from the it-seems-the-less-I-get-the-more-I-have-to-pay dept.
Meta announces plans to monetize the Metaverse, and creators are not happy:
Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, announced some initial plans on Wednesday to allow content creators to monetize in its would-be Metaverse platform, Horizon Worlds. Meta's planned revenue share for contributors' creations could add up to nearly 50 percent.
[...] First off, Horizon Worlds will support in-world purchases. A handful of creators will be able to sell virtual items from within user-generated areas. Meta also plans to introduce a creator bonus program that awards money to creators based on how much other users engage with their content.
[...] When users purchase an item in Horizon Worlds, Meta confirmed to CNBC that it would take a 25 percent cut—but that's after any amount a hardware platform might take. Right now that just means Meta's Oculus store, which takes a 30 percent cut. So content creators will have to hand over 30 percent to the Oculus store (or the applicable percentage for whatever platform stores Horizon Worlds ends up on later, like Google Play), then they'll have to cede 25 percent of what's left to Horizon Worlds.
That leaves creators with just over half of their content's revenue before any applicable taxes.
The announcement has drawn ire from creators in the loosely related NFT community, who are accustomed to single-digit percentage platform takes. There are also accusations of hypocrisy from game developers and others who have seen Meta publicly criticize companies like Apple for charging 30 percent on similar transactions around in-game content.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 15 2022, @10:48PM
I thought Facebork was a charity.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 15 2022, @10:51PM
Like the RNC whining about Trump not sharing donations and keeping them for himself. Did they not pay any attention to how that fat mafia wannabe operates? Trust Facebook to not screw you over?? Should never have worked with their products in the first place unless you also want to be a scumlord.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 15 2022, @11:24PM
This is aristarchus' doing! The guy is ruining the internets! Why hasn't Facebook banned him, before he spreads to the Metaverse?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 15 2022, @11:39PM (2 children)
Can we please be paid in Zucker Bucks and Meta NFTs?
And you can take 75% of revenue, cause you deserve it!
You are the bestest!
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @10:48AM
Flamebait?
Can no moderator on here tell the difference between statement and satire?
Holy fuck!!!
Guess we need our hands held. /s
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 17 2022, @04:24AM
I want in on this! What's the exchange rate for Linden dollars? I'm going to sell all my Second Life land and buy Zucker land!
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @12:50AM (2 children)
NFTs aren't even loosely related to reality. NFT is how we spell 'scam' in 2022.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @02:28AM
they are a bit crypty
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday April 16 2022, @07:11PM
Surely it stands for No F-ing Tulips [wikipedia.org]?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @01:19AM (2 children)
Face it, yous are losers.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @07:26AM (1 child)
Unfrotunately ones whom my dick wants to put itself into.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 17 2022, @04:31AM
Most of those are dudes, identify male, completely cis+het. I think I've only ever seen 2 male avatars, and one was a Master Chief for a Halloween avatar contest.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by HiThere on Saturday April 16 2022, @02:56AM (2 children)
This is what you need to be prepared for when you have a single source (of marketing in this case). They need to remember that *this* is what Facebook is offering before they are really locked into the program, at which point the deal will be revised.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by coolgopher on Saturday April 16 2022, @05:24AM
"I'm altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it further."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Saturday April 16 2022, @11:26AM
And more generally: If your business plan includes a revenue stream entirely or heavily dependent on a single source or platform, then you aren't a business owner, you're an underpaid contractor hoping that that single source will deign to toss you enough crumbs to motivate you to keep working for them.
That's the story for a large percentage of Etsy artists, Youtubers, every musician whose sole connection to the general public is a page on Bandcamp, contractors on Freelancer and similar sites, farmers who can only reasonably sell to a single wholesaler, people who drive exclusively for Uber, and lots of other people who think they're a lot more independent than they really are.
Diversify both your sales and your suppliers if you want to be a real business.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 4, Touché) by SomeGuy on Saturday April 16 2022, @02:59AM (1 child)
Did anyone really think that wasn't what they were going to do with this "Metaverse" shit from day one? Remember, we are talking about Facefuck here.
