Shocking figures revealed.
Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and other digital properties has begun testing new tools that will allow creators within its VR social platform, Horizon Worlds to sell digital assets.
These assets could include “attachable” fashion accessories for avatars, or paid access to new areas of the Horizon metaverse. Of course, almost any digital asset could be transacted.
However, the company says it will charge up to 47.5% of item costs to creators as a fee. Apple, in contrast, charges a much smaller percentage to developers who use its App Store.
In a blog post, a Meta rep said, ‘The metaverse – by nature of its not being limited by physical space – will bring a new level of creativity and open up new opportunities for the next generation of creators and businesses to pursue their passions and create livelihoods…
“Creators and entrepreneurs will have more freedom to find a business model that works for them.”
Currently, the company charges a 30% transaction fee for sales on its Meta Quest (formerly Oculus), so these new Horizon World’s fee-ad-ons may seem a bit outrageous.
Famously, Epic Games (Fortnite) sued Apple over the fees it charges to use the App Store, and for transactions within games acquired through the App Store. It was a lawsuit which forever changed the way Apple utilizes its App Store, and may set precedent for future lawsuits regarding transaction fees.
A Meta spokesman confirmed the fees by saying “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 (25% of the remainder), leaving $0.53 for the Creator before any applicable taxes.”
Of course, fees generated through the sale of digital items could potentially result in massive revenue for Meta, but the transaction fees generated through the sale of real goods and services could potentially amount to much more.
In the near future, it’s likely we’ll see real-world items, like footwear, emergency plumbing services and food, sold within the metaverse for home delivery. When this happens, revenue for metaverse developers and video game developers in general, could skyrocket.
However, in order to make this happen, a real-world eCommerce platform would need to be incorporated into both metaverse platforms and gaming platforms.