• News

Meta to take 47.5 percent cut from all virtual sales in Horizon Worlds

It would seem that Meta (formerly Facebook) plans on taking a hefty cut of digital asset sales on its metaverse app Horizon Worlds.

TJ Denzer

April 13, 2022 12:20 PM

1

As Meta attempts to expand past its original Facebook brand and create a metaverse experience that will innovate virtual space, there are a lot of things to nail down about what that experience entails. One is the cost of using the metaverse. Meta has recently shared details of the cuts it intends to take from its metaverse experience in Horizon Worlds and they are substantial. Between various cuts, Meta would take an altogether 47.5% of digital asset sales hosted on Horizon Worlds.

Meta recently shared details of its platform cuts and costs in correspondence with CNBC. According to details from Meta, the company intends to take a “hardware platform fee” of 30% of sales made through the Meta Quest Store (formerly the Oculus store). In addition, Meta’s metaverse app, Horizon Worlds, will also take 17.5% cut of sales made on its platform. That means apps and digital assets sold on Horizon Worlds (which operates through the Meta Quest Store) would take an overall 47.5% cut of sales through the program.

This is a fairly intense cut and quite substantial compared to various other platforms and services. NFT marketplaces like OpenSea only take 2.5% take of sales on the platform. Meanwhile, even on the extreme and controversial end, Apple takes a 30% cut of apps on iOS devices, a number that leadership at Meta has criticized in the past. Apple has eased this cut to 15 percent at best for some developers.

With that in mind, Meta has drawn the ire of those who with interest and investment in metaverse development. With a 47.5% cut in place, Horizon Worlds stands to stifle possible profits of developers who might partake in the platforms services and opportunities. It will remain to be seen if Meta remains stalwart on this cut. If so, it could stifle developer interest beyond any benefit that Horizon Worlds offers.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.