A few hundred users each day, at most. Meta’s Horizon Worlds is currently a failure, despite the billions of dollars invested by the American giant in this metaverse. Attention has shifted to generative artificial intelligence, an innovation deemed more tangible. More essential to the smooth running of the world, too.
But the metaverse is not dead yet. Although it abandoned the creation of its own virtual universe last year, Disney announced at the start of the year that it was investing $1.5 billion in the owner of Fortnite, Epic Games. A major contract allowing Mickey’s father to offer characters and settings from films and series in the game: those from Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar for which the entertainment giant owns the rights.
Fortnite is more than ever the locomotive of the “metaverse”, whose affiliation it fully assumes. The game indeed meets the commonly accepted definition: that of a world equipped with numerous playful experiences with the possession of objects, clothes, avatars or even terrain. In addition to the agreement with Disney, Fortnite has, for example, made room for the Lego construction universe, for concert scenes with a virtual Lady Gaga… Or for dozens of other different spaces in the “Battle royale” shooting game “, its original success.
The recipe works. The platform has 90 million monthly users, growing steadily. In this genre, she is not the only one to have success. Minecraft – 165 million users – became the best-selling game in the world at the end of 2023 with 300 million copies sold. Roblox, finally, claims 250 million followers every month. The latter also recorded new record results in 2023. Some $2.8 billion in turnover, up 26%. The “Metaversed consulted”, an agency specializing in the subject, estimates the number of monthly users of the metaverses at 600 million. Nine times the population of France. Not negligible.
These “metaverses” which are not
Behind the three aforementioned games, real drivers of the sector, other more modest metaverses persist, such as The Sandbox. The platform launched by a Frenchman, Sébastien Borget, also focuses on the fun dimension, but focused on monetization. It announced the creation by its own users of its thousandth “experience” – most often games. Its “map” is also teeming with brands and advertisers who have got their hands on “virtual sites”, sometimes for several thousand euros, where they are multiplying events and activities. This model is also progressing. The Sandbox now has 5.7 million accounts and receives between 50,000 and 100,000 monthly logins. “The quality of the content is improving, the experiences are more fluid, more social, more immersive. Uses will become anchored,” judges Sébastien Borget optimistically, who however thinks that the concept of metaverse will only reach maturity after here “five to ten years”.
Because there are still a few blocking points. “Marketing” abuses on the one hand. “So-called metaverse platforms are certainly immersive, in 3D, but they do not allow meeting or discussion. As long as there is no real-time interactivity with people, it is not a metaverse “, deplores Nathalie Badreau, consultant and author of a newsletter dedicated to the metaverse. Its association with the industry of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, these collectible tokens stored on the blockchain, brought together under the definition of “Web3”, is also considered by some to be a hindrance. “They ultimately only add friction and complexity to the experience,” judges Morgane Soulier, co-author of Metaverse, understanding the world to come (Grasset, 2024). Then, metaverses are always criticized for their lack of interoperability. Not being able to juggle between each platform, not keeping your avatar everywhere like in the film Ready Player One. “I myself have 23 different avatars,” laments Nathalie Badreau. “Young users care, because they buy real brands to dress themselves in, put on dresses to go to Paris Hilton’s DJ set in Roblox.”
The final downside is that immersion is still far from ideal, behind a smartphone or a computer. This explains why video games, mature for this type of device, still predominate. However, “the metaverses become real social places, teeming parallel worlds. Depending on the location, you can now play sports there together, sign up for an oenology course, go to a comedy club”, continues Nathalie Badreau. For the moment anonymously. The market for virtual or augmented reality (AR/VR) headsets continues to welcome new players. The arrival of Apple with its Vision Pro is a significant milestone. And Meta’s Reality Labs division pocketed its first billion in turnover at the start of the year thanks to the good results of Meta Quest 3. A sign that its heavy investments, and its name change, could ultimately bear fruit .
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