Meta has seemingly realised that it is attempting to bite off more than it can chew by delving into the NFT space as the company has announced “winding down” on all NFT-related projects for Facebook and Instagram.
Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s commerce and fintech lead took to Twitter earlier this week to announce the company’s decision. “Across the company, we’re looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus,” Kasriel said.
Some product news: across the company, we're looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus. We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses. 🧵[1/5]
— Stephane Kasriel (@skasriel) March 13, 2023
Kasriel went on to add that Meta is, “Winding down digital collectables (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses,” and that the WhatsApp parent company will now focus on, “Areas where we can make impact at scale,” which includes messaging and monetisation apps for Reels.
Meta’s decision to halt its NFT ambitions will see the company end its tests of minting and selling NFTs on Instagram. The Verge reported that users will soon be unable to share NFTs on Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks according to Meta spokesperson Joshua Gunter.
The news comes as yet another sign of the company’s struggle in properly utilising nascent spaces including the metaverse, during Mark Zuckerberg’s attempts in making 2023 Meta’s “year of efficiency.”
The role of NFTs in the metaverse
NFTs are highly regarded to be an integral part of Meta’s metaverse, which will cause some to raise eyebrows on why the social media giant would wind down its efforts on NFTs. Is the Facebook parent company planning to go full swing with its metaverse ambitions?
“We learned a ton that we’ll be able to apply to products we’re continuing to build to support creators, people, and businesses on our apps, both today and in the metaverse,” said Kasriel.
The company has also struggled throughout the year to attain a decent level of progress in building the metaverse after suffering heavy losses from its metaverse platform Horizon Worlds.
Meta’s attempt to boost Horizon Worlds’ users by allowing teens to access the platform has been hindered by two US senators, leaving the company stuck on how to go about bringing users into its metaverse platform.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
