--- title: "Leak: Most Facebook Metaverse Users Have Quit in a Month" description: "Internal Meta documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal revealed that most Horizon Worlds users don't return to the metaverse after a month of use." date: "2022-10-17" modified: "2022-10-17" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-metaverse-users-quit-month" categories: - "Future Society" - "Metaverse" - "Virtual Reality" tags: - "facebook" - "metaverse" - "the digest" - "virtual reality" --- # Leak: Most Facebook Metaverse Users Have Quit in a Month ![Internal Meta documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal revealed that most Horizon Worlds users don't return to the metaverse after a month of use.]() *\Image: Meta/Futurism\* ## Here Today, Gone Tomorrow Facebook-turned-Meta's multibillion dollar metaverse project has a serious user retention problem. Internal Meta documents [obtained by the *Wall Street Journal*]() have revealed that most Horizon Worlds users fail to return to the company's flagship metaverse space after just one month of use — a brutal revelation that couldn't have come at a worse time. Per those documents, Facebook had a goal of obtaining 500,000 active metaverse users by the end of this year. But that goal apparently proved to be a bit too ambitious, as the company recently lowered its target number of active users to just 280,000. Now, with just over two months of the year left to go, the *WSJ* reports that active Horizon Worlds users have yet to crack 200,000. "An empty world," reportedly read one extremely bleak document regarding the platform's failure to steer users to spaces where they could actually, well, find other digital humans to interact with, "is a sad world." ## No One to Murder Village At every turn, the metaverse documents get exponentially more depressing — especially considering that [other leaked documents]() recently revealed that Meta employees themselves have effectively been [forced to use]() the glitchy platform. As company CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized in his [self-lauding keynote presentation]() last week, the Horizon Worlds economy is built to rely on the work of creators, who ideally will be able to cash in by creating popular worlds that are teeming with visitors. But that couldn't be further from reality. According to the newly leaked documents, only nine percent of these creator-built worlds ever reached 50 users. In other words, as the *WSJ* put it, there are rarely any girls in the Hot Girl Summer Rooftop Pool Party, and no users to murder in Murder Village. Tragic! ## B-B-B-Billions Getting users to actually stick around is clearly proving challenging. Such high turnover rates signal a serious failure by the platform to offer real value of experience — which is *very* unfortunate for Zuckerberg, as it'll likely take a while for Meta to actually make good on many of its promises, as shown off in the company's recent conference. Zuckerberg's metaverse has already [guzzled over ten billion in funds](), and that degree of spending will only increase in the coming years. But without the updates that users clearly need to stay interested, how long can Meta really hold out? **READ MORE:** [*Company Documents Show Meta's Flagship Metaverse Falling Short*]() \[*The Wall Street Journal*\] **More on Zucko's metaverse:** *[Say It Ain't So! Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse Legs Were Apparently Staged]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()