach location by saying “actually, let’s go to the beach.” It’s at this point Zuckerberg begins to get more specific with his commands. He first asks for clouds, at which point a layer of basic clouds accumulates above them. He then changes his order to even more specific altocumulus clouds.

From there the duo grow their little slice of virtual paradise by adding everything from an adjacent island and palmtrees to a picnic table with drinks and a boombox. They even incorporate various sound effects like ocean waves and seagull chirps as wel as tropical-themed music.

Zuckerberg wraps up the demo by requesting a hydrofoil, a reference to a popular meme featuring himself. “As we advance this technology further, you’ll be able to create nuanced worlds to explore and share experiences with others, with just your voice,” he added during the event.

No word yet on when we can expect to get our hands on this exciting new system. While simple, Builder Bot could help the company bolster its catalog of user created worlds by simplifying the creation process. The Horizon Worlds creator system is fairly straight-forward already, but this could serve as an excellent way to quickly build the foundation for more complex worlds.

It appears as though Meta is taking aim at the voice assistant market with its continued investment in AI technology. According to Zuckerberg, the company is working on making conversation with voice assistants more natural using artificial intelligence.

Image Credit: Meta

Meta’s ‘Horizon’ Social VR Platform Surpasses 300,000 Users in 3 Months

From roadtovr

Meta opened its Horizon Worlds social VR platform in December, rolling out its proto-metaverse project to Quest users in the US and Canada. During an all-hands company call this past week—where CEO Mark Zuckerberg dubbed Meta employees ‘metamates’—the company announced its Horizon platform has now exceeded 300,000 users.

Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox made a statement during the call regarding Horizon World’s user growth, saying that the social VR platform’s userbase had ballooned by a factor of 10 since its closed beta, now accounting for 300,000 users. The news was broke by The Verge’s Alex Heath, who was first to reveal the contents of the call.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed that number, stating that it includes the base social platform Horizon Worlds and live event viewing app Horizon Venues, but not the work-focused app Horizon Workrooms.

It’s not exactly clear what the number signifies in terms of actual Horizon users; it could refer to unique visitors over the lifetime of the project since launch, or monthly active users. Still, the milestone undoubtedly highlights the sort of immediate reach Meta has as the Quest platform holder.

Meta’s deep pockets also ensured that everyone at the Super Bowl could see Horizon in action, visually telling the story of a Chuck E. Cheese-style animatronic dog who is cast away from his pals and then meets back up with them in VR, underlining the tech’s ability connect people and share unlikely experiences.

300,000 is a big number any way you slice it for a VR app, although here’s some perspective. Rec Room—arguably Horizon World’s largest competitor—announced in early 2021 that it had broken one million monthly active users in VR, half of which used Quest 2.

Like Rec Room, one of the big draws to Worlds is the ability to create custom rooms using in-app tools, to which Meta says its users have now created over 10,000 worlds. Prior to securing a $145 million funding round, valuing Rec Room at $3.5 billion, the kid-friendly platform announced in 2020 its was hosting over three million user-created levels. Meta clearly has some ground to cover.

Some of that catch-up strategy will likely entail opening Horizon up to the rest of the world, and not just Quest users in the US and Canada. It’s still not certain when that will happen.

Eventually, Meta also hopes to fuse all of its Horizon apps to make them more accessible, which could even include the ability to connect with non-VR users too. That would put Meta much closer to its goal of running its own metaverse—what you might define as an interconnected, immersive experience that allows for persistent identity, items, avatar, etc.

While that day hasn’t come yet, with Meta’s (née Facebook’s) recent pivot to the metaverse, it may arrive sooner than you think. Shareholders are counting on it.

Meta Adds New Safety Feature To Horizon Worlds & Venues

From vrscout

Personal Boundary prevents other avatars from encroaching on your personal space.

Anyone familiar with online gaming will tell you that the virtual world can be a cruel and unforgiving place. Online anonymity has emboldened a whole new generation of trolls eager to ruin the party for the rest of us and immersive technology, for all its benefits, has only added further fuel to the fire.

As Meta continues to expand upon its own growing metaverse, the company is looking to nip this problem in the bud before it can evolve into a legitimate issue. This is where Personal Boundary comes in.

Credit: Meta

Rolling out now for Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues, Personal Boundary is a new feature that prevents users from encroaching on each other’s personal space. Activated by default, Personal Boundary will prevent other users from coming within 4-feet of your avatar. You can still hive-five and fist-bump other players with the setting activated, you’ll just need to fully extend your arms past the boundary.

“Virtual reality can and should be for everyone. And we’re constantly working to improve people’s experience in VR, gathering feedback from the community to inform our work as we continue to iterate and make improvements,” said Vivek Sharma, Vive President of Horizon via the company’s official blog.

Image Credit: Meta

“We believe Personal Boundary is a powerful example of how VR has the potential to help people interact comfortably. It’s an important step, and there’s still much more work to be done. We’ll continue to test and explore new ways to help people feel comfortable in VR.”

Moving forward, Meta promises to continue to expand upon its existing safety features for Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues. For example, the company has already implemented hand harassment measures that prevent users from touching others inappropriately.

Feature Image Credit: Meta

Have Your Own Personal Boundary in Horizon Worlds & Venues

From vrfocus

Meta’s vision of its metaverse is a safe happy place where you can socialise with friends or make new ones. However, that’s not always the case and there will always be a small contingent who’ll try and ruin it for others. To that end, Meta has just announced Personal Boundary for Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues, a feature that’ll prevent avatars from coming in close proximity to one another.

Meta Personal Boundary example
An example, not how it’ll look as the boundaries are invisible. Image credit: Meta

Essentially, Personal Boundary is an invisible shield that stops anyone from getting too close. You won’t notice it and there’s no haptic feedback to indicate the fact, it’s just there as your unseen security guard.

Whilst it is a shame such features are required, having them there is better than not. Plus the Personal Boundary does have one customisable setting. By default, it is always on but you can turn it off if you so wish, if you’re in a private setting with real-world friends and family for example. The boundary extends two feet from your avatar so there can be a total of four feet between you and someone else.

There’s no way to adjust the boundary yourself if you want to make it bigger or smaller. Those kinds of customisation options may arrive at a later date as Meta fine-tunes the feature.

Meta Personal Boundary
Image credit: Meta

Meta adds in a blog post that: “Note that because Personal Boundary is the default experience, you’ll need to extend your arms to be able to high-five or fist bump other people’s avatars.” So there might be a few odd moments where two people lean in for a fist bump.

Personal Boundary is rolling out today for Horizon Worlds and Venues. Actually accessing Horizon Worlds is another matter. Currently, under development as Meta’s core metaverse experience, the app was in beta for ages until it opened up to adults in the US and Canada in December 2021. There’s still no indication as to when other territories will gain access.

For continued updates on the Horizon family of apps, keep reading gmw3.