On Monday, Meta announced that it would monetize items sold in Horizon Worlds, a virtual world app. Creators would be able to earn revenue by creating virtual goods and experiences in the Metaverse. However, the company did not reveal how much commission it would be taking from the revenue earned by creators.
Speaking to Reuters on Wednesday, a Meta spokesperson said that the company would take a 30% commission as hardware platform fee for using Meta Quest Store, and another 17.5% commission for sales made on Horizon Worlds.
Meta will charge the exorbitant commission despite its CEO Mark Zuckerberg being a critic of Apple’s 30% commission for revenue made through the App Store.
With its sights on the future, Facebook rebranded to Meta and has invested a lot in augmented and virtual reality in its bid to create a metaverse, an idea of virtual environments where people can socialize and even do shopping, play games and go to virtual concerts and movies.
The company plans to allow users to create NFTs in the virtual worlds, which can be traded. But it is not clear whether NFTs will be available in Horizon Worlds from the very beginning. The company is likely going to start by allowing creators to develop furniture, clothing, accessories and other objects that can be used in a virtual world.
Should the company eventually introduce NFTs, the 47.5% commission will likely discourage creators. Other metaverses, like The Sandbox and Decentraland, charge commissions between 2.5% and 15%.
On Twitter, Decentraland said: “Facebook charging 47.5% for every NFT sale is the best thing to [ever] happen to us.”
