Meta Platforms (FB) says it plans to take a cut of up to 47.5% on the sale of digital assets on its
virtual reality platform called “Horizon Worlds,” which is a key part of the company’s plan for
creating the “metaverse.”
The social media giant announced in a blogpost that it is letting a handful of Horizon Worlds
creators sell virtual assets like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) within the worlds they build.
However, Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, will take an overall cut of up to
47.5% on each transaction carried out on Horizon Worlds. That includes a “hardware platform
fee” of 30% for sales made through the Meta Quest Store, where it sells apps and games for its
virtual reality headsets. On top of that, Horizon Worlds, also charges a 17.5% transaction fee.
Horizon Worlds (formerly Facebook Horizon) is a free virtual reality, online video game that
allows people to build and explore virtual worlds. Meta published the game on its Oculus virtual
reality headsets in the U.S. and Canada last December but it’s yet to be rolled out worldwide.
The size of Meta’s cut on Horizon Worlds has angered some developers and creators.
Elsewhere, NFT marketplace OpenSea takes a 2.5% cut of each transaction, while rival
LooksRare charges just 2%.
Over the last few months, companies and individuals have been snapping up everything from
art to real estate in virtual worlds on platforms such as Decentraland and The SandBox.
Hip-hop star Snoop Dogg has purchased virtual land and a fan paid $450,000 U.S. to buy a plot
next door to him on The Sandbox.