Beautiful VR landscapes, new friendships and a springboard for crypto-integration: at least it is not to be found in Horizon Worlds. The Metaverse's flagship game is a flop - and will be a test of endurance for Meta.

"If Mark Zuckerberg had listened to Bernd Stromberg's wise words, maybe we wouldn't be facing the mess called Horizon Worlds: Poor user numbers, high costs, poor gameplay - and no signal that it's going to get better." The Metaverse should have been the beginning of a new virtual world, the future of networking and a springboard for token integration. The fiasco only seems to be growing.

Meta keeps getting stuck

These include dropping the age limit to 13 and limiting the ability to organize their own events. Meta apparently felt compelled to take these steps, but they could not have made it clearer: The Metaverse project is not going well.

The gameplay videos also raise many eyebrows. Moderate graphics, lifeless environments and clunky controls. All in all, not what you would expect given the resources the project is costing - all in all, $39 billion.

Metaverse: What happened to Mark Zuckerberg's next big thing? https://t.co/oWPXgXg0kp
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 25, 2023

Users are also rare. There are reportedly 200,000 to 300,000. The onboarding of Facebook - which has three billion users - could be better. According to Youtuber Jarvis Johnson, however, there would be considerably fewer: 900; most are children. His summary: "Lord of the Flies" vibes in an abandoned amusement park.

Head through the virtual wall

Meta, however, cannot return. With the rebranding and the billions involved, there is no going back for Zuckerberg - at least not without massive image damage. So, VR glasses on, eyes closed and on? The way the project has developed so far can't really be in Meta's interest. As they themselves often say: this is a pilot project, no one knows how long the development will take, what technology will hold up or even what the Metaverse actually is.

Here's my conversation with Mark Zuckerberg, his 3rd time on the podcast, but this time we talked in the Metaverse as photorealistic avatars. This was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It really felt like we were talking in-person, but we were miles apart 🤯 It's… pic.twitter.com/Nu8a3iYWm0
— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman) September 28, 2023

For Meta, at least so far, it has been a black hole. In order to fill it, the company has made significant cuts to its workforce in recent months. When asked, the company did not comment on whether Horizon Worlds is still meeting expectations - silence is also an answer in this case.