Meta Platforms will revamp its fledgling Horizon Worlds metaverse app in hopes of attracting more teen and young adult users after improving the app’s design.
An internal Meta notification said the revamp will open Horizon to teens aged 13 to 17. The app is currently only available to people 18 and older. A teen version of Horizon could be launched as early as March, according to people familiar with the matter. One of the biggest problems Horizon faces is its inability to retain users. According to people familiar with the matter, players downloaded the game on their Quest virtual reality helmets, tried it out, and failed to find any experiences or other players that would inspire them to come back. These people said that in January of this year, Horizon's weekly user retention rate was 11%, which means that only one in nine users will play the game again in the next month. The internal notification said that Meta has set a goal of increasing the retention rate to 20%.
In addition to improving retention, Meta also asked the team to expand Horizon's user base. According to the internal notice, Meta has set 500,000 monthly active users as the Horizon department's goal for the first half of 2023, and the full-year goal is 1 million. The above-mentioned people familiar with the matter said that the current number of monthly active users is slightly more than 200,000, which is lower than the peak level reached in late December last year, when many consumers bought new Quest helmets during the year-end holiday season and played the device during school and work holidays. (The Wall Street Journal)