I'm sure by now someone has NFTs of nuclear bombs, so please drop them on this "Metaverse", from orbit just to be sure.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Saturday April 16 2022, @08:02PM
Oh, how I wish this would actually work.
But if it did work like this the impossible would happen... a NFT would have real value.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @03:04AM (2 children)
Weird way to write it. If it were Microsoft instead would you write
or
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @03:15AM (1 child)
The media is pretending that the "metaverse" == Metaverse™ by Facebook dba Meta.
The silver lining is that maybe all this free advertisement they're giving Metaverse™ will pull the normies away from better platforms like VR Chat.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @03:04PM
This kind of lazy journalism is what killed the market for mp3 players not made by Apple. They started referring to all portable media players as iPods which just helped Apple cement their monopoly, even though the only thing that made it better was exclusive access to exclusive titles on ITMD.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @05:38AM
"We estimate we can sell up to 80% of an individuals field of view before inducing seizures."
- Nolan Sorrento, Ready Player One [youtu.be]
(Score: 1) by Improbus on Saturday April 16 2022, @12:26PM (2 children)
What is 25, 50 and 75% of Nothing?
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday April 16 2022, @06:21PM (1 child)
Well, 50% of something is less than the original something, therefore 50% of nothing must be less than nothing, which can only mean that Farcebook's Mentalverse / Whore Eyes On Worlds will actually pay revenue back to me! Where can I sign up?
error count exceeds 100; stopping compilation
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @11:02PM
i suspect the sign on and service fees will amount to more than your x(0) revenue slice.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by zafiro17 on Saturday April 16 2022, @02:46PM (2 children)
Zuckerberg is showing the cards in his hand too fast - proof he's losing touch with reality. The traditional format is to introduce a new product, keep it free, get people interested in participating, and then - only then - when there's critical mass, introduce revenue streams. He's killing the golden goose before it's even left the nest here.
So the question is, what is he doing? Signalling to potential competitors to not even think about getting started in this new market? More likely, he's signalling to his board of directors that he has new, creative, lucrative ideas and should be retained as CEO. Unfortunately, in doing so, he's killing any potential value the stupid Metaverse ever would have had.
Personally, I think he's embattled. FB stock hasn't been doing great and he's increasingly seen as a liability and a weakness.
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @07:48PM
Maybe the board should send him on a one-way trip to the Metaverse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16 2022, @11:59PM
Eh, I think you may be underestimating him.
This, my friends, is what sexual predators call "grooming." You say something overtly suggestive, then you backtrack a bit. Then, a little ways down the line (a few years later), you get what you want after all. And, in this case, it may come with some bonus legal cover.
My guess is these percentages may be knocked down a bit at first. Outrage! Okay, so maybe they'll only take 25% total of your revenue -- better than Apple's 30%! "We'll have to discount these rates now, as we value our initial investors..." bullshit. They want to fuck you in the ass, but you balk, so they settle for sticking their buttplug (with tracking device) in you and shoving their cock down your throat.
They're testing out for early people who are willing to have a cock shoved in their throat. If you go, "Oh! only 25%? I guess I'll have to work with that, because it's gonna be the dominant platform," then they've got you hooked.
A few years down the line, they say, "Oh, sorry, we have to fuck you in the ass anyway to make our business model work! It's costing us so much we'll have to take 50% of your profits!" And now you're stuck on this platform with thousands of other developers, without a decent alternative. And guess what? They signaled from the BEGINNING that they needed to fuck you in the ass, but just backed down a little to tempt you in. So when you sue them, they'll say, "We knew we ultimately likely wouldn't be able to make adequate profits without taking 50%, so that's what we're doing now... we told you back in April 2022!"
They also know that you're the type who will negotiate. It's not whether they get to fuck you in the ass -- it's just haggling over your price. They've attracted an initial clientele who is compliant, as they know this huge profiteering is coming.
How far could they push it beyond that? 60% 75% 80% of your revenue? "Don't like it? Go somewhere else..." Except at that point, there aren't any viable alternative platforms in the area.
I think that's Zuck's plan here. Will it work? I don't know -- but it will certainly weed out the big complainers at the beginning.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 23 2022, @01:15PM
... now imagine the lawsuits.
This is the world we live in :(