Meta, a latecomer to metaverse platform development, just announced the launch of a marketplace for user creators in Horizon Worlds, and you can see the potential problems right in the immediate details:
[A] “handful” of Horizon creators will be able to sell virtual items and effects in the worlds they create for others to explore. The idea is that creators can sell everything from access to a VIP section of their world to virtual items like jewelry or a special basketball, according to Meaghan Fitzgerald, the product marketing director for Horizon…
Meta will be taking a cut of what creators sell, though exactly what that take can be is a bit complex. For Horizon purchases, Meta is taking a 25 percent cut of the percentage that’s left after a platform fee. For platforms with a 30 percent fee, like Meta’s own Quest Store for VR titles, the creator will be left with a little over half of the sale price (the math there being that Meta is taking 25 percent of 70 percent).
Emphasis mine, as it bears emphasis. It's good that Meta is giving (some) users access to monetization — by definition, a core feature to a metaverse platform – but this initial roll-out comes with some obvious challenges:
