Quick take:
- Meta is revamping its Horizon Worlds platform in a bid to boost user engagement.
- According to Wall Street Journal, the social media conglomerate is launching Horizon Worlds for teens as early as March.
- WSJ reported in October that Meta’s metaverse platform was struggling to retain users for more than a month.
Meta Platforms is doubling down on its metaverse campaign with a revamped Horizon Worlds platform. Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the company is planning to launch Horizon Worlds for teens by as early as March 2023.
The reports come barely four months after WSJ revealed that Meta’s leading metaverse platform was struggling to keep hold of users for more than a month.
The company spent nearly $16 billion on the metaverse last year, generating just over $2 billion in revenue according to CNBC.
Overall, Meta’s metaverse division, Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion in 2022, with the fourth quarter of the calendar year reporting a deficit of $4.3 billion.
Late last year, the company had indicated plans to allocate approximately 20% of its 2023 expenses to the metaverse unit. Meta said it expects operating losses from Reality Labs to continue growing year after year, for the short-term, but remains optimistic about reaping the benefits in the long term.
The company is planning to make significant changes to its Horizon Worlds platform, which will include launching an app for teens. According to the report, Horizon Worlds’ vice President Gabriel Aul sent a memo to the team laying out the objectives for 2023, with the primary goal of retaining users, both teens and young adults.
Aul told his team that Horizon Worlds needs to catch up with the rest of the competition, which seems to be doing a better job of meeting the needs of the “cohorts”. For Horizon Worlds to succeed, the platform needs to be serving the needs of this “cohort” first and foremost, WSJ reported.
The leading media house also added that Horizon Worlds registered a user retention rate of just 11% in January 2023, highlighting the importance of onboarding new users that are likely to spend more time on the platform.
The company has now set a target of 500,000 active users by the first half of 2023 with a goal of reaching 1 million users by the end of the year.
In comparison, the company had 200,0000 users by the end of December. In the October report, WSJ revealed that Horizon Worlds had revised its target active user base by the end of 2022 to 280,000, from the initial goal of 500,000.
