In a recent chat with New World Notes readers about the future of Second Life, many wondered whatever became of IMVU, the 3D chat-based world that once was seen by some as rival to SL itself — and by others as a low-end version of the metaverse.
Let me tell you what's happened with IMVU over the last few years and since you last likely thought about it, if ever at all.
IMVU has become massive in just about every sense:
It has 7 million monthly active users.
And 1.2 million daily active users.
And a peak daily concurrency of 140,000 users.
And peak average daily concurrency of 120,000 users.
These numbers, as any regular reader will tell you, far outstrip any peak metric Second Life has ever achieved, in recent times with about 600,000 to 900,000 monthly users (depending how you define a "user"), and a peak concurrency that's never exceeded the mid-five figures.
It's also massive in terms of company revenue: According to App Annie, it's a top grossing app right behind the white hot video sharing app TikTok (see attached pic below).
It's also massive in terms of a virtual marketplace, with 50 million items in the catalog, made by 50,000 active creators.
Yes, IMVU added Adult-rated content in 2014 — but no, that's not why it's grown so large:
Only 4% of IMVU's 7 million monthly active users have an Access Pass, allowing them to enter chat rooms restricted to users 18 years and up. That's 280,000 IMVU users accessing adult content on IMVU — roughly the same amount of users accessing Adult-rated content in Second Life by my guess. Only in IMVU's case, that's just a tiny fraction of the total userbase.
The secret to IMVU's massive growth is mobile. Launched to iOS and Android in 2014, IMVU's userbase is now 80% mobile, 20% desktop.
"But IMVU is only a chatroom," I can already see some readers protest.
But IMVU has tens of thousands of available chatrooms, and can fit up to 10 users into each 3D space — not that much less than any single Second Life space can handle, before lag chokes out the entire experience. (Especially since Linden Lab refuses to cap excessively heavy avatar enhancements.)
What's more, IMVU recently introduced Live Rooms (see video above), which enables up to 10 users to "broadcast" their room to 1000s of users more.
All this comes to me via Lindsay Anne Aamodt, IMVU's Director of Marketing, who once handled media relations for TV's Project Runway, among other massive brands. (I suspect she's probably another reason for IMVU's epic expansion, but was too modest to suggest so.)
If IMVU's so huge, why haven't you heard of it? You likely have if you're between 18-25 (the world's demographic sweet spot) — but likely not if you're well over that age. (Unsurprisingly for a virtual world with no mobile client, SL's userbase skews 30s to 50s, perhaps even older.)
The only category where Second Life is more massive than IMVU is in terms of its effect on the real world economy: While hundreds of IMVU creators earn six figures in US$ every year — fashion and other avatar enhancements being a top seller, while credit "tips" for hosting events like virtual parties, dating shows, and weddings are also a major revenue model — the 50,000+ active creators only cash out $8 million a year. By contrast, SL creators cash out upwards of $60 million a year.
However, Ms. Aamodt hints, that may change soon. So if you're like I, you may want to keep an eye on IMVU.
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 
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