The top 5 metaverse moments of October

No. 2: Tidal wave of critical Meta stories

Despite facilitating Cheetos’ activation, Meta has had a tough couple of weeks thanks to a slew of critical stories from various news outlets. The stories—which include deep dives from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Verge—all focus on Meta’s strategy for the metaverse, and note the project is so far faring poorly. The Journal, for example, found that Meta initially set a year-end goal of reaching 500,000 monthly active users for its Horizon World platform, but currently has yet to reach 200,000.

Elsewhere, The Verge reported a lack of use of Meta’s products by its own employees, while indicating an excess of bugs and internal frustration from project leaders. The Times further summarized confusion among Meta’s employees as to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s true intentions for the metaverse.

This Meta coverage has intensified the negative attention directed toward the Web3 spaces since the crypto industry began to wind down earlier this year. Other adjacent markets, such as for rival metaverse platforms and NFTs, have also faced backlash amid lessening demand, which critics suggest is a sign that Web3 is a passing fad.