"Disappointing" Metaverse timeline information casts doubt on it, according to Loup Ventures Frank Munster
Gene Munster, an analyst at Loup Ventures, stated on Monday that Meta Platforms' (NASDAQ:META) disclosed documents revealing slower-than-anticipated growth of its main metaverse platform constitute a "quite evident disappointment."
The founder and managing partner of Loup Ventures said in a CNBC interview that the entire technology's timetable was uncertain due to the lack of strong customer demand for the metaverse idea.
"How far away from this location is the metaverse, one wonders in light of the news? How much longer till this finally takes off?" He queried.
The main component of META's metaverse development, Horizon Worlds, has only attracted about 200K users, according to internal documents cited by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend.
The 500K monthly active users were the number the corporation had set as its goal. The company's year-end objective was 280K, but with the current figure being around two-fifths of that total, it has been cut.
Munster called the main problem "a chicken and an egg dilemma" and said he had hoped the number of monthly active users would be closer to 1M at this point. He pointed out that the low acceptance rates are a result of the costly equipment needed to operate the technology.
He specifically mentioned the $400 price tag of META's cheapest headgear for accessing the metaverse. Munster claimed that the business needs to reduce the sum to the $100 to $150 level.
In general, Munster was optimistic about the long-term prospects of META. He said that relying on technology meant practically gambling on the existence of a platform for user engagement other than mobile devices in the future.
He continued, "I'm still optimistic about where this company may go and even more optimistic about the long-term possibilities of the metaverse. "I'm still hopeful that we'll find a solution and that this will amount to something," the speaker said.
The general partner of Loup Ventures pointed out that while META has emerged as the most emblematic representation of the growth of the metaverse, it is by no means the only well-known digital company making a big investment in the field. He spoke in particular to pushes from companies like Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG) (GOOGL), and Samsung.
Dilantha De Silva, a contributor to Seeking Alpha, predicts that five years from now, the shares of Meta will be "nowhere near" where it is today. This is another long-term assessment of Meta's prospects.